[TriLUG] Re: Frustrated MS users turn to Linux, Apple

[John Franklin]

On Tuesday, August 13, 2002, at 06:54  AM, Greg Brown wrote:
> software from MIcrosoft does this rule out Mac laptops?  The other 
> question
> is does Microsoft make any money from Apple when a new Mac is sold (for 
> the
> IE software)?  If they don't then I suppose I can still purchase the 
> Mac and
> immediatly rip out IE as step on - or better yet - contact Apple as ask 
> them
> to ship a custom burn of OS X without IE, which I doubt they'll do.

If they don't make any money, it's a moot point.  As you noted, you can 
trivially drop IE in the trash.  Under Mac OS X, it's just another 
application, not an "integral part of the OS."  If they do, then it 
would cost more for Apple to account for shipping one person an IE-free 
version of Mac OS X than it would cost them to send Microsoft the 
license fee.  Besides, the MS-Apple relationship, AIUI, is a lot more 
complicated than a straight-forward 25c license fee per copy of IE 
shipped.  My understanding is there's a lot of quid-pro-quo going on 
between the two of them.  And it may very well be that Apple is getting 
the 25c from MS for distributing it.

While I applaud the attempt to avoid MS products, I would be less picky 
in this case.  When your web log entries show you installed OmniWeb, 
Mozilla, Netscape, iCab or Opera and use it over the provided IE, that 
is stronger statement than trying to get one copy of Mac OS X sans IE.  
Further, getting a Macintosh or going all Linux/*BSD denies them any 
revenue from OS licensing, and diminishes the value of the SDKs and IDEs 
that they sell to third-parties.

jf
--
John Franklin
franklin at elfie.org
ICBM: 35°43'56"N 78°53'27"W