On Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 08:55:55AM +0900, John Summerfield wrote:
> I think, on reflection, that some vendors offer Linux (and RHEL)
> preinstalled on some models of their laptops.
AFAIK a very limited set of (usually very expensive) Thinkpads models
are sold with SUSE preinstalled. Then you pay money to Novell (less
problematic than paying it to MS. but still, if you want to use, say,
Fedora, it's still paying for something you don't want/need).
OK, let's post my opinion here (as someone that's also selling hardware
to customers, exclusively for Linux, and as someone that did do a lot
of work to try to get the MS tax for Lenovo Thinkpads back from Lenovo
or Microsoft -- without success, except that I now got some official
statements that I can use to go to the European commission and complain
about these practices):
The fact that it is almost impossible to get a laptop without paying
the "MS tax" is extremely annoying. Vendors do not have the slightest
idea of what unhappy customers they have. Yes, *customers* who, at
some point buy a laptop from them, but stay unhappy *forever* because
they were treated like dirt when complaining about the MS tax. That's
how it is, at least that's how I feel it. Lenovo: are you listening?
The argument that you *can* buy laptops without an OS is a bad argument.
Yes, you can, but these are often low-quality laptops. Vendors like
Lenovo or HP should be happy that Linux users want *their* laptops, but
they obviously aren't, because, as I said, they treat them like dirt.
The small ("netbook") laptops seem to go the same way. Here in the
Netherlands you already can't get an ASUS EeePC model without Windows
(I know in some other countries the 901 and 1000 are sold with Linux
too, but local marketing here decides otherwise, and the warranty is
not valid internationally, according to ASUS). The same applies to
the MSI Wind here. Only the Acer Aspire One is still available with
Linux here (for how long?).
If logistics to produce different models w.r.t. preinstalled software
are too difficult, there is a simple solution: Microsoft should just
handle the return procedure for the licenses and pay the money back.
Then no vendor has to change their own logistics.
Sorry, I had to say this. I'm still wondering how long this crazy
situation will continue. At least I hope in Europe the European
commission will start working on this at some point.
--
-- Jos Vos <[email protected]>
-- X/OS Experts in Open Systems BV | Phone: +31 20 6938364
-- Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Fax: +31 20 6948204
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