On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:59:20 -0700, Chambers wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> MS' answer to that growth is to make it more difficult to pirate.  I
>> think it would be interesting if they made Windows *free* (as in 0 cost
>> to the consumer) and allowed it to be copied.
> 
> They would lose their biggest single source of revenue, and with it the
> incentive to develop it further.

I think the combined revenue for their applications probably either is 
(or could be) their largest source of revenue.

> Think Windows Vista is bad now?  Imagine how bad things would be 10
> years from now, if MS's development budget were slashed in half.

Depends on how they structure the business.  If the apps fed into the OS 
development stream and the apps were successful enough, then it could be 
self-reinforcing.

And it's hard for me to believe I'm saying this, since I advocate(d) 
breaking MS up and splitting the OS and apps into two separate entities.

Jim

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