MS dropping prices abroad to compete with Linux, maybe they can be made to do it in the US too?

[Jan Panteltje]

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http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech/06/10/microsoft.tiered.pricing.ap/index.html

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[Dorothy Bradbury]

They could do with an XP-Lite elsewhere too:
o Less bloat
o Less tartiness & a bit more efficiency
o Far less price - great for 2nd/3rd PC re NAS/etc

Still, Linux is very attractive for NAS & 2nd/3rd PC applications
even for windows die-hards - even OEM XP-Pro is over £100.

Linux could do with installers that go beyond just the general O/S:
o Auto webadmin install
o Auto NAS install
o Auto SOHO file server install (Samba)

Vis., right through to vertical applications & web interfaces.

Currently Linux is still for newbies a bit too much "autoexec.bat config",
but the market for it's *stability* in medical practice & NAS is clear.
Medical practice applications cost the West a fortune, aren't very stable,
have huge resource needs re processor & O/S cost - Linux could be ideal.

Microsoft fear one thing - critical mass:
o It's one thing for Linux to compete - it's an O/S
o However, if Linux becomes an true installed base - it's deadly
If major applications get ported to Linux, so friction for others to drops:
o Sure, there's OpenOffice & GIMP
o However, they are not quite Office-XP & Photoshop 7 etc

So not only does Linux undermine Windows sales, but a long list of some
very expensive software from Microsoft to Adobe. Software that a lot of
the West is fed up paying for, and East increasingly will not want to either.

 

[Rupert Pigott]

Linux could do with installers that go beyond just the general O/S:
o Auto webadmin install
o Auto NAS install
o Auto SOHO file server install (Samba)

All of those have been done to death. I'm not keen on it, but I am a
die-hard /etc addict so go figure.

Cheers,
Rupert

 

[Evgenij Barsukov]

They could do with an XP-Lite elsewhere too:
o Less bloat
o Less tartiness & a bit more efficiency
o Far less price - great for 2nd/3rd PC re NAS/etc

I think you misundersand the situation. Namely, different price in
developing coutries is supposed to target the completely ridiculus
disproportion between the OS price and salary. For example, in
Ukraine (same as Tailand, which this new pricing is targeting)
average monthly income is 100$. So, how the hell can anybody
purchase a legal version of Windows for 100$? This is absurd.

So, the price competition here is not agains Linux but agains pirated
Windows, widely available for 1-2$ per CD. You have to make a reasonable
price before you can start talking about piracy. Being a mass-market product (like
bread), I would say it should keep same price proportion to average income as
say in US. And that is what they are moving towards. However, dont' expect this
to affect western prices in any way.

Regards,
Evgenij



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[Dorothy Bradbury]

I think you misundersand the situation. Namely, different price in

developing coutries is supposed to target the completely ridiculus
disproportion between the OS price and salary.

Yes I know - I said they could do with an XP-Lite elsewhere too.
o East - yes MSFT priced themselves out of much of it
o West - MSFT is pricing themselves out of many 2nd or 3rd PCs

Three PCs are a lot of cost when it comes to u/g O/S.
When you u/g a microsoft O/S, a lot of s/w often breaks too and
that is a secondary round of upgrades which for many is a "bug fix".