Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 17:36:17 -0400 From: "SILVER, MICHAEL A" <MSILVER@scana.com> To: "'freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org'" <freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org> Cc: "'David Johnson'" <djohnson@acuson.com> Subject: RE: FW: My Experience With FreeBSD Message-ID: <DBB3921EFE2AD211A81500A0C9B5FE7605794650@msg04.scana.com>
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> A lower price is not a gun. It was the manufactureres who decided that > it was cheaper to buy Windows at a lower price for all > machines, than to > but it at a higher price for 95% of their machines. Now that > there is a > significant number of folks who desire other operating systems, the > margins are different and you see manufacturers like Dell starting to > offer other systems. This is the debate, at what point it MS abusing it's monopoly. The reason Dell an other are offering other OS's is because the justice dept prevent MS from signing these types of contracts. > Deals like this a common in business, large or small. Back > when I was a > salesman for a tiny building contractor, I would give my customers a > discount if I was to be their exclusive vendor. I would even > give them a > 25% off coupon for their next purchase, so that they wouldn't > even think > about looking elsewhere. This is true, and I don't know at what point this is an abuse of power (if at any point). MS also argued this prevented piracy, which was true when MS windows installed on 99.9% of the intel systems out there. > But regardless of the muscles on the 800 pound gorilla, since > the first > days of personal computers I have been able to purchase computers > without Microsoft software. And I wasn't even living in urban areas. I > distinctly recall PC-DOS, DR-DOS, and Geoworks preinstalled on > computers. I distinctly recall seeing OS/2 offered as an option. > Currently you can buy Linux preinstalled on boxes in consumer oriented > stores. And of course, computers without *any* OS installed > have always > been there. I think these contracts were with windows, but I am ignorant in these area. You can buy Linux pre-installed, 1) due to the justice dept or 2) due to smaller vendors who don't need to sell windows. In 1995 I was putting together a computer, and I remember restrictions purchasing equipment. If I remember correct, having them put it together or if they sold a hard drive and MB they would automatically sell you the OS (windows 3.1 at the time). It was a but inconvenient, but at the time mostly because I had to pay that vendors prices. You no longer see this. ...Michael... To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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