[CS-FSLUG] Ballmer Blames Software Piracy on Spendy Hardware

[Bradly McConnell]

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 16:55:08 -0600, N. Thompson <n.thomp at sasktel.net> wrote:
> I can't believe I'm hearing such ridiculous things from Microsoft, no
> decent general-use home computer could cost as little as USD $100 and
> there is absolutely no possible way Windows which costs CAD $299.99 for
> XP home is going to sell any better just because a computer will come
> out for USD $100. Unless Microsoft is going to port Windows to
> calculators I don't see how they are going to even be able to get their
> OS to run on such a cheap computer.

They have - they are called PocketPC's.

> I can almost see the e-mails coming in now, people saying that $100 will
> get a decent computer for simple things like browsing the Internet and
> reading e-mail but lets be realistic here, a lot of people use their
> home computers for other stuff such as programming, playing games and
> using OpenOffice.org. Who is going to be able to do any of that and have
> a media player such as QCD running in the background at the same time
> and to take into further consideration how will a machine at that price
> handle KDevelop, or Dev-C++ for the dual booters among us, how about
> compile times, I wouldn't like having to wait several minutes for a
> simple program to compile when it should only take a few seconds or a
> minute at most.

Think about it this way - that person buying a $100 computer will not
be someone who spends their time programming.  $100 computers would
not be much more than the "thin client" type set top boxes that were
attempted a few years ago that ran Windows CE.  If the people can only
afford the $100 computer, then I'm sure they will wait the needed time
for a program to compile.  Remember, there have not always been the
powerhouse computers we take for granted today.  Think of the pre
drive days when someone went out, bought a book full of basic
programs, and happily puched away to put that program in to watch a
">" character shoot a "." across the screen to another "<".

Also consider that without Windows, a large HD, or a lot of RAM, you
can easily pick up a decent computer (enough to do day to day tasks,
but not play UT2004) for less than $400, and that's with a monitor,
keyboard, mouse, and most of the time a printer.  So the $100 mark is
not quite that far off - assuming costs of hardware only.