So that's how they do it

I was wondering how on Earth Walmart could be offering Linux computers for $200. Then I saw the retail prices on what passes for standard software these days and it began to make sense. Not that you're going to pay full retail for a new computer bundle, but still... I'm not even sure I like MS Word better than OpenOffice Writer. While the one feature that I miss since my migration is the ability to do a Word Count on a selected portion of text, I quite like the ability to save directly as a PDF.

Microsoft Windows XP Professional 2002 - retail: $270.99
Microsoft Office XP Professional 2002 - retail: $579.99
Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition 2003 - retail: $69.99

OpenOffice 1.1.0 - download time for ~ 200 megs

So maybe the MS solution makes sense if you're still on a 28.8 modem or something, paying by the minute for your download time.