I find it amazing that the U.S. Department of Justice can continue to cover its eyes and ears while Microsoft is allowed to exert its monopolistic power over all hardware manufacturers.
About 20 months ago, I was able to purchase a Lenovo Thinkpad T61 from the lenovo.com website without an operating system installed. Today, I went to purchase a new Lenovo Thinkpad laptop, again without having to pay the Windows Tax. Turns out Lenovo has stopped offering this option. What a complete PILE OF SHIT. Somebody in Microsoft’s “Business Development” or “Partners” team must have told Lenovo to stop offering its customers a simple choice of not having to pay the OEM license fees for Windows. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Microsoft is just too big and too pervasive for anybody to have a damn effect on them.
Frankly, it’s anti-choice, anti-competition, anti-innovation behaviour from Microsoft.
And its ridiculous.
Does anyone out there know how to get a decent laptop any more without having to fork over my money to a software giant that continues to bully all competition out of the market? Your suggestions are most welcome.
P.S. Mac is not an option for me. Sorry.
P.P.S The only thing this post has to do with MySQL is the general discussion on the acquisition of Sun by Oracle, and the pending investigation into possibly monopoly concerns by the EC…but of course I can’t comment on that directly…grr.
UPDATE:
Seems DELL offers laptops with Ubuntu installed instead of Windows, at least according to search results from their website. Yeah! \o/ Of course, now I have to just figure out how to get to that customization option. When I’ve gone through the customization screens, no option other than Windows is available. 
UPDATE 2:
The DELL representative on their online chat program was quite helpful and offered this link to laptops they offer with no Windows Tax.
#1 by Angelo Mandato on November 24, 2009 - 12:05 pm
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Hopefully you’re not interested in a Dell with an i7 processor. I’ve had to deal with Dell’s support for a month before I gave up. My colleague just got his Dell laptop and it doesn’t even start up now, just beeps 5 times, pauses, and repeats. I’ve posted my experience on my blog, here’s a link to my post: http://angelo.mandato.com/2009/11/19/dell-studio-17-with-i7-intel-processor-shippingdelivery-delays/
Everyone is either making and/or doing crap in the computer PC business. There is a real opportunity for someone to start a new PC business, and it would be very successful if it put the customers needs and satisfaction first.
#2 by Angelo Mandato on November 24, 2009 - 12:08 pm
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Notice most of the Dell’s you link to that do not come with Windows are models they sell to businesses/corporations. Hardly any of those are home or home office line computers.
#3 by Morgan Tocker on November 24, 2009 - 12:09 pm
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From talking to others, Dell is probably the company that is going to give you the best deal.
Just be aware that they try not to make their Linux models an apples-to-apples comparison. You’ll often find the Linux models have different configuration options, and won’t always participate in their ‘Double the Memory’ specials, etc. When you factor these in, the Linux option is sometimes more expensive than the Windows-tax alternative.
#4 by Jay Pipes on November 24, 2009 - 12:15 pm
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Agreed, which is complete bullshit in and of itself…
#5 by Vladislav Vaintroub on November 24, 2009 - 12:45 pm
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From http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9114485/Lenovo_halts_online_sales_of_Linux_based_PCs
“Their online sales for pre-installed Linux weren’t hitting big enough numbers, he added”
This is likely the actual reason for not offering Linux on laptop – it does not sell well.
#6 by Jay Pipes on November 24, 2009 - 2:23 pm
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I’d love to believe that, but I just don’t think it’s true. It didn’t cost anything significant for Lenovo to offer the Linux-based laptops. A more likely explanation is a threat from Microsoft to increase Lenovo’s per-unit OEM license for Windows.
BTW, It’s the monopolistic practices that bother me here, not Windows itself. Having to get a “windows refund” is simply ridiculous, don’t you think?
I mean, it’s like if Ford owned 90% of the car market, and you buy a Volkswagen. Because Volkswagen is scared of Ford driving them out of business, they’ve made all their cars instead of having the Volkswagen insignia, they have the Ford insignia.
You buy the Volkswagen and rip off the Ford insignia. But, you then have to apply to get a refund because you didn’t buy a Ford. It’s just plain wrong. It’s predatory, plain and simple.
#7 by Eric Day on November 24, 2009 - 12:59 pm
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http://dell.com/ubuntu
I’ve been using a Dell Inspiron 1525 as my laptop and primary desktop for over a year now, and couldn’t be happier. Everything “just worked”, including all sound/webcam/wifi/…
I’m not sure about any of the new Dell laptops, but if I needed a laptop today, I’d be getting another one as my first option.
http://system76.com/ is another option I’ve considered.
Also, regardless of the hardware vendor, I hear you can get a refund on just the software if you refuse the sign the Windows EULA when you purchase a laptop as well (I think only a few dollars, but it’s more the principal of the matter).
