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Microsoft & Toshiba collaboration


jeanrev
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It is high time for the Linux community to make a list of the laptops that can run Linux without Microsoft interfering !

 

I just bought a laptop to demonstrate Linux to the world and found the following :

 

http://fr.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi...R&ID=0000003703

 

since january I was asking for some advice on the french Alionet :

 

http://www.alionet.org/index.php?showtopic=1384&st=0

 

Alas I could not find the proper information at that time

 

We are helping Microsoft by not indicating the free laptops constructors

 

:angry:

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Hard to believe but :

 

No one in the Linux community is apparently able to make a list (how short can it be) of the laptops manufacturers free from the Microsoft monopoly

and especially this Linux laptops site I consulted months ago

B)

Edited by jeanrev
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If you mean that manufacturer having no Microsoft products installed in their product line at all.. there are none, especially in the United States.

 

Move out of the US and into Asia, however, there are some manufacturers that offers Linux in some product lines. Acer is one, HP is another. I particularly like the lower end Acer products since the same laptop with Windows XP installed can cost you 100 dollars more. While 100 dollars is not that much in the Western world, it's almost a month's salary for regular people in some parts of Asia.

 

And no.. I am not biased toward Acer because my uncle is an Acer distributor :) If I have an unlimited budget for laptops, I will pick IBM :)

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If you mean that manufacturer having no Microsoft products installed in their product line at all.. there are none, especially in the United States.

 

Move out of the US and into Asia, however, there are some manufacturers that offers Linux in some product lines. Acer is one, HP is another. I particularly like the lower end Acer products since the same laptop with Windows XP installed can cost you 100 dollars more. While 100 dollars is not that much in the Western world, it's almost a month's salary for regular people in some parts of Asia.

 

And no.. I am not biased toward Acer because my uncle is an Acer distributor :) If I have an unlimited budget for laptops, I will pick IBM :)

 

Acer's build quality is terrible though :(

 

What exactly is the point of this thread? I dont speak french and the first link 404's on me, what's the issue?

 

iphitus

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Acer build quality has been good to me ;)

 

I have 2 Acer laptops here and both are running great.

 

But yeah, there was a shop in the Netherlands that offered laptops custom build, so you could order them without M$ but they went kaput :(

 

Asus and Aopen are offering custom builds, so you might find some over there.

Acer is offering it but only outside Europe/US :(

HP has only 1 model.

 

I don't know of any others.

 

But isn't there a policy that you can get a refund if you don't want to use the M$ licence that comes with a pre-build pc/laptop ?

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I too have a Toshiba laptop, but don't understand what this collaboration can be (no good at French, couldn't be bothered to translate it :P )? Other than the fact that manufacturers bundle Microsoft software with the hardware. But this has pretty much always been the way.

 

Personally, if I buy a machine and it has Microsoft software with it, I may use it, I may not. I have the option to choose to use it if I want. At the moment, I have a Toshiba laptop of a year or so old, which runs Linux without any problems. I suppose I could always buy the laptop without the software, but you'd probably need to purchase it from the manufacturer, and chances are you might not save that much anyway. And, you could probably get it even cheaper from other online websites anyway.

 

Perhaps one day, they may bundle Linux with them too, but if not, you can still download it and install it if you don't want to use the Microsoft software. So not sure what the problem is?

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I guess the problem is that you're paying for software you don't want.

 

You should be free to choose but now they force you to buy an M$ licence.

 

Or another example, you break your laptop, you need to buy a new one, why on earth would you need to pay for another M$ licence? Activation is bound to the hardware but a simple call to M$ will provide you with a new key to activate on the new hardware.

 

It would be so much better for everyone, Linux and M$ users, if we wouldn't be forced to buy licences each time we buy a machine.

 

Just my 2c

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Totally agree with your comment!

 

Obviously, there might be the situation that your old laptop had Win95, it broke, and you bought a new one, surely, on the new one you'd want a later version if you wanted to use it. Win95 has problems with newer hardware, especially when the processor is over 2.2GHz. And a lot of drivers you can't get for it. Therefore, IF, you wanted to use the software, you'd have a lot of problems unless you had the later version.

 

This is just an example, but I understand where you're coming from. We might not want to use it, ie: use Linux instead, and therefore don't want to pay for something we're not using. Buying from a shop, you're unlikely to be able to negotiate the discount, because it's already bundled. You'd probably have to call the manufacturer and order through them, but you're likely to get cheaper elsewhere WITH the license (as mentioned in my previous post).

 

It would be a lot better if the manufacturers don't assume that we want to run a Microsoft OS, and give us the option to decline it. Similar to ordering online from Dell I would imagine! You can select/deselect what you want/don't want.

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There Iphitus, you have your answer. Toshiba HAVE allowed themselves to be locked into Micro$oft.

If they did it because they thought they had to then they are gutless.

I think it is more likely that they were anxious and happy to get into bed with Micro$oft. I am disgusted that the ACCC could find nothing wrong with this practice. The new slime that heads ACCC has so far managed to emasculate the ACCC in favour of big business in a short space of time. Was a time when we could be proud of ACCC but now it is a sham and not at all respected.

I have almost lost what respect I had for Toshiba as well.

 

John.

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Ummmm AussieJohn, the second article is from early 1998, and he was trying to return a copy of Windows 98. It's hardly relevent now.

 

Nor does it explain to me what the two french links at the top are about.

 

Coverup: the ACCC, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is a government created organisation who via legislation is capable of making companies follow fair trade laws. Similar to how the police can force people to obey civil law.

To trade in australia, Toshiba and Microsoft have to obey by the appropriate laws and if they dont, the ACCC is capable of pulling them up.

More info here: http://www.accc.gov.au/

 

iphitus

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First french link is going nowhere 404 error on Toshiba site.

 

Second french link is a discussion that starts with somebody pointing out some cheap pc's Mandrake was selling and it derives to a discussion about how much a standard Linux pc can cost.

 

I don't get the link between both :blink:

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