Re: [tlug] Re: Post my article on tlug.jp?

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007, Lyle H Saxon wrote:

> Does that include an "essentially" free copy of MS-Office Professional?

Nope.

> And your time - do you consider yourself to be more effectively using
> your time with Windows than with Linux?

I almost never use Windows, so obviously it doesn't suck up much of my
time. For me, though, Windows system administration is certainly much
more expensive than Unix.

> How about a company of many thousands of employees?  Do you consider
> the licensing fees they pay for MS-Windows and MS-Office to be
> "essentially" free?

Nope. Unlike me, if they decided not to use Windows, they would actually
spend less money. (I spend the same whether I use it or not, at least
when it comes to laptops.)

> > They only way you could argue that Windows was not free to me is if you
> > could find a plausable way that I could have saved money by not getting
> > Windows. That way doesn't exist, ergo, for the purposes of my economic
> > decision, it was free.
>
> That's a good piece of sophistry there, but it still wasn't actually
> free.

That's not sophistry; it's what I hope is a sensible economic analysis
of the situation. Keep in mind that the original point of all of this
was to look at how people made the decision to use or not use Windows.
The original article said that people were paying $200 to use Windows
over Linux. That seems to me a grossly flawed analysis: for almost all
laptops, and most systems from major vendors such as Dell and HP, the
end total cash outlay by the user is the same whether they use Windows
or Linux is the same.

> Microsoft sold the OS to the manufacturer and the manufacturer passed
> that cost on to you. Because it wasn't itemized and because you don't
> think about it doesn't mean it was free.

But I did think about it! I know well that some of the money I spend on
my laptop went to MS. But again, the bottom line of what I pay is the
same either way.

cjs
--
Curt Sampson       <cjs@example.com>        +81 90 7737 2974
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