Should non-Linux related Operating Systems be discussed onLinuxSA?

[Chris Foote]

On Tue, 10 Oct 2006, Ian wrote:

> Perhaps one way to counter the hidden cost of the OS we ( as in Linux
> advocates ) could perhaps develop a listing of dealers willing to sell
> computers showing cost of hardware + cost of extra bits - like the OS.
> We could get Linux Australia to generate a survey of major suppliers/
> dealers and publicise results?
>
> There is probably something in the MS Dealer contracts that prevents
> such a breakdown becoming an advertising tool. By that I mean the big
> boys, Dell, ACER, HP etc.
>
> Does anybody else see that the MS Tax could become selling point?
>
> Are computer purchasers wide awake enough to break through the MS haze
> and see that a PC doesn't automatically equal needing a Windows
> system?
>
> Are we doing enough to put forward Linux as an alternative?

*Any alternative*, Linux or not, would be a good starting point :-)

Alternatives are very limited in a monopoly market.  I like the arguments
that Cybersource presented last year in a paper entitled:

 	The Cost of Software Monopoly: How Australian Consumers Lose
 	http://www.cyber.com.au/about/monopoly.html

In particular, they want new regulations from the ACCC to open up
competition:

 	"The first remedy that Cybersource seeks from the ACCC is
 	that all tier-1 and tier-2 vendors should be required to offer
 	their desktop and laptop products without an operating system
 	pre-installed, that this choice be presented to consumers
 	as broadly as the products themselves are, and that the price
 	difference between the with and without operating system options
 	should also be clearly and broadly presented at retail outlets,
 	on vendor marketing literature and vendor websites."

It would be a good starting point.

-- 
Chris Foote <chris at inetd.com.au>
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