Microsoft won’t cut Windows price to beat Linux

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” Microsoft will not cut the price on its Windows operating system to compete with a $199 personal computer that runs rival operating software, the number one software company’s CEO said yesterday.

Walmart.com, the online shopping site of the nation’s largest retailer Wal-Mart, has been selling a $199 personal computer — monitor and modem not included — that runs the Lindows operating system.

LindowsOS, from San Diego, California-based Lindows.com, is based on the Linux operating system, which is a free, open source operating system that is increasingly being used by large corporations for back-end systems. But it has made few inroads in PCs.

The computer is made by Microtel Computer Systems and runs on a microprocessor from VIA Technologies, the Taiwan chip-maker.

“Somebody is subsidising that hardware. Somebody is losing — people know what power supplies and processors cost,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at a Gartner technology conference here.”

Link: ITWeb

Category:

  • Linux