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Mark Jose wrote: > On Tuesday 31 October 2006 06:16, Simon Waters wrote: > >> Michael Mortimore wrote: >> >>> On the other hand, who actually buys windows? >>> >> On past experience, almost everyone who owns a PC. >> > > Therin lies Microsofts ace card! Because of the way Windows is marketed and > the pressures put upon retailers (via cheap OEM versions of Windows providing > they don't sell competitive products), it is almost impossible to buy a PC or > laptop without Windows. For a simple experiment, try going to PCWorld or > Dixons or any other PC "superstore" and look around the computers. When the > salesperson comes up to ask if they can help - ask if they can sell you a PC > without Windows. > iMac? :-) > Although there are a couple of retailers selling "sans Windows", it is very > hard to get hold of a decent spec machine without Windows - never mind with a > Linux distro installed instead. > Seems to be more a kin to the little guys I think. > I tend to build my own PCs, so that isn't a problem, but laptops are another > matter. The laptop I am using now came with XP - no choice in the matter, it > was XP pre-installed. I thus had to pay for something I did not want, purely > to get the laptop. Whatever the EULA states on the shrinkwrapped CD, it seems > to be impossible to get your money back on OEM installs of XP - to be honest, > I didn't even bother trying, I just wiped the lot and installed > a "properating system" instead ;) > > I guess it doesn't help that each PC has a license sticker attached. I mean, once you have used it you can't use it on another PC - at least for the OEM copies. Rob -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html