[wplug] IBM Laptop

[J Aaron Farr]

On Thu, 2002-10-10 at 12:55, Henry Umansky wrote:
> Excellent tutorial, I will definately use it, thank you.  I will try to put 
> up a fuss, the more people that complain the better, maybe eventually they 
> will give the consumer a choice (isn't that the point of capitalism) of 
> which OS to install.  I thought that IBM was one of those big-time Linux 
> companies, so why don't they offer Linux on their laptops and desktops??
> 
> -Henry
> 

The problem is with the contracts that Microsoft has with PC/Notebook
manufacturers.  While I don't know specifically about IBM, most
companies *must* sell some sort of operating system with their units
(according to MS contracts) or they do not get OEM discounts from MS,
and if they chose Linux, then MS starts putting pressure on them.  Dell
had this issue a while ago.  Eventually they quit selling linux
pre-installed systems, but they do sell systems with just a copy of
"FreeDOS" disks to get around the MS costs.

jaaron