rant: Why is it so hard to explain global market priciples?

[Cogman]

So, my roomate, who talks about stuff he has no clue about, was telling me about a discussion he had in class about how linux is evening the global market. His claim is that because the US dollar is weakening pretty soon people wont have enough money to pay for windows and they will have to switch to linux. (he has never even used linux, part of his inference seemed to make me think he though linux was also computer hardware)

I said "Well, windows has kept a constent price for pretty much every new release of windows so I don't see a big change comming soon"

Then he went on about how a weak dollar will make $120 seem like $100000. I couldn't believe it. I tried to explain to him that, no, in fact if anything the weaker dollar will make windows look less expencive (considering microsoft keeps the same prices) because all imported good will become more expencive.

He continued to argue that linux will take over next year ect and all because windows will be $10000 by that time. What do you do in a situation like that where the person is pretty much completly ignorant? He hasn't even used Open Source software and has no clue about it other then it is free.

[edit] I hate internet explorer, no sepll cehkcing[/edit]

 

[Ns1]

a week dollar?

is that like, a dollar that's worth 7 days?

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Ns1
a week dollar?

is that like, a dollar that's worth 7 days?

Probably talking about a treasury bill that's maturing in 7 days.

 

[Dacalo]

WTF is week dollar. Maybe your roommate has a point.

 

[vi edit]

How many people have ever actually bought a stand alone copy of windows anyway?

I would hazard a guess that 95% of all Window's based OS's are sold prebundled on a desktop or laptop and built into the price.

A stand alone copy of Vista was like $300. I paid $400 for my Dell with it already on there.

(I know this doesn't address the market thing)

 

[amoeba]

also entails not intales.

but yes, its hard to teach people things.

I suggest you be very patient and start slow.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: vi edit
How many people have ever actually bought a stand alone copy of windows anyway?

I would hazard a guess that 95% of all Window's based OS's are sold prebundled on a desktop or laptop and built into the price.

A stand alone copy of Vista was like $300. I paid $400 for my Dell with it already on there.

(I know this doesn't address the market thing)

Depends on the type of copy, OEM versions of windows have always ran much cheaper (windows XP home is $99, windows vista basic is ~$99)

 

[yllus]

Well, he has a point (it's marginal, but it's there). Consider how most if not all of the Web's biggest sites use a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) platform. Even Google couldn't have become what it is if it had to pay licensing fees for the OS it uses on each of its bazillion servers. The lower cost of entry into the market allows companies in developing nations to be more competitive with their software offerings.

The relationship of this to the U.S. dollar and how the cost of Windows will inflate... Well, punch him in the face and tell him to take Econ 101 before opening his mouth again. That's just dumb.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: yllus
Well, he has a point (it's marginal, but it's there). Consider how most if not all of the Web's biggest sites use a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) platform. Even Google couldn't have become what it is if it had to pay licensing fees for the OS it uses on each of its bazillion servers. The lower cost of entry into the market allows companies in developing nations to be more competitive with their software offerings.

The relationship of this to the U.S. dollar and how the cost of Windows will inflate... Well, punch him in the face and tell him to take Econ 101 before opening his mouth again. That's just dumb.

And with that, I agree with the point that linux is leveling the economic playing field. But it certainly isn't because windows is getting more expencive. (and I think that was what was discussed in his class)

It was just very frustrating to have him spout off stuff that is completely BS as if it were scientific fact and expect me to give him a pat on the back for his wisdom. I'm only impress when people tell me things that are correct (even if I already know them) not when they BS.

 

[Geocentricity]

Originally posted by: Cogman

Originally posted by: yllus
Well, he has a point (it's marginal, but it's there). Consider how most if not all of the Web's biggest sites use a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) platform. Even Google couldn't have become what it is if it had to pay licensing fees for the OS it uses on each of its bazillion servers. The lower cost of entry into the market allows companies in developing nations to be more competitive with their software offerings.

The relationship of this to the U.S. dollar and how the cost of Windows will inflate... Well, punch him in the face and tell him to take Econ 101 before opening his mouth again. That's just dumb.

And with that, I agree with the point that linux is leveling the economic playing field. But it certainly isn't because windows is getting more expencive. (and I think that was what was discussed in his class)

It was just very frustrating to have him spout off stuff that is completely BS as if it where scientific fact and expect me to give him a pat on the back for his wisdom. I'm only impressed when people tell me things that are correct (even if I already know them) not when they BS.

Your grammatical errors are frustrating.

Post +1

 

[Cogman]

Hey, be nice to the guy using library computers .

 

[darkxshade]

So explain to me what exactly does a weak dollar entail?

 

[her209]

Your roommate is correct.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: her209
Your roommate is correct.

waffles.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: Geocentricity

Originally posted by: Cogman

Originally posted by: yllus
Well, he has a point (it's marginal, but it's there). Consider how most if not all of the Web's biggest sites use a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) platform. Even Google couldn't have become what it is if it had to pay licensing fees for the OS it uses on each of its bazillion servers. The lower cost of entry into the market allows companies in developing nations to be more competitive with their software offerings.

The relationship of this to the U.S. dollar and how the cost of Windows will inflate... Well, punch him in the face and tell him to take Econ 101 before opening his mouth again. That's just dumb.

And with that, I agree with the point that linux is leveling the economic playing field. But it certainly isn't because windows is getting more expencive. (and I think that was what was discussed in his class)

It was just very frustrating to have him spout off stuff that is completely BS as if it where scientific fact and expect me to give him a pat on the back for his wisdom. I'm only impressed when people tell me things that are correct (even if I already know them) not when they BS.

Your grammatical errors are frustrating.

Post +1

It is a bit difficult to watch anybody try to lecture others on economics when they can't even spell, punctuate, or form grammatically correct sentences.

Not saying I am perfect, but holy crap, OP is distracting.

 

[soccerballtux]

he deserves welfare

 

[blinky8225]

I know that you're not using a spell checker, but that really isn't an excuse to spell "expensive" as "expencive" multiple times.