Ballmer admits to Linux FUD campaign. MS changes tune.

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Martin

Lifer
Jan 15, 2000
29,178
1
81
Windows is a lot more expensive to run than Linux, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has finally confessed. Despite Redmond's heroic efforts to defeat common knowledge with elaborately-rigged total cost of ownership 'studies', innuendo, FUD and outright distortions, the rhetorical power of common experience has become too powerful, even for a marketing behemoth like MS.

According to an article by VARBusiness, Ballmer now concedes that MS execs "haven't figured out how to be lower-priced than Linux. For us as a company, we're going through a whole new world of thinking."

Interestingly, an old page on the MS Web site claiming that the lower costs of Linux are "a myth" has been removed. In its place is a more reasonable item cheerfully touting the many wonderful features in Windows which Linux, it's said, lacks.

So it seems MS is going to stop defying common sense and take an approach we could sum up as, 'it costs more because it's worth more'. This too will probably not survive informed criticism or daily experience, but it's certainly easier for the company's flacks and salesmen to say with a straight face. ®
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Booster

Diamond Member
May 4, 2002
4,380
0
0
Hopefully this means a little pricedrop for Windows. Personally, believe it or not, I have never seen a single PC running Linux. I know what Linux is -- it's an OS just like Windows, but nothing more. I don't know how it looks, how it works, it's compatibility is a question. But I think it's good that there's at least some competition, even if it's as small as that of Linux.
 
ultimatebob

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,134
2,450
126
Originally posted by: Booster
Hopefully this means a little pricedrop for Windows. Personally, believe it or not, I have never seen a single PC running Linux. I know what Linux is -- it's an OS just like Windows, but nothing more. I don't know how it looks, how it works, it's compatibility is a question. But I think it's good that there's at least some competition, even if it's as small as that of Linux.
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Well, you're half right. Linux is an OS that competes with Windows, but it certainly is NOT "just like Windows". It looks different, runs different, and has a different software selection available for it. Depending on who you ask, this is a either a good thing or a bad thing.

Also, Linux is already a formitable competitor in the server field. Linux as a desktop OS still has some problems to resolve before it can become mainstream, but isn't fair to judge the OS as a whole as a "small" amount of competition.
 
M

Martin

Lifer
Jan 15, 2000
29,178
1
81
Originally posted by: Booster
Hopefully this means a little pricedrop for Windows. Personally, believe it or not, I have never seen a single PC running Linux. I know what Linux is -- it's an OS just like Windows, but nothing more. I don't know how it looks, how it works, it's compatibility is a question. But I think it's good that there's at least some competition, even if it's as small as that of Linux.
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1. Windows will never see a price drop.

2. Walmart.com is selling PCs preloaded with either Lindows or Mandrake.
 
C

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
I got a friend that works for a large company and they found windows to have a lower cost of ownership than unix products. There are more inexpensive off the shelf products that made windows less expensive to maintain than unix machines.
 
silverpig

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Hopefully this means a little pricedrop for Windows. Personally, believe it or not, I have never seen a single PC running Linux. I know what Linux is -- it's an OS just like Windows, but nothing more. I don't know how it looks, how it works, it's compatibility is a question. But I think it's good that there's at least some competition, even if it's as small as that of Linux.
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Linux
 
C

cmdavid

Diamond Member
May 23, 2001
4,114
0
0
Originally posted by: silverpig
Hopefully this means a little pricedrop for Windows. Personally, believe it or not, I have never seen a single PC running Linux. I know what Linux is -- it's an OS just like Windows, but nothing more. I don't know how it looks, how it works, it's compatibility is a question. But I think it's good that there's at least some competition, even if it's as small as that of Linux.
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Linux
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beautiful...

 
T

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
nice, what distro etc is that? I am planning on installing soon, but i have to figure out if i trust my 75gxp's, they both made that lovely scratching noise the other day and crapped out, but after shaking the computer some and waiting a few hours they work again. I hate these things
 
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wyvrn

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
10,074
0
0
We had the argument about total costs of Windows vs. Unix based shops in my Unix class the other day. Most people agree Unix is cheaper per seat or server than MS, but many people think the costs of training on Linux, both support and employees, is still too high. Plus some argue people are familiar with Windows and would not want to learn a new system. I think both reasons are overblown myself, and there really isn't any proof behind them because not many people have even bothered trying. I also think MS is realizing that Linux has come a long way quickly and many shops are seriously considering what it would take to switch. So I guess Gates and Co. and changing their marketing schpeel because they have been unable to squash the Linux pest, like they did Netscape and others. This battle gets more interesting every day.
 
silverpig

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
That's a desktop I took a while ago. I don't run that computer anymore. It was Mandrake 7.0 I believe, with gnome running every blueheart theme I could find (blueheart for enlightenment, xmms, gtk, gkrellm, etc...)
 
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