From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,52a0bacbcdd2da17 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-08-16 04:03:29 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!harp.news.atl.earthlink.net!not-for-mail From: Marin David Condic Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Realtime/embedded project to help with employment. Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 07:03:24 -0400 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Message-ID: <3F3E0F7C.4020106@noplace.com> References: <3F367B39.8060108@noplace.com> <1060611604.45048@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <3F38DEBC.8040208@noplace.com> <3F3A33EE.90900@noplace.com> <3F3B89BE.1090207@noplace.com> <3F3D06B6.9030206@attbi.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: a5.f7.40.9c Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 16 Aug 2003 11:03:28 GMT User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (OEM-HPQ-PRS1C03) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:41568 Date: 2003-08-16T11:03:28+00:00 List-Id: Yeah, but it seems to me that there was more than one guy out there that got started building PC's from inexpensive Asian boards in their garages and selling them cheaper than another big "monopoly" (that being IBM). What were ther names again? "Dell-somebodyorother"?, "Compaq-whosits?" "Gateway-idunno"? :-) Lets say there is a significant "Windows Tax" on your garden variety PC. $100.00? Someone like Dell can get a price break on PC boards because of volume, but they've also got huge overhead associated with a large company. A couple of guys in a garage could start assembling Linux PCs and bundling a boatload of other GPLed software on them and shipping them without the $100 tax - maybe dropping prices even further with other creative strategies. Probably, they could provide all sorts of other "value added" features (like descent user's manuals?) and start a whole new market. Its not like this industry isn't loaded with examples of exactly that sort of formula working in the past. My point is that it isn't exactly some sort of hopeless cause. Lots of people look at Ada as a "hopeless cause" (how's that for getting back on topic? ;-) but we're still here fighting the good fight. Toppling Micro$oft may seem like tilting at windmills, but it *could* be done. It has happened before with lots of other companies. Rather than complain about Microsoft and accuse Bill Gates' parents of not being married when they had him, why not dream up an alternative? MDC Robert I. Eachus wrote: > > > More to the point, assume that your grandmother does know what an OS is, > and intends to download Red Hat from the net for her new computer. > Unless she puts the system together from parts, the probability that she > won't end up paying the Microsoft tax is zero. > > That more than any other issue is why Microsoft has a monopoly. They > offer the system builders a deal, either $X per system if you sell boxes > without a Microsoft OS, or $Y per system if you sell every "desktop" or > laptop computer with Windows. And X >> Y, so that to be competitive, > they have to sell you a Microsoft OS whether you want it or not. -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jast.mil/ Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g "In general the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other." -- Voltaire ======================================================================