News Italy bans the 'Microsoft Tax'

This should be mandatory in the EU.

 

Hopefully this will get the ball rolling. The amount of money that could be saved by governments on licencing could be staggering if they already have a VLSC in place.

 

VL copies of Windows are upgrades and cannot be installed on a bare machine

 

This should not be a rebate on EULA rejection; it should be offered at point of purchase with a very clear "this will not work work without the operating system" disclaimer on selecting the cheaper "no OS" option.

I've always hated mail-in rebates vs. discount at point of purchase regardless of the circumstances...

 

Forcing customers to choose an OS would lead to no end of problems, IMHO.

You would either end up with customers moaning that vendors are being misleading because the advertised price isn't what they actually pay, or you would end up with customers choosing the cheapest option and then moaning how they don't know how to use this Linux thing.

I'm all for letting people choose what OS a PC comes pre-installed with, but forcing people with possibly no knowledge of PC's or what an OS is, just seem like asking for trouble.

 

Not necessarily, nothing prevents stores from recommending an operating system, and explaining why it is better (and saying that their helpdesk will only support it). However, they should give people an option to opt out if they want to, without charging licenses or loosing warranty.

Nowadays, at least here in Portugal, some online stores sell some models of Clevo, MSI and Asus laptops without an OS, as well as barebones from various brands, and I never heard a complaint.
I personally bought a Clevo ultrabook to install Ubuntu, and know a few people that bought MSI and Asus laptops without an OS to either install Windows 7 or Ubuntu.

 

I feel like in non-english speaking countries it's a little bit easier to switch OSes, because they don't have as much commercial software to be dependent on.

But what I don't understand is how exactly they're supposed to be refunded for the OS. For example, a lot of computers from Dell or HP are far cheaper than what they're actually worth, but they're cheaper because of all the adware pre-installed. If you buy one of these computers for super cheap and get a full refund for the windows license, you could potentially re-sell the computer for a profit, assuming you redistribute it without windows.

 

Isn't that what i said Sorry if i wasn't clear when i said "I'm all for letting people choose what OS a PC comes pre-installed with" that i meant people should have the option to choose what OS, or lack thereof comes pre-installed on their PC.

Expecting a store to explain or recommend to a customer why one OS is better, or that their helpdesk only supports one particular OS just isn't going to happen. For one whose going to pay for all the extra time it's going to take to explain everything. If a store recommends one OS over another then we are in the same bias situation we currently have.

You haven't heard a complaint because the option to buy a PC without an OS installed is exactly that, an option.

 

Well, it depends how much the license is worth, and regarding adware, it would be a great opportunity to make companies realize that adware isn't worth it. Sure, it could mean that the average price of laptops/barebones would increase slightly, but at least the competition better for local OEMs, who aren't able to make those kind of deals with Microsoft and adware companies.

And, even if, for example, Windows with Bing is free, I should have the right to refuse it.

I'm really sorry, completely missed that bit.

Well, I wouldn't mind seeing a big poster saying [Store name] recommends Windows 10, as long as I can refuse it. It would be biased, but not the same situation, because you can't refuse a license nowadays.

 

I find this a bit odd personally. If my parents purchased a new PC with no OS, they wouldnt have the first clue what to do.
If a PC Enthusiast bought a PC with no OS then they would know exactly what to do, what boggles my mind is why would any PC Enthusiast buy a PC from HP or DELL, or even Currys/PC World. We all know they are way overprices, and can often get the same or better hardware and build it yourself for almost half the price.

I have always purchased my PC's as components, there are plenty of places to buy PC's where you can customise everything, and I have seen many places that let you choose the OS.

If you know nothing about PC's and have never owned one before, then the best thing to do is buy one with a preinstalled OS. It doesnt matter if its Microsoft, Apple, ChromeOS or another flavour of linux. Go into the store, have a play and see what feels user friendly.

 

A Linux enthusiast is not necessarily a hardware enthusiast. Another thing is you may have a license for a different version of windows like a pro or ultimate or just windows 7 that you would prefer to use over what is pre-installed.

 

Dell and co don't pay the full price for the Windows license, so it is nothing more than a theoretical exercise where people who can be bothered can get 20 or so mail in rebate if they promise to not use the included Windows (better known as replacing it with a bloatware free version from "insert torrent site of choice").

 

"Free copy of Windows with every PC" -> no rebate. The value of the OS is zero.

And people seem to be forgetting that when you buy a PC from Dell or HP directly you have been able to choose "no operating system" for years, and years....and years.

If you're chump-enough to buy a PC from PC World then you probably SHOULD be using Windows no matter what. The money you'd save from the OEM value of Windows will still be less than the mark up the retailers are adding on to the over-priced PoS they're selling anyway.

Or maybe I'm just cynical -_-

 

Exactly.

That's true, for some countries, unfortunately. In Portugal for example, such options almost don't exist.
However, even if they did, that's not enough. All models should have the no-OS option (except Microsoft Surfaces, and Apple Macs, of course).

In my case, for example, I wanted to buy an ultrabook. However, no major brand sells it without Windows, so I ended up buying a Clevo W840SU-T. I'd prefer an Asus Zenbook, or a Taichi, but since I don't use Windows I refuse to hand Microsoft money, if I don't use their products.

Granted this wouldn't have an impact for a lot of people, but for my family it would, since almost all use Linux and my younger cousins are well versed into installing an OS. So far, my relatives have paid the Windows tax, because they don't like Clevos.

 

Presumably this will affect Apple as well?

 

I doubt it as they produce a single package. Plus they sell the O/S for very little compared to Microsoft.

 

They where not affected when Microsoft was forced to offer an os version without a media player and they where also not affected when Microsoft was forced to shove a browser choice in users faces, so why would they not get away this time?

 

The interesting thing is the differentiation between the two contracts, the I-buy-a-PC contract and the Microsoft-EULA (which isn't valid in Germany anyway)

Wat would be needed though, is for the OS to priced out individually, they won't refund you a full-fat-standalone-windows (who buys these anyway?) but at max the OEM-Windows price...and I'm not sure that's public.