FranMichaels
July 5th, 2008, 06:15 AM
Does this **** other people off or just me?
Microsoft is offering Windows XP Home Edition to encourage PC makers to use that OS instead of Linux on the low-cost machines, but it places restrictions on the hardware that can be offered.
Under the new terms, outlined in the documents, PC makers must limit screen sizes to 14.1 inches and hard-drive capacity to 160G bytes. ULPCs with touchscreens will also be eligible. Earlier terms set in April did not allow touchscreens at all and limited screen sizes to 10.2 inches and hard-drive capacity to 80G bytes. The processors are still limited to a single-core chip running at no more than 1GHz, and memory is limited to 1G byte of RAM.
...
The goal of the program is apparently to limit the hardware capabilities of ULPCs so that they don't eat into the market for mainstream PCs running Windows Vista, something both Microsoft and PC vendors would want to avoid.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;222290940;fp;16;fpid;1
If this isn't stifling innovation, I don't know what is.
So now Windows being bundled on these machines is essentially crippling the hardware, and adding overhead to the cost (well it always adds overhead, but on a machine that is $250, Windows is at minimum 10% of the cost)
Is there any market they won't infiltrate. First they show no interest in these tiny cheap PC's, then uh oh Linux is on it, and gasp, undeveloped nations want it. Time to deploy XP on it. Really future proof. /end rant
Microsoft is offering Windows XP Home Edition to encourage PC makers to use that OS instead of Linux on the low-cost machines, but it places restrictions on the hardware that can be offered.
Under the new terms, outlined in the documents, PC makers must limit screen sizes to 14.1 inches and hard-drive capacity to 160G bytes. ULPCs with touchscreens will also be eligible. Earlier terms set in April did not allow touchscreens at all and limited screen sizes to 10.2 inches and hard-drive capacity to 80G bytes. The processors are still limited to a single-core chip running at no more than 1GHz, and memory is limited to 1G byte of RAM.
...
The goal of the program is apparently to limit the hardware capabilities of ULPCs so that they don't eat into the market for mainstream PCs running Windows Vista, something both Microsoft and PC vendors would want to avoid.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;222290940;fp;16;fpid;1
If this isn't stifling innovation, I don't know what is.
So now Windows being bundled on these machines is essentially crippling the hardware, and adding overhead to the cost (well it always adds overhead, but on a machine that is $250, Windows is at minimum 10% of the cost)
Is there any market they won't infiltrate. First they show no interest in these tiny cheap PC's, then uh oh Linux is on it, and gasp, undeveloped nations want it. Time to deploy XP on it. Really future proof. /end rant