How many times did you pay for an unused OS?

When you buy a computer from a know merchant, it comes with a pre-loaded OS (mostly Microsoft’s Windows).
And yes, you pay for it. But “‘what if” you don’t use it? Is it possible to buy a OS-free system?Whenever you buy your computer in one of those super-stores or mega-electronic-stores, you’ll end up paying for a OEM pre-installed OS.
The price of an OEM license is much cheaper than its retail-version. And by cheaper, I don’t only point out to the price.

Few people know that they do not have the right to reinstall the OEM windows version on other hardware.
It’s a single install license, which doesn’t allow another operating system to run on the hardware.
Scott Hacker wrote a nice article on it: “He Who Controls the Bootloader“.
And don’t try to return you windows because it is broken… there’s no product warranty on the software. (Only on the installation media)
To prevent this post of getting to a flame against MS, I’ll stop it here. I suppose you can still google? 😉

But all of this is already accepted as normal by the widespread users. But how about people who don’t want to use Windows as their OS?
Do we have to pay for something we’re not going to use? Do we have a choice? It’s hard. All mainstream system-dealers sell only pre-installed Windows machines.
Dell has launched its N-series in the US, which was largely applauded by the Foss-folks.
But when will they do the same for europe?
Or can we get to the manufacturer and ask for a refund?

For now, I’d like to keep it with a simple vote on Dell’s Ideastorm page to sell OS-free computers all over the world.
It’s not that I’m having a problem with the loss of money, as I never actually paid for my MS products (myself), but this way of marketing is not the most respectful way to treat customers.
Try to sell Washing machines without warranty, only on it’s boxes. And restrict your customers of moving it to their new home, as they got it together with their first smaller apartment. 🙂

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