Microsoft and the Desktop

From iTnews: “A growing trend of ultra-cheap computers is threatening to damage Microsoft’s hold on the desktop software market by attacking the core market to which Windows and Microsoft Office actually sell: PC bundles. Microsoft sells the majority of its Windows and Office licenses preinstalled with new PCs, but as PC prices fall–to as low as US$200 a box this year–the cost of Windows and Office licenses, as a percentage of the total system cost–is rising dramatically. That’s causing PC makers to look at alternatives in ever increasing numbers, to both of Microsoft’s core products.”