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Do Linux users pay a "Microsoft tax?"
99 comments- TAGS:Apple, Apple Tax, Linux, Macs, microsoft tax, windows pcs
- IT TOPICS:Desktops & Servers, Hardware, Laptops & Netbooks, Linux, Macintosh & Apple, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software, Windows & Microsoft
Steve Ballmer recently caught flack for essentially saying that Apple users pay an Apple tax of $500 for buying Macs compared to PCs. Does that mean that Linux users are forced to pay a Microsoft tax every time they buy a PC with Microsoft software on it?
As I wrote in my blog yesterday, Steve Ballmer claims that when people buy a Mac rather than a PC, they're spending $500 extra, just for a logo on the machine. Ballmer was a bit hyperbolic --- the price difference is generally between $300 and $500, but he essentially was on target.
Preston Gralla's Tax Series:
- How much does the "Apple Tax" really cost?
- Do Apple users pay a Logo tax?
- Do Linux users pay a Microsoft tax?
- Do Windows users pay a Microsoft tax?
- Free software for avoiding the Microsoft tax
Given that most people use their computers mainly for Web browsing, sending and receiving email, listening to music, watching videos, and creating and editing documents, there's not much of a difference between what they do on a PC versus a Mac. So I call the price difference between Macs and PCs an "Apple tax."
One commentor on my blog said Ballmer was being hypocritical, because Linux users are generally forced to pay a "Microsoft tax" when they buy hardware, because major vendors don't sell Linux-based desktops, and so the price of Windows is included when you buy a new PC. Linux users then wipe the hard disk, and install Linux.
I think he's right -- if you want Linux and have to buy a Windows-based PC on which to install it, you're paying a Microsoft tax. That tax, though, isn't nearly as costly as the Apple tax.
How much is the tax? To know that, you need to know how much Microsoft charges PC makers for Windows, and neither Microsoft nor the PC makers are talking. However, the number is most likely between $60 and $100 on desktops and laptops, according to what I've been able to find out. The figure for netbooks is likely far lower.
No one likes to pay extra for hardware, and in an ideal world, it would be easy to buy a bare machine on which you can install your own operating system. But we don't live in that world, and so Linux users generally have to pay the under-$100 Microsoft tax for desktops and laptops, although they can forgo the taxt on netbooks because Linux is widely available on them. The money isn't a bank breaker, and pales next to the $500 Apple tax for some Macs. Still, it would be good if there were a simple way for Linux fans to buy PCs without operating systems and avoid paying the tax.
Update: If your'e a Windows user, you may be paying a Microsoft tax, as I write in a new blog entry.
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