Welcome to the black hole that is Windows bulk discounts.
Some years back a slide made it online that supposedly showed the kind of discounts Dell and others got from MS.
I think the prices were down to 1/10 of retail for both Windows and Office combined.
Then on top of that they get all kinds of payments for bundling Symantec 30 day packages etc.
At the tail end of the Netbook craze, Dell managed to release 3 models. 2 Windows and 1 Ubuntu Linux.
Crazy thing was that you could get a $100 rebate on the Windows models. And if you tried to up-spec the Ubuntu model it would cost slightly more than the top end Windows model even before rebate.
The unit margins are razor thin, and Linux do not provide the economic alternatives that Windows does right now.
The Linux variants also cost more in terms of component testing, stock keeping and (especially) support, given that these costs are spread over a much smaller number of sales.
OEM price for Windows for a top 10 vendor was about $45, with the US Justice Department forbidding Microsoft from doing special deals. I don't know what's happened since the 10-year supervision was lifted.
The netbook price was around $11-$15 for "Windows XP Home for Ultra Low Cost PCs" edition, but with heavy limitations on the hardware spec needed to qualify for that price. Since the netbook OEMs charged third parties for bundling software, they could make a decent profit on the OS.
Sure, but it would great if they had a Linux version of every compatible laptop they sell. Even though the investment would not pay directly, one could be confident that specific model would work with Linux because there is a Linux variant.
The last Dell I bought came with Linux preinstalled. I would be happy to pay a little more for a Linux-certified machine, but, unfortunately, the only ones they offer are worse values than their Apple counterparts.
Some years back a slide made it online that supposedly showed the kind of discounts Dell and others got from MS.
I think the prices were down to 1/10 of retail for both Windows and Office combined.
Then on top of that they get all kinds of payments for bundling Symantec 30 day packages etc.
At the tail end of the Netbook craze, Dell managed to release 3 models. 2 Windows and 1 Ubuntu Linux.
Crazy thing was that you could get a $100 rebate on the Windows models. And if you tried to up-spec the Ubuntu model it would cost slightly more than the top end Windows model even before rebate.
The unit margins are razor thin, and Linux do not provide the economic alternatives that Windows does right now.