Linux Winning the Low End Market but Microsoft Has Options
I really like Jek Hui's post at Tech Talk, Linux winning in the lower end market, because he cuts to the chase on why low cost computers, like the Asus Eee, are a problem for Microsoft. He says:
If you just paid $250 for a shiny basic laptop, how much would you pay extra for the software to do basic things like surf the web? Not much I suspect. Another issue is that most of these basic systems save money by sporting very small harddrives (down to 2Gb for the ASUS EEE). The minimum system requirement for Vista Home Basic is a 20 Gb harddrive with 15 Gb available space (ouch). Plus you need a CD-ROM drive to install it...
He goes on to come up with a few ways for Microsoft to respond but he doesn't mention getting out of the operating system business, which is my favorite and not because I don't like Windows.
Operating systems are far less relevant when we spend a lot of time in browsers. MS has made head way in software as a services (SaaS), Google is pushing their apps to enterprises. Operating systems for clients are not totally irrelevant, but I just don't see them as big money makers after a few years out. The OS on servers matter a lot but if you're running servers your not afraid of command lines and if you don't know Linux or Unix now you could learn it. Once users shift to MS Office alternatives, the dominant users of Windows will be gamers.
Email This!
Digg it!
Sphere it!
Del.icio.us
Reddit!
Newsvine
