5 ms·

"Convicted monopolist" really doesn't have much of a ring to it. Especially when the only thing his company was ever found guilty of was bundling a web browser

"Convicted monopolist" really doesn't have much of a ring to it. Especially when the only thing his company was ever found guilty of was bundling a web browser with the OS...

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
mcguire 10y ago
How many copies of Windows have you paid for but never used? I have been running Linux on my personal machines since the early '90s. I try not to think about it.
- WalterBright 10y ago
  There are many apps on my iphone that came bundled with it that I never use. I'm a bit surprised. Most people in the 90's that I knew who ran Linux either repurposed an old machine to it that would otherwise have been scrap, or assembled a machine from parts. In neither case did they buy a Windows license for it. I remember an Amazon employee telling me that it was hard to buy a Linux machine without Windows on it. I pointed out that Amazon at the time was selling a Linux machine buyable with "one click". Anybody could make and sell CPUs without a license from Microsoft. It wasn't hard at all (just buy the components in bulk). Nor was it illegal. The issue was that people wanted to buy Windows machines.
  - mcguire 10y ago
    The issue was that people wanted to buy Windows machines and Microsoft's licenses said that, if a company wanted to sell any copies of Windows, then every machine they sold had to have a copy of Windows installed. There were very few pre-installed Linux vendors (and still are) prior to the Netscape lawsuit, when Microsoft purportedly dropped the requirement. I never really repurposed any old machines; I've always been a Unix guy, so I went from an old Amiga to Linux as the first desktop Unix I could get. (I have a floppy with 0.99pl14, the first kernel I ever built, here somewhere...) I've also built my share of machines, but that never really worked for laptops. Plus, I'm old and tired.
    - WalterBright 10y ago
      If vendors could make money selling Linux machines, they would have. Like I said, it wasn't hard to get into that business. Even a niche business can be very profitable if it is not served by the rest of the industry.

"Convicted monopolist" really doesn't have much of a ring to it. Especially when the only thing his company was ever found guilty of was bundling a web browser with the OS...

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

mcguire 10y ago

How many copies of Windows have you paid for but never used? I have been running Linux on my personal machines since the early '90s. I try not to think about it.

WalterBright 10y ago
There are many apps on my iphone that came bundled with it that I never use. I'm a bit surprised. Most people in the 90's that I knew who ran Linux either repurposed an old machine to it that would otherwise have been scrap, or assembled a machine from parts. In neither case did they buy a Windows license for it. I remember an Amazon employee telling me that it was hard to buy a Linux machine without Windows on it. I pointed out that Amazon at the time was selling a Linux machine buyable with "one click". Anybody could make and sell CPUs without a license from Microsoft. It wasn't hard at all (just buy the components in bulk). Nor was it illegal. The issue was that people wanted to buy Windows machines.
- mcguire 10y ago
  The issue was that people wanted to buy Windows machines and Microsoft's licenses said that, if a company wanted to sell any copies of Windows, then every machine they sold had to have a copy of Windows installed. There were very few pre-installed Linux vendors (and still are) prior to the Netscape lawsuit, when Microsoft purportedly dropped the requirement. I never really repurposed any old machines; I've always been a Unix guy, so I went from an old Amiga to Linux as the first desktop Unix I could get. (I have a floppy with 0.99pl14, the first kernel I ever built, here somewhere...) I've also built my share of machines, but that never really worked for laptops. Plus, I'm old and tired.
  - WalterBright 10y ago
    If vendors could make money selling Linux machines, they would have. Like I said, it wasn't hard to get into that business. Even a niche business can be very profitable if it is not served by the rest of the industry.