MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-05-25 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] PC Makers' Love For Linux Boosts Piracy
|
** If You want to read the most stupidest BS story to come out yet, please
continue reading....**
MOST BUYERS ARE SWITCHING TO PIRATED SOFTWARE
PC Makers' Love For Linux Boosts Piracy
PRACHI VERMA
New Delhi The strategy to piggyback on open source Linux platform by
branded computer makers - to keep their PC prices lower to compete with
assembled PCs - is finally paying off.
However, the rising sales of Linux PCs is indirectly increasing the piracy
as most of the users resort to loading a pirated version of operating
systems right after the purchase.
"To bring the prices down, the PC vendors are offering Linux, a cheaper
option to Windows. This is a marketing strategy for them, especially in the
entry level PC market, in order to compete with the assembler PC market,"
IDC Computing analyst and channels research senior analyst Rishi Ghai told
eFE. He adds that most of the PC companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, HCL
and Acer, have entered the PC market with Linux-based machines only a year
ago.
Points out a reseller at Nehru Place (New Delhi), who sells HCL,
Hewlett-Packard and IBM machines, "Open source is a myth. Most of our
customers convert the Linux OS to Windows by buying a pirated Microsoft
Windows CD along with the Linux PCs. MNCs are bundling Linux so that they
can escape the clutches of law."
The Linux-based or open source-based PCs sold in the fiscal 2002-03 was
close to 2 per cent of the total PCs sold up from almost zero base in
2001-02 and this is only rising, says Manufacturers Association of
Information Technology (Mait).
The reason for selling PCs on the Linux platform is quite simple. A Linux
machine helps a user save over Rs 3,500 when compared to a Windows-based PC.
"Though there is no account of the conversion rate to Win-dows from Linux
but my estimate is that it could be as high as 100 per cent," Mait executive
director Vinnie Mehta said. A saving of a couple of thousand bucks for the
user has translated into a loss for Windows (OS) proprietor Microsoft, a
Microsoft official said.
Acer, a hardware company that sells desktop PCs and notebooks in the
country, sees the increase in Linux-based machines over the previous year at
almost as high as 100 per cent. "A Windows-based PC at entry level turns out
to be Rs 3,500 more expensive than a Linux-based entry level PC," Acer India
marketing head S Rajendran told eFE.
According to industry sources, IBM recorded a growth (in its branded Linux
PCs) of 15 per cent in the quarter ending December 2003 compared to a growth
of only 3 per cent in the quarter ending March 2003.
The open-source based IBM PCs turn out to be Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 cheaper
than a Windows-based IBM PC (with almost the same configuration), a senior
IBM official said. IBM is also adding more user-friendly applications on its
open-source based machines.
"The sale of Linux-based PCs is definitely on the rise but one cannot say
with certainty whether these users are sticking to Linux or they pick up a
pirated Windows CD," Mr Mehta said.
Hewlett-Packard (HP), an early entrant in Linux-based PC market, too sees a
rising trend in the number of Linux-based PCs sold in the country. "The
market share of branded PCs is growing and so is the Linux-based PC market
growing," HP country category manager (Consumer Desktop) P Krishnakumar
said.
Microsoft, on the other hand, claims that despite all-odds its market share
in India is intact and growing. It also agrees that grey market for its
Windows OS has been growing at an equal pace or even faster over the last
one year or so.
"The issue here is of piracy. Piracy has been an issue for Microsoft
especially over the last one-and-a-half year," Microsoft business group
leader Karthik Padmanabhan said. One way to tackle this issue by Microsoft
could be to hit the bull's eye: drop the prices of its Windows OS. When
asked if this could be a possibility, he said, "There are no plans to drop
the prices of OS."
URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=59784
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