A cheap PC would be cheaper without an MS tax, unless MS was willing to give Windows away for free to keep Linux from getting a foothold. Sure, the money may no

A cheap PC would be cheaper without an MS tax, unless MS was willing to give Windows away for free to keep Linux from getting a foothold. Sure, the money may not be much, but if you don't perceive a difference in quality, you'll buy the $.98 can of beans over the $.99 one. $115 is hardly a theoretical lower bound to the price of a PC. There are also large organizations that would like to cut costs wherever they can, and can't be expected to make up the Windows tax by installing crapware like a vendor can. The city of Munich is the most well-known example of a big player switching to Linux. The effort was not a complete failure but was something of a disappointment - I don't think Munich ended up saving any money when you consider the labor costs, etc. But if Linux had been ready and the transition had been more successful, you'd see a lot of imitators following Munich's lead. But it's probably a moot point anyway. I think Android will end up swallowing the PC market like a classic disruptive technology and stealing Linux's thunder anyway.