Pete Stean wrote: > Ah, the Dell Inspiron 6400 which they are selling retails for £359+ > depending on features such as memory etc. > > The irony of course is that this machine is *no cheaper* than the > Vista-loaded equivalent... why are they not prepared to pass on the > licence cost saving to the consumer? And who would buy a Ubuntu > machine when they can get a Vista machine for the same price (knowing, > of course, that a free Ubuntu install can be put on the machine with > no problems...)? Way to go, Dell UK :| > > Pete Pete,
Nik's already re-iterated the point that, to break even for Dell, they'd need to INCREASE the price of the Ubuntu PC, because the crapware revenue for installing stuff like McAfee exceeds the cost of getting a Vista licence! (Nik - A company I was a non-exec for a couple of years of was looking to provide a 30-day trial of one of its products with Dell - I'm NDAd from giving details, but your analysis strikes me as accurate.) One thing that may be worth playing up is something like: "This PC is available with one of two options: - Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Office £300 extra) - Ubuntu Linux and Open Office" To respond to those who may point out that the customer could install OOo for Windows 1: There IS a genuine value in receiving a pre-configured machine with the office suite ready to go. Most people place a non-zero value on their time. (If you don't, I'm be delighted for you to come and work for me :-) ) 2: If you consider that one of the benefits of Windows is the amount of Free software available for it, feel free to make such a declaration :-) Mark -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
