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Comment by brudgers | Hacker News Reader

As I mentioned common open source productivity software runs on Windows. That includes Gimp, Emacs etc. - not that I believe that Munich is rolling out 14000 development/graphics boxes. The comparison does not appear to be between equivalent specifications. It's assuming that Windows requires Office. That's simply false.

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For most people/IT departments, dependence on Office is the only reason they hand Microsoft a dime for Windows.

If you're not using Office or other Windows-only productivity software, why pay the Windows licensing fee?

Retraining costs, mostly. The crowd on HN can sometimes forget that your average computer user, even one that uses it professionally - database entry, or just using some enterprise software daily - is literally hard coded trained to click on specific buttons in specific places on Windows, with nill comprehension of what they do, and if given any alternative layout would immediately stop and be unable to function.

Why do you think Windows 8 has seen such enterprise backlash?

Don't understand your point. An office PC will need an office suite. And if you've got Microsoft in your door, guess what will it be?

Office not being available for Linux does not imply that Office is required by Windows. The difference between platforms is the availability of Office and it's cheap and easy to use something other than Office on a Windows machine, don't buy Office and install the other thing instead.

AutoCad isn't available for Linux either, but it no less sense rolling it into the price of a Windows license than Office.

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