[nflug] can you beleave it

[Stephen]

"According to an Ars Technica report Microsoft will begin selling 
complete PCs, for the first time in the company's history. The program 
is aimed at customers in India. 'Dubbed the IQ PC, the machines will 
cost RS21,000 (about $525), are manufactured in partnership with Zenith, 
and will sport AMD Athlon CPUs. ... In some ways, the move to sell 
hardware is a natural extension of Microsoft's low-cost Windows 
initiative ... It may also be a response to projects like Intel's 
Classmate PC and the OLPC XO.' The Ars Technica summary is careful to 
state that they seriously doubt this will lead to Microsoft selling PCs 
in the US, yet the question must be asked: After Microsoft mice and 
keyboards, then the XBOX and Zune, Microsoft is increasingly becoming a 
hardware vendor. Is it only a question of time before Microsoft starts 
to compete directly with the likes of Dell and HP?"
-- 
Thank you
Stephen