From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint
On Wed, 2/18/2026 7:48 PM, Axel wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPfMseGsyE4&t=155s
Dell, and others following suite. annoying AI commentary, unfortunately
What are those companies going to do, when they have
no RAM and no storage to put into computers ? I don't
think it will matter much, how they attempt to play
off OS companies against one another in a dive to the
bottom.
It's just possible for once, that Dell and HP are now
irrelevant. Boxed in on many fronts simultaneously,
and unable to escape. You'll notice people in the
newsgroups are buying "mini-pcs", and where is
the response from the established players ? Crickets.
And it's crickets, because they can't compete. They
don't want to make devices for $400, because there
is no Lambo for the CEO if they do that.
They're perfectly happy to make equipment for $1600,
and then they're not counting their pennies. It's the
same for Microsoft and their Surface product line.
Happy to make Premium devices, not happy to dive
to the bottom and make cheap stuff.
You can get Chinese mini-PCs with Windows *Pro* on it.
Riddle me how that is possible!
This is one of the reasons Microsoft is going with
the rentalOS as the Next Step. Then, HP has nothing
to worry about, as the customer will foot the bill.
This will also correct the dynamics of copies of
Windows being available for $20 all over the place.
Where DO all those licenses come from ? Again, people
in the newsgroups have been buying those licenses
for $20, and the licenses seem to be legit. When the
rental scheme comes along, things will be quite different
... for the customer.
I guess what the video tells us, is HP has poor
negotiating skills when it comes to acquiring OEM
licenses for PCs. The price estimate given, is ballpark
what I would expect if someone were asked to estimate
the price. But what's missing from the story, is
the amount of volume discount you can negotiate,
and especially in a time when the computed value
of the OS is not very great. If a lot of the
licenses are going for $20, HP is in the wrong business.
They should sell flowers instead.
Did you know, that for some retail software, you could
negotiate a volume deal all the way down to *10%* of
the retail price ? If Windows were $130 at retail, this would be $13.
It all depends on the strengths of the two companies, and
what their plans are. And Microsoft cannot go this time,
without rent in the picture. Otherwise the shareholders will
be most unhappy with the fortune squandered on LLM-AI.
In current times, the situation is much too dynamic for
this kind of Youtube-AI trash :-)
*******
I'm sick to death of all these videos splicing in pictures of
Bill Gates. Here is why.
https://www.quora.com/How-does-Bill-Gates-have-100-billions-in-stock-if-he-only-owns-1-of-Microsoft
"Despite the explosion of Microsoft's market cap since 2017, Bill Gates' fortune
has not exploded as much, currently standing at $117 billion.
That's a lot of money, but it is not proportional to
Microsoft's success in the stock market.
The reason is simple: Microsoft shares are a minority in Bill Gates' portfolio.
In Bill Gates' portfolio, Berkshire Hathaway shares of his friend
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway account for almost half.
"
In other words, Microsoft is about as important to Bill Gates,
as his ranch is to him. Maybe they should splice in some
pictures of worried pension fund execs :-)
Mr.Gates is still investing, and while there is nominally
a plan to give it away to charities, a lot of what he
does isn't related to the charities thing.
Paul
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
