Refuse windows - save money

With everybody getting excited about their copies of 7 arriving soon - this is quite amusing:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/new...efuses_windows

It's been done before, I believe.

Although I use both Windows & Linux, I have been using Microsoft products for 15 years (think before Windows), and my long term satisfaction with Microsoft is very high.
Linux is far superior in some ways; mainly the freedom to do as I wish the software, BUT no other company has even come close to achieving the level of success and satisfaction which Microsoft has attained.

Retailers and OEM's are free to design/package their products any way they see fit, for very good reasons they choose Microsoft. Even your BIOS settings are factory preset for a Windows environment. So if you don't much about BIOS you will have problems with many versions of Linux.

I highly doubt there is a Microsoft conspiracy to force their products on unwilling consumers. You get Windows because it the most widely used OS, so retailers & manufacturers save tons of money by selling equipment designed for it's use. If they could not do this the prices would be much higher.

As far as the EULA goes, it is not designed to enslave each & every user! It is designed to protect Microsoft and it's staff & affiliates AND YOU!
The world can be a very hostile place and without the EULA you would expose yourself to a never ending flood of total nutcase scenarios.

Before anyone gets bent out of shape to tell me I'm wrong you better dig your head out of your compact personal view of the little PC on your desk and look at the BIG PICTURE!

No I don't work for Microsoft or anything even like it, I work for myself and Microsoft helps to make me money,,,even with the EULA........

Microsoft notwithstanding, almost all software out there has EULA's that would take hours to read through and a couple Lawyers present so most people just click the little OK button (myself included).

Ripose, Thumbs up

Different OS's are suited for different users... those savvy and more experienced with Linux prefer it and I say more power to them. But for day to day work I have a far easier time using Windows myself so that's what I stick with.

That was a pretty smart move that Graeme Cobbett did, because I've heard of other users trying to refuse Windows and have the price deducted from the machine and having lots of problems doing so. That $115 would make for a nice discount on any PC.

And while I completely agree with Ripose's comments on the EULA, I also feel the language needs to be vastly improved. Some of the wording is not just appalling, but downright threatening to read in what it appears to say... even Google's GMAIL EULA can be shocking to read, yet people like to contrast Google to Microsoft all the time... It's just a problem with EULA's in general, they do require a legal degree just to fully understand.

I have been using Windows since 1992 (and Dos 5.0) and I can say, too, that I am very satisfied in the service Microsoft is providing. I gave Linux a fair chance and tried/tested it but it was not meeting my needs like Windows does.

Linux is Ok and it is fantastic that there are people that care and give everything thay have for OS like Ubuntu, Red Hat etc but I am very happy with Windows, Thank You.

I agree with Kougar that it would be nice if the EULA was written in Plain English, but since our legal system does not work that way the EULA has to look like an alien tofu recipe.