The same bad practices

The same bad practices

The way microsoft turned the linux netbook tide to the current situation where most netbooks come with windows XP shows that microsoft is good (for it's size, _very_ good) at adapting.

How is this really any different from Microsoft's existing strategy (or Intel's, for that matter)? The vendor expresses interest in using something else; Microsoft probably tells the vendor that they'll be paying more for those Windows licences if they mix something else into their offerings; the vendor doesn't want to make their other offerings more expensive (or more laden with badware) but insists that they can't make their "price point" with Microsoft's current pricing or products (more memory required, for example); a deal is then cut to keep the vendor as Microsoft-exclusive as possible.

So, pressure is exerted on vendors by manipulating the terms of Microsoft's business relationships with those vendors. It seems to me that the same dubious practices are in play, and no adaptation has taken place at all.