Windows Free Notebook List

[Sridhar Dhanapalan]

On Friday 16 June 2006 19:15, Andrew <andrew at swinndesign.com> wrote:
> Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> > On Friday 16 June 2006 18:42, Andrew <andrew at swinndesign.com> wrote:
> >>> Rather than single out Microsoft, would it be more preferable to used
> >>> 'Retails which do  and don't supply laptops with an operating system.'
> >>
> >> The page is now at
> >> http://wiki.ubuntu.com/AustralianTeam/Projects/NotebooksWithoutOperating
> >>Sys tem
> >
> > I must disagree with this move. Some Microsoft OEM agreements specify
> > that a vendor ships their systems with an operating system. This is why
> > you see Dell shipping their N-series computers with FreeDOS.
>
> Thats fine. However I believe hardware should be distributed without
> software attached without a choice to not take that software.

I agree, and I'm sure that everyone on this list would as well. However, 
reality (which most commonly takes the form of Microsoft OEM agreements) 
makes this ideal impossible to achieve for many vendors. It's not that they 
don't want to do it, it's that they *can't* do it.

> Also note that I did make mention to include those selling notebooks
> that were including free operating system (emphasis on not extra cost).

Often these free (as in speech) operating systems are not truly bundled in for 
free (gratis), due to OEM deals with the distro vendors. These deals 
generally provide a means for the hardware vendor to give support to 
customers and receive support from the distro vendor for the purposes of 
integration with their hardware. This is a good thing, since it ensures 
better compatibility with the OS.

> I can move it elsewhere if most people as against such a thing. I merely
> put it up on suggestion from another on this list/group.

It was an excellent suggestion, and I appreciate your efforts.

However, we need to stay focused on the main point of the Ubuntu-AU effort: to 
promote Ubuntu and free software. IMHO, this includes supporting other 
distros as well, since they are all the same OS at the end of the day.

If the hardware manufacturer is paying a small fee to Canonical or some other 
distro services provider to improve their GNU/Linux support, I say more power 
to them. As is stated in the GPL, free software doesn't have to be gratis.

-- 
Sridhar Dhanapalan  [Yama | http://www.pclinuxonline.com/]
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"The "Internet" cannot be removed from your Desktop. Do you want to delete 
the "Internet" now?" - Microsoft Windows 95
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