Estimated costs and relative value

[elfs]

A top-of-the-line Linux distribution (Ubuntu being the current example) costs about ten million dollars a year to produce, whereas Vista costs an estimated two billion dollars a year to produce.

Is Vista a better operating system than Linux? For the average consumer, to a great degree it probably is: it's more polished and provides more raw operating services, although acquiring the software needed to make Vista productive drive up purchasing costs significantly. Is it two hundred times better than Linux?

No. And that's Microsoft's biggest problem.

Linux's biggest problem, on the other hand, is the slow evolution away from desktops and laptops to small, locked devices like cell phones and portable music players with hardware-based DRM, the licenses for which will lock everyone else out of the development market.

Comments

[hydrolagus.livejournal.com]

If my friend's test-drive of Vista is any measure, playing Solitaire may be out unless the buyer is willing to upgrade their machine. His bogged down. On Solitaire. It's 3-D accelerated.