Mike,

>>Agreed. Still.. They must make something. I seriously doubt they'd waste valuable floor space for a loser....
>
>True... though, its very difficult to tell how much this will affect PC resellers. HP and Compaq have always had fairly different strategies in the chain. The resellers that say the end is near if this goes through are really blaming someone else for whats always been inevitable. JMO.

Sure. Look.. Computers are commodities (sp?) far more now than ever. There's just no money in desktop systems without some sort of service package but service packages are far more effective for small to medium businesses that cannot afford the inhouse techs.

>
>I'm still thinking that the resellers and to some degree the PC's themselves are the small potatoes in this deal, almost irrelevant (but then I'm not a CEO *g*). I suppose it depends on how far you think. I'm curious if this partnership also addresses the possibility of nanotech becoming a reality before the next decade, and if HP will be prepared for that.

Well, look at some of the parge businesses that purchase 100,000 pcs for an upgrade. I dare say that most of us are in the 'small fish' camp. <g> Microsoft is prettyt much a 'top feeder' in the software arena and candidly I am amazed that they take the time for us that they do. I'm sure they'd rather be negotiating an agreement with some state university system, as the I'm sure the hardware folks would as well.