[ubuntu-uk] Choice of laptop

[Liam Proven]

On 4 November 2014 16:42, Gareth France <gareth.france at cliftonts.co.uk> wrote:
> Thanks. I've seen what I'd like but it's in PC world. I really don't think I
> can make a purchase if it is effectively an endorsement of Windows 8! I'm
> sure there must be another way.

The real reason doesn't get talked about much.

It costs money to /not/ preload Windows.

Manufacturers get advertising and marketing kickbacks from MICROS~1
for putting Windows on their machines. Also, without Windows, they
can't test machines pre-shipping -- they'd have to install it, test,
then remove it again, which obviously takes more time, means
dedicating a techie to it and therefore costs /more/ than shipping it
without.

Also, for 30y or so now, Microsoft have had very restrictive licensing
agreements. OEM vendors must sign contracts that say they will not
ship any other OSes, will not dual-boot, etc. If they won't sign, and
won't join the marketing campaigns, then their Windows licenses
mysteriously cost significantly more.

The system is sick, corrupt and broken, but it made the MS founders
very rich. Very rich people can afford good lawyers, and can afford to
lobby politicians, so they and their companies don't get prosecuted.

So, for instance, this monopoly did come to court. Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson found MS guilty, noting that they lied in court,
falsified evidence, that witnesses were shifty and evasive etc.

He ordered MS split into apps and OS divisions.

MS appealed, the case was sent to a new judge, Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly, who reversed the decision and let them off.

Various companies have also sued MS plagiarism *and won*, including
Apple (the settlement was spun as a "strategic investment"), Stacker
(who moved out of disk compression, which MS stole, and into
remote-control, but just as the public/consumer Internet broke),
Digital Research/Novell and others.

But the damages were too small to even slow a giant such as MS down.


-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) • +420 702 829 053 (ČR)