WHY DID MICROSOFT ENTER THE CONSOLE RACE?

[bdbdbd]

ironman said:

bdbdbd said:




Yes i was. It's hard to find sub-1000€ Mac laptops, not to speak cheap custom-made laptops. So, i rather pay 75€ extra for a product i don't want, than 500€ extra for another product i don't want.

You obviously aren't getting it; Micro$ofts monopoly is in the PC market where they sell their operating systems to hardware vendors, who sell the operating systems bundled with the hardware. Since the majority of PC:s are sold new in a store, with Windows on them, there's not much market for rest of the OS manufacturers.

We could prove that M$ doesn't have a monopoly, by pointing out that anyone can write their own OS:s.

Just because something is possible, it doesn't mean that something is a real option.

How many times must I explain this to you. You were able to get that mac you wanted. Also, One can build a decent PC wiithout and OS for about $400. There are also Netbooxs with linux on them, sold in virtually all the big box retailers. So...explain to me again how MS has any sort of a Monopoly?

The netbooks all have Windows XP on them.

M$ has a monopoly, because Windows is the only OS that is sold to hardware vendors.

Monopoly doesn't mean that the one with monopoly would be the only option available, it's about the market share. Now, M$ doesn't have a monopoly in the sense, that it would be the only OS manufacturer, it has a virtual monopoly, where the other manufacturers play only a marginal part and M$ operates above the market level, where the consumer doesn't have an option to choose.

Basically the situation would be similar if all the car manufacturers used Bosch manufactured ABS units and ECU:s. The consumer would be able to buy any car they like, but the electronics would still come from one company and tuning shops would offer you Mitsubishi electronics, if you're not happy with what Bosch has to offer. Of course, it would kill the warranty if you did that. And, then you'd have a third option, a luxury car maker, that has its own electronics, but the car costs twice the amount of other manufacturers cars.