Microsofts new way of bashing Linux

[Chanchao]

On Fri, 2006-06-16 at 17:18 +1000, Alexander Jacob Tsykin wrote:

> > Microsoft make more money because they were able to convince people that
> > software is the same kind of product as any material goods.
> >
> and there is a solid argument to be made for this

Yes, absolutely. Especially outside of Western markets, it's already
very difficult to be charging money for something that you can't really
touch & feel, such as software. At least there's a box, a CD, manuals, a
T-shirt..  If you give software away and charge for something even LESS
touchable such as 'support' then that's very, very hard. 

Note that when I take my car to the shop and a mechanic works on it for
a full day, then I DON'T find an item 'labour' on my bill.  The mechanic
knows that people here don't like paying for such things, so all of his
profit is hidden in the price for parts. 

Same when I go to the doctor.  Treatment is virtually free ($2, if
that), but a trip to a doctor for just about anything will result in
several kinds of brightly colored pills, even when they're just
paracetamol and vitamine C.. that's where he makes the profit.

Now in such an environment, go try to live off providing software and
support..... :)

Cheers,
Chanchao