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3 points of interest:
Recently Micheal Dell has said that the company is morphing into a services firm to compete more with IBM, rather than take on Lenovo and its hardware. This would be a major de-emphasis on the PC. Dell PCs would still be sold, but not headlined.
It appears Dell is now trying to privatize. Marketing the company to private equity investors.
Rumors are that Microsoft may be interested in a stake ($3 billion is being mentioned).
My predictions (If Microsoft does in fact buy a big chunk of Dell):
Within a year or two the hardware business is spun-off to Microsoft completely.
Microsoft branded PC's are born.
Microsoft stores pop-up near every Apple store.
One or two of the big PC makers abandon ship completely or switch to Chromebooks (or similar).
Linux zealots claim yet again that this is their time to shine. Market share rises from 1.35% to 1.36%.
Most of the hardcore Microsoft zealots / Apple haters here at CP rave about how wonderful it is to get hardware and software from the same source. 
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Mike Mullikin wrote: Most of the hardcore Microsoft zealots / Apple haters here at CP rave about how wonderful it is to get hardware and software from the same source
until they realize that that $600 dell is now a $1200 machine that is exactly the same....
Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder
Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
You can't scare me, I have children.
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gavindon wrote: is exactly the same....
If only. 
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gavindon wrote: until they realize that that $600 dell is now a $1200 machine that is exactly the same....
I'm confused. How exactly does the hardware and software coming from the same source raise the price of the hardware?
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Because they can...
Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder
Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
You can't scare me, I have children.
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gavindon wrote: Because they can...
Ummm... they could double the price of Windows and Office and save themselves the headaches of buying a part of Dell.
Apple builds great hardware (whether you believe it or not). They offer excellent support. In many cases, they charge a premium for it. The fact that OS X is married to the hardware does not cause the price to increase.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Mike Mullikin wrote: The fact that OS X is married to the hardware does not cause the price to
increase.
But how can we be sure? But isn't OSX pretty darn cheap? And one could build a hackintosh?
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PIEBALDconsult wrote: But how can we be sure?
I guess I can't but common sense is in my favor.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Ah, see common sense gets thrown out the window.
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PIEBALDconsult wrote: And one could build a hackintosh?
I doubt that. Certainly in the past anyone that has tried has been sued into the ground.
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I'm not saying mass-producing them for sale.
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Mike Mullikin wrote: The fact that OS X is married to the hardware does not cause the price to increase.
No, but causes the price of any other software you want to use increase.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: causes the price of any other software you want to use increase.
 How so?
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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I've got several apps on my android that are free. The same apps are not free for my iToy.
The "apple tax" is quite high.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: The same apps are not free for my iToy.
The same exact app from the same publisher? Or a similar app? Could you provide a couple examples?
If the same app, one needs to ask why? Why would a given developer or publisher give away their work on one platform and charge money on a different platform?
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Mike Mullikin wrote: Why would a given developer or publisher give away their work on one platform
and charge money on a different platform?
To affect market share. Maybe one "store" charges developers more than the other. Or getting certification in one requires more effort. There could be lots of reasons.
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One that you've certainly heard of is VLC.
The full version is free on all platforms except apple's.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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What is your theory to why?
Any idea if there is a Windows Phone 8 version of VLC?
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Mike Mullikin wrote: The fact that OS X is married to the hardware does not cause the price to increase.
are you sure?
mac(from apple store):
Quote: 15-inch: 2.3GHz
2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (7 hours)2
In Stock
Free Shipping
$1,799.00
vs an asus from ebay[^] at US $1,235.58
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It's been my experience that Apple hardware design, build quality and support is better than anything Asus offers but you are obviously free to make your own choice.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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I agree totally, I used to work for a software publishing firm in the early 80's and we had Apple II and IBM PC products. The IBM software was sold for twice what the Apple software sold for, even though it was essentially the same code. I asked the president/owner why that was, his answer, "Because we can."
Psychosis at 10
Film at 11
Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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In itself it doesn't. MS marketing will do this.
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So they are not buying it to get access to the server division so they can start to really pump their cloud offerings without having to outsource the hardware....
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Also Dell produces tablets...
Given how far behind the competition they are on the hardware side, I'm surprised MS hasn't acquired something sooner. That said, while Ballmer is in charge, I'm not that surprised.
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