[Ubuntu-ch] Preinstalled Ubuntu 9.10 in Swiss Stores

Ramón Cahenzli ramon.cahenzli at gmail.com
Fri Jan 29 18:52:17 GMT 2010


Hi Theo and all,

On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 19:26, Theo Schmidt <theo.schmidt at wilhelmtux.ch> wrote:

> There are also a few other Dell laptops with preinstalled Ubuntu, but I'd
> hesitate to buy from a company which "recommends Windows 7" on every webpage.
> Even if there are only interested in profits, it leaves some doubt with regards
> to the quality of the ubuntu configuration.

This is the result of a kickback deal that Microsoft offers these
companies, and Dell has no choice about what they write on that page.
They have to recommend Windows.

If you look at PC manufacturers' websites and even printed material
advertising PCs and mainboards, you will find the sentence "Company
XYZ recommends Windows 7" etc. The sentence is always the same and is
often located in the top right. This is probably according to a CI
document from Microsoft that states how large and how prominently the
sentence is displayed. During the Vista phase, companies taking part
in this campaign even recommended Vista, when no analyst in the entire
industry would have recommended that...

Companies taking part in this Microsoft program either receive special
prices or advertising kickbacks from Microsoft. Even Belinea, which
someone mentioned as selling Ubuntu PCs, has the sentence on every
page.

It's one of the strategies Microsoft uses to ensure its continued
total market dominance. Another trick is requiring OEMs to preinstall
an operating system on all PCs. Of course "an operating system" just
means "any operating system", but the wording of the clause might be
so that OEMs believe they have to ship a Microsoft operating system.
If you ask a bunch of OEMs, you will often get that sort of reply.

So it's not like Dell actually has any choice in what words they use,
they _have_ to recommend Windows because not recommending Windows
would mean their competitors who _do_ recommend Windows earn more
money.

I would love to get my hands on an original Microsoft contract to see
what this deal actually includes.

- rca



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