Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 24th Sep 2007 17:31 UTC, submitted by twickline
"Computers in the European Union should be sold without a bundled operating system, according to this submission to the European Commission. It says that the bundling of Microsoft Windows with computers is not in the public interest, and prevents meaningful competition in the operating system market." This is the conclusion of the Globalisation Instute, a think tank located in Brussels. Please note this is not a(n) (official) statement from the European Commission.
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Member since:
2007-04-10
I think the idea is to let the customer the choise. The same hardware could be sale with Windows, or Linux, or whatever the manufacturer what to provide. Not without any OS (which would be stupid !) cause of course if you don't want to pay cause you already have a license or because you use an OS not on the manufacturer list, so choose the free of charge one and install your system on top.
But hey, Microsoft never forbidden Dell or IBM to sell a their hardware without Windows. Ok they used to make some pressure like if you sell hardware without Windows so our OEM offer is over: you pay full prize. Again, ehy, that's a company ; ) And like any companies, they have special deals with people they do business with ! Normal situation in fact...
Also, would you think normal to buy a Mac without MacOS X ? Or a Sun without Solaris ? Or (in the good ol' days) a BeBox without BeOS ?
And the idea of a core OS option of Windows (without IE, WMP, MMK ... is the stupidest thing i've heard !!!!
What about MacOS X without Safari, TimeMachine, SpotLight, DashBoard, the iLife suite, .... then ? Solaris without Sun Java preinstalled ? Their apps create and use the power of the OS (no i'm not a MS fan ... watch my nickname !), just like Safari and iTunes do for Mac OS. They are the only things given for free with the OS. On the other hand, i'm totally ok to remove Norton / Nero craps !!!
my 0,02 €: give the customer the choise between Windows or a free software. But please don't be so stupid to sell no installed OS computer... it's part of it !