#8 by Michael on November 24, 2009 - 1:45 pm
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I seem to remember recently seeing a posting by someone who actually took the PC manufacturer to small claims court since the manufacturer would only give him $10. He told the judge the only way he could find to buy Windows separately cost about $100 (he had an exact price). Since the manufacturer didn’t show up, the judge gave him the retail price of Windows.
Also, the top result on Google for “windows refund” is http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/59381
#9 by Mchl on November 24, 2009 - 3:03 pm
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Just double check linux has drivers for your wifi card. I bought Dell with Broadcom chipset wifi (marked as Dell in their config builder) and had no luck with it on Ubuntu. I think they offer Intel cards as well, which are said to be supported.
#10 by Robert Hodges on November 24, 2009 - 9:24 pm
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Jay, you hit this one on the head. The Windows tax has been driving me nuts for years now. On the Dell site you can’t even really find desktops that run Linux, let alone laptops. I use Mac OS X for this reason. If there were decent Linux laptops easily available I would have one already.
@Vladislav, I don’t buy that it’s more expensive to use Linux. The driver problems for example just force you to be selective about chipsets, video cards, sound cards, etc. Within these bounds it’s hard to see why you could not offer a solid product. This looks like a business opportunity to me.
#11 by Vladislav Vaintroub on November 25, 2009 - 3:41 am
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@Robert: I have not said Linux is more expensive. But I do believe that a company like Lenovo could have saved a couple of bucks eliminating Linux on laptop from their offering, because it did not sell as well as they hoped for. For me it sounds like a more natural explanation than Microsoft making pressure on partners to sell Windows.
#12 by Ronald Bradford on November 25, 2009 - 9:09 am
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I was just looking at Lenovo laptops yesterday, given a like $500 off discount code.
I was disappointed there is not a NO OS option.
#13 by Robert Hodges on November 25, 2009 - 3:18 pm
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@Vladislav. Thanks for the correction; I have to read comments more carefully. What I really meant to say what that I think you can have a successful business selling decent Linux systems but you have to focus on it. I get the impression that Linux machines other than servers are regarded as a distraction by people within Dell and Lenovo because they don’t have the right marketing and product engineering focus to pull down much business. It’s no wonder they don’t make money.
If it were my business I would focus on high end developer/engineering Linux laptops and desktops–kinda like Alienware for Nerds. Xen pre-installed, SSD, 8GB ram, nice ergonomics, etc. I would buy that machine. Would you?
#14 by Vladislav Vaintroub on November 25, 2009 - 8:06 pm
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@Robert,
sounds like a good box, from HW point of view. I would buy it, disregarding OS is being preinstalled. Actually I think geeks would prefer to pay 20$ less and get an OS-less box – they would always want to completely reconfigure the machine according to their personal preferences.
#15 by Jonathan on December 3, 2009 - 3:32 pm
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I think the best way to remove the “windows tax”, is by getting a new and discounted vista laptop.
I found quite a few of those that companies are trying to get rid of. I got almost a 30% discount on a Lenovo U350.
#16 by Reggie Burnett on December 17, 2009 - 7:53 am
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Jay
You’re wrong about this. In today’s market vendors will do just about anything to get ahead of their competitors. If linux laptops were selling in any numbers they would be offering them. I don’t think MS is doing much bullying these days. They don’t have to. Windows 7 is selling like gangbusters and they know that the vast majority of all laptops sold will include Windows by customers choice anyway.
The real reason is support. These vendors have to support their devices. It’s hard to just sell a bare machine because then they have no idea what you will put on it. Then they are forced to not really support it at all. That’s ok for geeks like us but for most, that just doesn’t work. Linux is hard for vendors too because of all the variants. Yes, they all have a very similar kernel but there are way too many variants. They can’t possibly support all of them and once again they are back in the no support camp. It’s for this reason they don’t want new versions of Windows any more often than every 2-3 years.
If there were a single very dominant flavor of Linux that didn’t change every 2-3 months so that the vendor could feel good about supporting it on their hardware then they could offer it. Then it would just be whether or not people buy it.
#17 by erkin tek on December 18, 2009 - 1:34 am
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Hi,
we linux users won a trial. When purchasing we are obligation to buy op.sys inside. Many producer provide freedos or a kind of linux.But specially recently we got so little choice . An advocate sued the firm he bought his computer and he could withdraw (take the money out of firm) of windows.
I guess microsoft makes deals with dealers,
#18 by Joomla Mart on May 2, 2010 - 9:30 am
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I bought a Compaq CQ 40 last month. It had only licensed DOS installed on it, so i had to pay again for the windows license.
#19 by laptop on May 23, 2010 - 4:21 am
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great post, Thank for sharing