Looks like yanking your chain eventually paid off. Thanks for the reply.

Your comment refers ……”The term “cheapskate” does not apply here. It would apply, for example, to someone using Linux and FOSS applications to provide sub-optimal performance and utility in order to save the cost of a more convenient and conventional Windows computer solution.”

So tell me are these specs for your Kindle fire wrong:

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Amazon-Kindle-Fire_id6185/fullspecs

I don’t see any mention of windows OS.

As far as I know android is based on linux so what exactly is your point ?

You are a nettlesome twit, Mr. JR, and I would ordinarily continue to ignore your babbling but you make so many errors in such a short post that it screams for a reply.

First, I have a Kindle Fire that I have mentioned on a number of occasions, including this one, as a great device for mobile access to internet web pages and web service apps from many sources including my bank, insurance company, E*Trade, and Netflix and Hulu. A fascinating device at a low price! Superior to the iPad in many respects, particularly size and weight, for meeting my needs. It also plays Angry Birds every bit as well as the iPad.

It is a poor choice for use outdoors in sunlight or even the sort of shade obtained from umbrellas or patio covers. Hence the need for the other type of Kindle.

The term “cheapskate” does not apply here. It would apply, for example, to someone using Linux and FOSS applications to provide sub-optimal performance and utility in order to save the cost of a more convenient and conventional Windows computer solution. However, once one has established the winner in some frame of reference, seeking the lowest price available is not an application of “cheapskate”. Even Mr. Pogson would agree about that.

I obtained a current production model Kindle in an unblemished condition at a distress sale price from a dissatisfied user who wanted to read email and who had purchased the wrong device for that. I wanted to read books outdoors, so I was pleased with the opportunity. That is not being a cheapskate by any means.

Yes, oldman prompted that. Offers that were public in USA are not available in Canada. If a business does not offer a price in public schools are not going to bother phoning them up. Most schools buy retail. It may be different for school-division IT departments but schools often have no purchasing agent etc. who has the time to talk. I have never seen one of M$’s salesmen pay $hundreds for an air-ticket to a school in the bush for possibly $0. One can buy retail licences from M$ for about half the usual price but that is still too high for many schools. They can get PCs for $0 plus freight with XP and such. The major cost to schools for having XP run is not the licence fee but the service. The last school where I worked had half the XP machines piled up in the lab because they would not boot. What’s the point of spending $hundreds to ship them out and back for service? I re-imaged them in the school but after a couple of months they were unbootable again. I re-imaged again with GNU/Linux and they were free of trouble and faster.

Now you have written so much – and completely missed the point. But I guess that the concept of “sophisticated image” simply doesn’t exist in your world.

But one thing I would like to know: Have you ever inquired about MS’s various license programs for schools?

For a teacher obtaining two PCs for the price of one might well make him a hero for doubling the effectiveness of IT in a school. It was not long ago that there were 10 students per PC in a typical school. Now there are about 3 and cost is often given as the reason for not obtaining PCs. When I explain that one can double the number by using GNU/Linux, educators listen. Where I last taught I came upon a school with 40 PCs for classrooms which the school could not afford to maintain. When we switched to GNU/Linux the school had doubled the number of PCs with no extra cost for maintenance except power. That made a real difference in many classrooms. In the Language Arts classroom across the hall, students were having to write assignments by hand and had no access to library or Internet. That all changed when they had 3 PCs in that room. Same for the Social Studies classroom and the Science Lab. The elementaries had an additional activity centre for very little effort. Teachers there were overworked and divide and conquer is an excellent solution. You bet having more PCs matters.

“And how would owning two PCs running Linux give anyone a sophisticated image? (Hint: At best, it gives you a geeky image.)”

If you’re trying to promote uncertainty by associating Linux with a “geeky image” you’re not doing a very good job. You must be thinking it’s 1995. Back then Linux was kind of geeky. I don’t need to rattle off all the markets where Linux dominates or is a major influence to make your “Hint: At best…” statement look like she it.

Your effort at demeaning Linux is pathetic. You are pathetic ch. Try harder, you’ll look more pathetic.

To which RP replied: “Nonsense. A buyer may well opt for two */Linux PCs for the price of one from Apple.”

And how would owning two PCs running Linux give anyone a sophisticated image? (Hint: At best, it gives you a geeky image.)

Nonsense. A buyer may well opt for two */Linux PCs for the price of one from Apple. I have never taught in a school since 1997 that actually bought a product from Apple. About that time the price penalty became too obvious to ignore. I do remember encountering products from Apple for a few years afterwards. For the school at Easterville that wanted 153 seats at PCs, Apple was not even in the bidding and the principal was a Mac-lover.

Further, neither Macs nor iThingies are “best-sellers” in many places. Android/Linux sells on more smart phones. It’s only on tablets where Android/Linux is just gaining traction with 4.0.x that Apple clearly wins unit share. Samsung sells millions of tablets at about the same price as Apple’s iPad so Clarence is clearly wrong or Samsung could not do that.

Slumming it Clarence ? …….

“I find that I don’t use the Kindle for as much anymore, but it is still the thing I take with me on trips. I bought a black and white Kindle, too, cheap at $60 on eBay, and use it out by the pool. I put them both in my PC bag along with my Dell laptop.”

Would not have expected you to be such a cheapskate and buy your Kindle on ebay and a black and white one to boot.
Shame on you!

Let me translate that for you:

“In the future, we will not just build anything our engineers think is a good idea, but we will build products that we can actually sell.”