No - it is not the same. That was one manufacturer - this is everyone of them. With Apple, what you were looking at was a single, vertically integrated walled garden, that was never even the playing ground for DIY.
For many in the west, DIY is synonymous with "enthusiast". But here in Asia/India, a very VERY significant percentage of the total PC market is held by "unbranded" PCs - about 45% (ref: http://trak.in/tags/business/2011/05/17/top-pc-compnies-indi... ).
This is so relevant to the Indian market that it is almost scary. As a yardstick - for a fresh hire in India's largest tech employer, Infosys, buying a Macbook is almost 6 months salary. Buying an unbranded PC running Linux is about a month and a half salary.
Secondly, your assertion that motherboard sales wont be affected is wrong. The push to implement this is piracy and not marketing - which means Microsoft (and not the end users) will be the driving force behind the push to certify motherboards.
For many in the west, DIY is synonymous with "enthusiast". But here in Asia/India, a very VERY significant percentage of the total PC market is held by "unbranded" PCs - about 45% (ref: http://trak.in/tags/business/2011/05/17/top-pc-compnies-indi... ).
This is so relevant to the Indian market that it is almost scary. As a yardstick - for a fresh hire in India's largest tech employer, Infosys, buying a Macbook is almost 6 months salary. Buying an unbranded PC running Linux is about a month and a half salary.
Secondly, your assertion that motherboard sales wont be affected is wrong. The push to implement this is piracy and not marketing - which means Microsoft (and not the end users) will be the driving force behind the push to certify motherboards.