Microsoft lost me at activation. I noticed you didn't list any activation woes in there....you don't have to activate with *most* flavors of Linux. (RHEL and SLES are going down that route.)
Here's something I wrote awhile back on activation. How much money has Microsoft cost the USA since Windows XP has been released? My co-workers and I were having a discussion the other day. They were trying to figure out sysprep, the tool used by OEM's for Windows activation. They spent 2 days working on trying to make a Windows image that would not require activation. Of course, I informed them that it is possible to work with Microsoft on creating such an image as long as legalities are taken care of. But they still needed to learn sysprep and it's options. Not because sysprep is a great tool for Out Of Box Experience (OOBE), but because they need to understand how activation works and what is involved. But why? Why would people need to learn about activation and how it works? That's right, Microsoft said so...and companies have followed suit. I have refused to use Microsoft's operating systems since WinXP locked me out for upgrading my computer too many times (yes, I called MS and was told too bad). I gave Vista a try (work gave me a free *legal* copy)...hoping that MS has fixed the issues. Nope, two upgrades later and I'm locked out (although I could use the computer for limited use, I didn't bother calling MS this time around. Been there, done that). So, I'm on Ubuntu Linux now....I find I don't need Windows. Anyway, enough about me...let's talk about how much Microsoft's Windows Activation has cost the world...specifically, let's talk about the USA's cost. Microsoft started activation to stop piracy...well, lessen piracy. They wanted to stop the casual copier and wanted to make people more aware of what they thought was a serious problem costing them millions of dollars a year. So, they made the decision to include activation, and consequently pass that millions in savings as costs to the end-user. Don't believe me? Let's look at the facts. Fact number one is: Activation takes time to learn by technicians. Yes, people who need to build computers need to learn about Windows activation. This means that every computer technician out there who works on Windows needs to understand activation. Any technician involved in building new systems must spend time to learn activation. With that said, how many technicians are we speaking about and how much time are we talking here? According to the Department of Labor, over 500,000 people are computer support specialists. Now, it would be irresponsible to say that 100% of those people need to learn product activation...I mean, there's at least 10% out there that don't touch Windows at all. So, I am going to go conservative here and say that 60% of the people in the field will know about Windows activation and how it works. That is 300,000 people. In order to understand sysprep and how it works, the time to learn is about 2 hours. That is reading and understanding, not testing and proving. So, 300,000 * 2 = 600,000 hours. Don't stop there...we need to take that time to learn and convert it to dollars. Again, I want to be conservative. Support desk personnel are the lowest paid in this area. Yes, that is a fact. So, let's use their salary to determine the LEAST amount of money Microsoft has cost the country. The lowest wage reported on the DOL site is $25,290/year. Converted to hourly rate, 40 hours/week * 52 weeks / year equals 2080 hours per year (with no paid vacations). Now, divide $25,290 by 2080 hours and you get $12.15 per hour. So, lowest cost for today's workforce to just learn Windows activation: $7,290,000. Windows XP was released in 2001...it is now 2008. In 7 years, Microsoft has cost the United States of America at least $7.29 million. Wow. That is a lot of money to support another company's method of piracy prevention. Fact number two is: Activation takes time. Yes, believe it or not, it does take time. At some point in the process of building a PC and loading Windows, the system had to be activated. There are workarounds, such as activations tied to BIOS strings and so on...but those methods also require time to develop, negotiate, and implement. Now, time can vary significantly here. It can be as simple as 1 minute for online activation to 10 minutes on a phone call with Microsoft explaining why you need to activate your computer. For simplicity sake, I am going to say 1 minute for every copy of Windows XP sold in the United States of America. Remember, I'm keeping this limited to USA expense, not worldwide. Worldwide would be much more time. Anyway, let's say 1 minute for each copy of Windows XP sold in the United States of America. Let's also keep in mind that Windows Server 2003, Server 2008, and Windows Vista are not being included in these numbers. This is a bare minimum estimate. According to Wikipedia, there are an estimated 400,000,000 copies of Windows XP in use as of 2006. That's not 400 million sold, that's 400 million in use. That is also not 400 million in the USA. Unfortunately, finding the magic number here is becoming difficult. So, I'll go with 25% of the 400,000,000 to try and play it safe. Now, when you multiply that out, that's 100,000,000 minutes for activation alone. I want to be fair here. So, I'm going with minimum wage as the “price point” for people's time spent on activating Windows. That is 5.75/hour, or 9.6 cents a minute. Now, multiply that 9.6 cents by 100 million minutes....*drum roll*....that is $9,600,000spent by people just to take that extra step to activate. $9.6 million spent on taking the actual step of activating. So, Microsoft has cost the United States $7.29 million plus $9.6 million, or $16.89 million dollars to protect their product. Now, I am not going to go into the value of Windows XP...there are arguments on both sides for and against the product. The argument here is simple: Are you okay with Microsoft using $16.89 million of your time to prevent piracy? Has their piracy prevention reduced cost of their product as they originally intended? Was that cost passed to you, the user? I would love to say “Yes”...but that is simply not the fact. The fact is that Windows XP has been at a steady price point for the longest time. It has not come down in price, it has gone up. If piracy was to save the consumer money, where did it do so? Yes, large computer companies like Dell, HP, and IBM have negotiated price cuts on Windows product. They can get the product as low as $25.00 a license. Heck, my brother even let me know that Microsoft negotiated licenses at $17.00 a system for his workforce. Not a bad price at all! But think about this: Does that make it to the end-user? If a computer manufacturer negotiates a lower price for Windows, does the end-user see the price break from the company? No, the company pockets more money. You can experiment with that by going to any manufacturer's website and configuring your own computer. Make a selection between Windows XP Home and Windows XP Pro...do you really think the manufacturer is paying that $100.00 price tag on Windows? No, they are not. Just take a look for Windows XP Pro at sites like DirectDeals.com...notice the difference between Home ($93.41) and Pro ($152.92). Is it $100.00? The answer is no. The bottom line is that, no matter who argues it, the facts are that Windows activation did not protect prices to the consumer at any point in time. It only costs money...both in support and in participation, not to even mention the amount of money in development. Truly think about how much Windows activation has cost the world. In the USA, the price is at least $16.89million. I am willing to bet that, worldwide, the price goes over $100 million. And not one penny has been passed to the consumer, it has been sitting in corporate pockets. Now, I don't blame those corporations...they had to make some money. But when you think about it all...the grand picture....activation has not lowered the cost to the consumer as intended. And don't even get me started on how much Microsoft makes every year. We, consumers, think there are no choices. For the average consumer, there are literally thousands of choices. MacIntosh and Linux are your choices. If you go the Linux route, you don't have to pay another $100.00 for your office suite. But that is another story that involves corporate ignorance leading to self-sabotage and forced overhead. Someday, I will cover that story too...as activation plays a significant part in that arena as well. Until next time, enjoy your Windows OS and remember that we, the people, have been paying for it. (Didn't we make laws for that?) Sources: Department of Labor – Computer Support Specialists and Systems Administrators http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos268.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
