Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android

Posted Mar 22, 2011 20:02 UTC (Tue) by klbrun (subscriber, #45083)
In reply to: Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android by forlwn
Parent article: Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android

>No one can sell for less than total cost plus a profit margin.

Have you checked the price of a browser recently?

Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android

Posted Mar 22, 2011 21:02 UTC (Tue) by martinfick (guest, #4455) [Link] (1 responses)

If it's free, it isn't sold.

Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android

Posted Mar 22, 2011 22:22 UTC (Tue) by klbrun (subscriber, #45083) [Link]

But it is not free to develop a browser. A commercial company providing a browser for free is operating at a loss. Of course, it is sometimes in the strategic interest of the company to do so; presumably profits in other areas make up for the loss. I have heard it is common in retail to have a "loss leader" to bring in customers, who then also buy regular priced items.

Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android

Posted Mar 22, 2011 22:22 UTC (Tue) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

Or the price of beer in the UK?

Several supermarkets are allegedly selling it for less than the taxes on it.

Cheers,
Wol

Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android

Posted Mar 23, 2011 9:16 UTC (Wed) by oldtomas (guest, #72579) [Link]

> Have you checked the price of a browser recently?

Have you checked the price of malware recently?

Sad as it sounds: browsers are taking the place of malware more and more. "Loss leaders" is the technical term, AFAIR.

Yes, the intentions of the Mozilla Foundation may be laudable (and they are buying us a couple of years: hadn't Microsoft busted it by killing Netscape off too early, in its unlimited greed, we'd possibly be at that point by now), but the vulnerability of this whole construction to corporate greed is just mind-numbing:

Users are not the clients. Users are the wares.

Microsoft sues Barnes and Noble over Android

Posted Mar 24, 2011 4:09 UTC (Thu) by forlwn (guest, #63934) [Link]

That's like the coffee and sugar. You pay the first and get the second but you cannot ask for the later and leave.
Firefox is free but is useless without an os.