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'Naked PCs' lay bare Microsoft's emerging markets problem
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- guilloche 12y agoI have bought 4 laptops with windows pre-installed. Immediately after getting them, I erased all windows and installed arch linux. As I know, the pre-installed windows cost around $50, so the total cost of microsoft tax is $200 for me. The only thing MS brings to me is the trouble to erase them and install linux.
- samspenc 12y agoI don't quite understand why more computer makers - particularly in Asia - don't pre-install an easy-to-use Linux operating system. It seems like the perfect market for open-source operating systems.
- lutusp 12y ago> I don't quite understand why more computer makers - particularly in Asia - don't pre-install an easy-to-use Linux operating system. I think the reason is that they anticipate that their customers expect Windows. If they install Windows, they only have to sell the computer to the customer. If they install Linux, they also have to sell the customer to the computer. It's really a shame, because Linux makes economic sense -- lots of free software, idealistic developers, good documentation -- as shown by the number of regional governments and municipalities that have switched from Windows to Linux for economic reasons, mostly large-scale projects in which computer end-users are coached and educated through the change. When individual computer buyers start preferring Linux to Windows, that will be an important turning point. But not yet, it seems.