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11/26/2004 Archived Entry: "$100 Linux PC"

If you buy a PC from Dell or Gateway or some such, roughly $75 of the price goes to Microsoft for the Windows software. So when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer challenged the industry to create a PC that would sell for $100, it seemed that he was asking the industry to invent free hardware to carry his expensive software.

Ballmer's challenge has now been met, in the obvious way: $100 for hardware, and not one penny for tribute. California's SolarPC has announced a 12-volt-powered $100 PC running Linux. Now if we can just get cheaper displays.       -- brad