Linux Format forums

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going

ollie — Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:24 pm

Author: ollie

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:24 pm

shifty_ben wrote:

the guy got the manager to double check and he told me, sorry its actually illegal for us to sell you a PC/Laptop without an OS installed.

The only company where it was illegal to sell a PC or laptop without an OS was IBM - their original contract with Bill was that "all PCs they sold would have MS-DOS or its' derivatives installed". This was when they gave Bill $50,000 to purchase Q-DOS and re-brand as MS-DOS. The writer of Q-DOS, written to print out some results from a mainframe on a spare Mini, went playing golf when IBM turned up for the sales appointment.

They have finally got out of that contract - they sold the PC division to Lenovo, who now offer Linux as an OS option!

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

emyr42 — Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:30 am

Author: emyr42

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:30 am

wyliecoyoteuk wrote:

"Danger-prolonged use may cause friends and family to ask you to fix their computer for free"

I own a t-shirt... http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/388b/

...in black of course

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

Nigel — Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:57 pm

Author: Nigel

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:57 pm

candy wrote:

It is a pity if you're intent on using Linux you can't get a laptop new without the pre-installed XP which ultimately you pay for.

There are a couple of places which will sell you a laptop without Windows... here for instance...

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

Diagmato — Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:05 pm

Author: Diagmato

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:05 pm

godofthedevil wrote:

has anyone noticed compaines like dell say "we recommend windows xp pro" or something to that effect.. they dont say why though.. then again they wont sell much saying "dell recommends windows xp pro because microsoft paied us a load of money to say so" lol

I really wish they would get rid of those. Its on every advert Dell seems to place, in any magazine, or tv commercial. Heck, I have had one person continually tell me that Linux isnt supported by any companies, because of that darn sentance.

If they wrote a sentance saying "Dell recommends no virus or spyware protection software for Windows" then he would probably take it at face value.

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

candy — Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:55 pm

Author: candy

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:55 pm

If you look around their are good sellers of reconditioned base units for under GBP 100 which will give you either a high speed P3 (1000mhz) or a Celeron 2.4 which is what I'll be getting by the end of the month.

I've never been impressed by DSG staff know-how having attempted to use them in the recent past but the villians when it comes to insisting on supplying stuff you don't need are the OEM's and M$.

It is a pity if you're intent on using Linux you can't get a laptop new without the pre-installed XP which ultimately you pay for.

Most of my improvements in security have been from shared knowledge from others on safe practices and using the firewall in the D-Link modem coupled with changing to Firefox and Thunderbird.

I'm having less bluescreens and freezing up now having done that than ever before on this 500 mhz P3 machine on Win 98SE.

As for Offices Suites frankly I would not pay for M$ Office 2003 having used Open Office2.0.3. It's really good and I really enjoy using it since downloading the program in late July.

Regards,

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

wyliecoyoteuk — Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:08 pm

Author: wyliecoyoteuk

Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:08 pm

http://www.darwinawards.com/

Just for the people who think that a childproof cap is a silly idea.
I personally agree, for example a warning on a packet of peanuts saying "not suitable for small children and babies" is probably just there because someone sued the peanut company, and the "careful really hot" label on Macdonalds coffee is there because some stupid bimbo burnt herself trying to drink it while driving, and sued Macdonalds.
Maybe we should have warning labels on computers "Caution- may cause lack of sleep and irrational outbursts".
"Warning may cause people to avoid your conversation in the pub"
"Danger-prolonged use may cause friends and family to ask you to fix their computer for free"

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

TheDoctor — Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:20 pm

Author: TheDoctor

Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:20 pm

godofthedevil wrote:

the only way you can get a computer without a pre-installed o/s is to build it yourself which i end up doing with my last desktop server.

You can buy empty boxes. I bought one earlier this year. It came with a 30-day free software support contract, so I suppose the firm that sold it to me weren't used to selling their machines in that state. But I didn't have to pay a penny for an O/S.

The computer is now running OpenSuSE 10.0.

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

GMorgan — Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:08 am

Author: GMorgan

Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:08 am

The guy doing the article claimed he was an OSS advocate but came to the conclusion that while things like OOo could easily be used to replace MSO all the packages in question were available cross platform (though OOo is painfully slow on XP, even worse than normal usually takes 15 seconds on my XP box and about 6 on my Kubuntu one) so the only real question was how much the OS costs to maintain, he still said that Linux certainly is cheaper (including training costs) but not by as much as most claim.

If its the case that Dell sell business machines without an OS then thats good but how do those machines compare in price to normal ones. Also it seems a bit strange if they allow a blank machine to be sold, I thought they'd make a profit on the OS and allowing you a blank machine means you'd likely install you own OS for free.

The market condition in question is one that MS have enforced and the only way to really break it is a long term campaigne by the likes of IBM. They don't have to out sell MS just sell enough to open the market up.

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

nelz — Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:54 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:54 pm

TCO relates to the alleged hidden costs of running an OS in business - Trumped-up Corporate Overheads...

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

towy71 — Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:46 pm

Author: towy71

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:46 pm

TCO is some bol**** that Mocroparp and their ilk use to hoodwink the uninitiated to buy the crap OS preinstalled. I think that TCO means the "total cost of ownership" which doesn't mean anything!

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

nelz — Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:20 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:20 pm

Not on their server/business machines. An OS, Windows or Linux, is a chargeable upgrade on the base spec.

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

GMorgan — Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:07 pm

Author: GMorgan

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:07 pm

nelz wrote:

Dell UK sell computers without an OS.

Yes but there was an article suggesting that the machines without an OS cost more than the machines with XP (I think it was an article on the total cost business saying that in the current climate XP machines are cheaper than clean machines). Dell's explaination apparently was that the blank machines are custom so cost extra, why can't they simply remove a normal machine from the line before the OS is installed. Tend to build my own machines anyway so it doesn't matter to me (my PC is like Triggers brush.Same one all my life with 5 different processors and 4 different motherboards).

Anyway since IBM are starting to sell machines with Linux pre-installed and are supporting them so we could start to see more of a swing away from Windows. At the end of the day having the OS out there on sale machines is as good advertising as your going to get.

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

godofthedevil — Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:20 pm

Author: godofthedevil

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:20 pm

has anyone noticed compaines like dell say "we recommend windows xp pro" or something to that effect.. they dont say why though.. then again they wont sell much saying "dell recommends windows xp pro because microsoft paied us a load of money to say so" lol

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

nelz — Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:46 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:46 pm

Dell UK sell computers without an OS.

Re: My Worries about the way IT is going, and a bit of ranting

godofthedevil — Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:57 pm

Author: godofthedevil

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:57 pm

the only way you can get a computer without a pre-installed o/s is to build it yourself which i end up doing with my last desktop server.

i got a new dell lappy with my CIW course im doing took me almost an hour to strip the crap off it... we do spend too much on preinstalled software that we are never gonna use... what really annoys me now that pre-installed software now is ether "trial" or you dont have the cd's to do a soft restore if it messes up.