Still, I like it Naked
April 26, 2006
Last month, the Beijing Copyright Bureau revealed that it would be banning sales of computers without having a legitimate os pre-installed. The announcement was made prior to Hu’s visit to the US and was immediately followed by Tsinghhua Tongfang’s purchase of US$180 million worth of licenses from Microsoft for its Windows os. Tsinghua Tongfang is the No 3 personal computer maker in China. Although being merely a goodwill gesture to our powerful creditor, the policy will eventually force us to shell out a few hundred yuan more for something we don’t need when buying a personal computer.
The fight against piracy can never be accomplished in a economic vacuum; the price difference between a naked computer and a computer with “Genuine Microsoft Windows” pre-installed still means weeks, if not months, of wages for a majority of people in developing countries. Arguably, companies who are charging lofty U.S. prices for their products in developing countries, are contributing to the very problem they are trying so hard to stomp out. A Big Mac costs US$1.2 here in China, over US$3.5 in euro countries and around US$3.0 in America. Maybe its time for those who complain about piracy to start thinking about copying McDonald’s pricing strategy.
I have never bought a computer with software pre-installed ever since my first Intel 8088 33MHz DOS box. And with the growing influence of open-source, it is becoming increasingly attractive to have it naked.
| Products | Off-the Rack Valentino suits | Naked Alternatives | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| OS | XP Pro | Suse 10 | should try out Ubuntu |
| Software Update | Microsoft Update | YaST | |
| Web Browser | Internet Explorer | Firefox | why settle for the 2nd best and a non-compliance browser |
| Office Productivity | Microsoft Office | Open Office 2.0 | complete with the addition of “Base” in 2.0 |
| Image Editor | Adobe Photoshop | GIMP | |
| Image Viewer | Microsoft Photo Editor | ImageMagick | |
| Media Player | iTune | RealPlayer | |
| PDF Writer | Adobe Acrobat 7.0 | Ghostscript 8.53 | |
| Personal Web Server | IIS 6.0 | Apache 2.2 | |
| SQL Server | Microsoft SQL Server Express | mySQL 5.0 | |
| SQL Server Admin | Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio | phpMyAdmin | |
| Online Shopping Cart | Microsoft Commerce Manager | osCommerce | |
| HTML Editor | Frontpage | Bluefish | |
| Anti-spyware | Zone Alarm Antispyware | Not Req’d | |
| Total Cost | >US$2,500 | Nil |
Incidentally, despite Gates recent assertion that the open source community is “sort of modern day communists”, Microsoft went on to incorporate open-source codes into its upcoming Microsoft Expression.(Read the product’s EULA if you are interested). Apparently, open source is BAD until Microsoft starts using it!
PS Here is one more reason to switch to Firefox.
Posted to General at April 26, 2006 03:41 PM :
Furl It!
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