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I was still on the family G3 in 1999, was it difficult to buy a PC without Windows at the time?
by 1shooner 6y ago
I was still on the family G3 in 1999, was it difficult to buy a PC without Windows at the time?
- ogre_codes 6y agoMicrosoft had contracts with all of the OEMs, if an OEM wanted Microsoft's OEM pricing, they needed to pay for a Windows License with every PC they sold. Buying a PC without Windows meant buying parts and assembling it yourself. Wasn't too difficult, but you were SOL if you wanted a laptop.
- analog31 6y agoYes and no. Name brand computers tended to come with Windows. But there was a printed monthly magazine called the Computer Shopper that had ads for mail-order stuff of every possible description, and you could buy a motherboard plus the rest of the pieces without Windows. Right about that time period, copy protection of the Windows CD's was altering the equation.
- jedberg 6y agoYeah, most of the big online ordering sites (Dell, Gateway, etc) would only let you get a copy with Windows. It was a huge deal when Dell started letting you buy "naked" PCs.