Walmart.com ditches the OS in new PCs

And far fewer people owned or knew how to use them. At my last job one of the
other employees had an ad from 1990 for a 386sx, brand new the price was $9000.
Now systems cost only $400-500 for the desktop with an OS. Prices aren't just
set based on cost to print the media. Software developers had to make their pay
off fewer people.

> True - the floppy disk cost $2.50 and the manual was a couple
> hundred pages.

> > I'll bet a bigger portion of that $180 went into the physical media and
> > documentation than what MS is putting out today. With mass-produced
> > CD's costing under $1 and "documentation" that consists of a 10 page
> > booklet of how to locate the power switch and where to insert the CD for
> > further instructions, I think it's much more of an apples to oranges
> > comparison than you make it sound.

> > > > Windows bootleggers. (BTW, who started using the infamatory term
> > > > piracy? I'll bet it was the BSA putting a ugly-faced marketing spin on
> > > > plain old bootlegging.)
> > >
> > > We were using that term back in the 70's, which was before the BSA was
> > > formed. This was back when the DOS for the TRS-80 cost $180.
> > > Adjusting for inflation that is about $720 today. Makes Windows look
> > > like a pretty good deal . . .