Duh-velopers! Duh-velopers! Duh-velopers!

Here’s more proof that Steve Ballmer is from another planet. He thinks that [having a sub-$100 PC will stop piracy.](http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5419179.html)  First, there **are**  sub-$100 PCs. They’re called “used”, and the more time rolls on, the more of them there will be. Problem for Mr Duh-veloper, none of them can run Windows XP. Boo hoo. They run Linux and \*BSD reeeal good though. I’ve got one running a firewall, router, DNS, DCHP server and a proxy server, all on OpenBSD. It’s doing very well, thanks very much. So there. $100 PC. Done. 

Next up is the question of piracy. Ballmer’s argument seems to be pitched at the consumer without much spending money, but who needs a computer. What’s stopping this consumer from saving lots of money on this hypothetical $100 bare PC, and then saving even more money by pirating Windows – just like they would have done anyway with today’s $500 PC? A penny saved is a penny earned, especially on a tight budget. If one is going to steal Windows, one is going to do it no matter what the PC cost.