Rodd Clarkson

North Croydon, VIC, Australia

Programmer

It's interesting to compare Sun's offer of a desktop environment, complete of office software, for $50 with Microsoft's recent announcement that they will make a cut down version of Windows in an attempt to make it cheaper for the Asian market.

In one case, Sun is up-ing the ante, saying you don't need to buy the OS, and then the office software, the server software - all the basic needs are included.

In the other case, Microsoft is saying that the only way they can lower the cost of their software is to remove features.

It's not a very clever way to say you can compete, and closer analysis would suggest that what Microsoft is really saying is the only way they can compete is to tempt you with cheap software and then get you to buy the software you need after you're hooked.

At the end of the day Microsoft isn't actually offering a better deal, just a cheaper option to start with. If you need Office, or a Web server, you'll still have to pay for them later.

Kudos to the NHS for looking for ways to put more money into services and less into software.