--- Bill McGonigle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Apr 18, 2005, at 17:45, Randy Edwards wrote: > > > IMHO, the worst aspect of them is the fact > > that they're from Wal-Mart (insert disclaimer about > union-busting, > > hyper-exploitation of workers, etc., here). > <snip>
> I'm somewhat surprised they're selling non-windows > machines. At their > volumes they ought to be able to get XPHome for $14. I > know they're > big into cutting out as much cost as possible, but I > wonder if there > isn't more here to this story. >From what I understand, they have the volume to dictate terms (i.e. for some of their products, they represent as much as 20% of the sales). And they are agressive on lowest cost. And willing to NOT sell a product. Remember they don't sell Windows, they sell someone else's PC. Result: They will tell HP, etc, "sell for my price or else" - and do it. What can MS, HP, IBM, etc do to them? Tell them "we won't sell to you?" OK, so they sell someone else's product. Which they do. > > If they _can_ cut Microsoft out of the loop, WalMart > might be planning > on owning the home market, or a least one strata of it. > Once you have > that there are all sorts of potentials. It's not cutting MS out of the loop. Walmart doesn't care about MS, they care about selling home PC's. MS happens to be one piece of it. Just like they don't care what pieces are in a bike they sell, or who's name is on it. They care "is it a bike that our customers will buy? Is it the cheapest possible?" If yes to both, sell. If not, find the one that is. MS's problem is they're trying to make money selling "name brand" wood screws. To people who want to buy a house. Do you know the manufacturer of the wood screws that are in your house? Do you care? > > Does anybody know if WalMart is FLOSS on the inside? > Not a clue, but given thir costing, wouldn't be surprised. jeff _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
