[Discuss] The Windows tax

[brendan at glump.net (Brendan Kidwell)]

On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Rich Pieri <richard.pieri at gmail.com> wrote:
> That's evidence of Google subsidising the hardware in expectation of
> a return through the Google Play store.
>
> Compare Samsung's Galaxy-branded products with the Samsung-manufactured
> Nexus products. You'll see similar subsidizing from Google.

I wonder how many people buy a Chromebook and don't even look at the
Google Play store before erasing the whole thing and putting a free OS
on it. Will this be a problem with Android handhelds, too, when
Canonical unleashes its plan to take over the world next year? (If if
is, it will probably be less so than with the Chromebooks.)

Do we know they're really being subsidized? Or are they just cheap?

Last Sunday on This Week in Tech, I think it was Leo who said he
thought most Chromebook owners aren't running ChromeOS; he didn't cite
a source though.