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• Windows vs Linux, take 346,782

  Posted on March 9, 2009 at 08:43 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I just read Paul Thurrot’s blog, taking John Dvorak to task for ripping Microsoft about the outrageous price of Windows and Office. Dvorak’s conclusion:

  I can get a complete Intel motherboard with an Atom processor, ready to install in a box, for about $100. All I need is a $30 memory module, an inexpensive hard disk ($50) and a case/power supply ($75). For $255, I can have a pretty nice cheap machine. Now I have to add the most basic version of Windows for $199? And Office for another $399 (standard no-frills edition)?

  Let’s add this up: Hot little computer: $255. Basic low-end Microsoft software: $598.

  What’s wrong with this picture?

  Paul notes that you can get Windows Home Basic for much less money. (He’s right, but who in their right mind runs Windows Home Basic?) You can get Office Student & Teacher for less, too. When I do the math, I come up with $120 for Vista and $90 for Office. That means the software for a bare-bones system costs almost as much as the hardware.

  What’s wrong with this picture, indeed?

  Just last week I published an article in Windows Secrets Newsletter that describes a screaming Windows 7 machine that I put together while working on my Windows 7 book. The whole thing cost $295 (not including the monitor). It’s easy – you can do it, too, if you know what to look for. (The article is in the paid version of the newsletter, but you can subscribe for any amount you care to donate.)

  What John says is absolutely true: increasingly, Microsoft is pricing itself out of the game. Sorry, Paul, but them’s the facts. It’s like the old maxim about a five dollar horse and a ten dollar saddle – except nowadays that five dollar horse looks more and more like a Kentuck Derby contender.

  Microsoft is facing very serious competition from Linux. And more and more, it’s hard to beat free.

  Other Linux, price, Windows 7