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Here's an interesting anecdote about FreeDOS. In South Korea, a surprisingly large number of online merchants sell brand-new PCs with FreeDOS on it. FreeDOS PC
by kijin 14y ago
Here's an interesting anecdote about FreeDOS.
In South Korea, a surprisingly large number of online merchants sell brand-new PCs with FreeDOS on it. FreeDOS PCs are usually around $100 cheaper than their Windows 7/8 counterparts, so these products have an advantage when the buyer uses a price comparison service.
The official story is that since most people nowadays already have a spare license of Windows from their old PC, they can just install it on their new PCs instead of buying Windows again. Of course, this is bullshit, because the "spare license" is likely to be an OEM copy that is tied to the old PC. But it doesn't matter, because everyone understands that you're supposed to install a pirated copy of Windows on your FreeDOS PC. So for tech-savvy Korean consumers, FreeDOS just means pirated Windows. A rather unpalatable association for a piece of free software to have, IMO.
On the other hand, if you actually install a legitimate copy of Windows, you get to enjoy a complete lack of bloatware that manufacturers usually impose on PC buyers. The PC comes with a CD that contains the necessary device drivers and nothing else.
- yuhong 14y agoI wonder why it would be $100 cheaper. OEMs are supposed to get a discount. But yea, the exchange rates etc are why MS provides geographically restricted versions of Windows.
- bad_user 14y agoIt's not just in South Korea. It happens in Romania/Europe too and in fact PCs with Windows bundled sometimes are $200 more expensive. Microsoft may or may not have anything to do with it. It might be that these PC manufacturers provide Windows for their more expensive models as a way for differentiating them from the cheaper ones. Also not all manufacturers get the same deal. For example I bought a Thinkpad E530 without Windows on it. The other model that was available to me had the same specs, plus an extra 16 GB SSD mSata and Windows and was $270 more expensive. I got the cheaper model and I replaced the hard-drive with a 256 GB SSD, which was a far better deal. Personally I'm glad that this happens, because I don't run Windows and it would be pretty bad if I had to pay the Windows tax.
- dredmorbius 14y agoNot just South Korea. In the US, it's possible to buy "no OS" systems from some vendors (I've picked up small form-factor systems this way), which on delivery turn out to have FreeDOS installed. Load your preferred Linux distro and roll. Or something like that.
- shared4you 14y agoThis happens in India as well. I've seen my friends get a DOS laptop, either install Ubuntu (or some distro) or pirated Windows. You get to save upto ₹5000/-