There is a company, Simply Computers (http://www.simply.co.uk) who will not sell a computer without an operating system. However, they do not offer any Linux distos. The only solution they offer is to buy MsDOS even if you are never going to use it. Is there anything that can be done or is there anyway that we can put pressure on the them to rethink their policy?
Just wondered.
Eddie
On Tuesday 01 May 2001 02:22, Stuart Powell wrote:
Hello, everyone.
I just wanted to see what trouble I could stir up this evening with an article I found this morning. I'm surprised Fred didn't send it on. If you don't think of MS as the Evil Empire yet, this may well push you over the edge.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/18589.html
This article raised many questions in my mind. Predominantly, though, is this: Just how far can Microsoft go in its pursuit of pirates without overstepping the mark ? How much of this power can be wielded beyond US borders ?
Let's say that I buy a shiny new PC from Gateway, for the sake of argument. I order it without an OS, since I intend to install a lovely fresh copy of SuSE on it, and don't want to have to pay the MS Tax. A vigilant Gateway employee then calls up MS and says "Stoo just bought a new machine without an OS. Please add another point to my score, as I am trying to win my own yacht from the MS 'Shop Your Customers for Profit' promotion". The next thing I get is a phone call from a drone in Redmond. The call goes something like this...
Drone - "Mr. Powell, it has come to our attention that you just bought a whizz-bang new Gateway PC without an OS. We will be sending the PC
(http://www.bsa.org) over to make sure you bought a valid Windows
for that PC."
Me - "Sod off ! It's running Linux."
Question; can they still send the PC police round to check and see if I actually have Linux on the box ? What about the other PCs here that may or may not be running Windows ? Can they check those just because they're here and they feel like it ? How about my friend's PC in the corner
Hi Eddie.
Did you get Simply to write this policy down, or was it just done on the
phone? It
would be interesting to see it justified in writing.
I think if a few folks email them to say that we're aware that MS is
pressurising
hardware vendors not to sell boxes without an OS, but that plenty of people
want a
comp. to put Linux on, this should get a result. Or, like the man said, buy
elsewhere.
I have found it no cheaper, but generally more satisfactory to build
machines for Linux,
that way you've got some control over the motherboard and other
low-visibility elements
of the package like the case and power supply as well as RAM, disks and so
on, and
you can pick directly from the hardware compatibility lists.
In broader terms, I'm a bit surprised this sort of restrictive practice
isn't illegal. When they
say 'you must have an OS', I suppose they mean 'you must buy an MS OS.'
However
you slice it, this is very naughty and scarcely conducive to the healthy
free-market competition
men like Gates are always droning on about in justifying the present
economic setup.
Maybe a few emails to people like Charlie Stross at Computer shopper, too -
may do it
if I get time
Cheers
Fergus
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eddie Howson"
will be upgrading with a new processor in a couple of days ? I don't know if he has a valid Windows licence or not. I certainly can't produce one for it myself.
And finally, how long is this kind of behaviour going to be tolerated before someone sees the light and puts a stop to this kind of thing ?
Let the battle commence...
Stuart.
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