Re: [tlug] linux notebooks, virtualization, windows

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Edward Middleton writes:

 > My understanding is that vendors are charged a fixed rate based on
 > the number of machines they ship,

Sure.  It's basically the same as a site license: you *might* use it,
so you *gotta* pay for it.  I'm sure the rate they get is quite a bit
cheaper than even wholesale price for shrink-wrapped boxes too.  So
it's hard to see how even a regulator with teeth (ie, the U.S. FTC or
the EC's Antimonopoly Commission) could object to it.  "Old Toothless"
here sure won't.

What's interesting is that despite a certain amount of demand for bare
boxes or Linux preinstalls, which surely are a lot cheaper (read
"costless") to do aftercare for, companies like Dell refuse to do it.

I know that the headline system on all the flyers that end up in my
mailbox is always a Linux system.  But these aren't personal
workstations, really, they're multi-chip, multi-core scientific
workstations, so maybe it's a different market.