Story: Linux PCs 'used to run pirated Windows'

Posted by: Anonymous (Tuesday 5 October 2004, 3:30 PM)

The tone of your article is somewhat misleading, and puts a curious spin on the facts. There is no such thing as a 'Linux PC'; Linux as I am sure you know will run on practically any kind of hardware.

The real issue is that it is cheaper to by a PC that doesn't have a proprietary operating system on it. Well, duh. The fact that people are then prepared to break the law and steal some proprietary software and install it onto some hardware they own is, frankly, nothing to do with the 'Linuxness' of the original PC, Linux as an operating system, or indeed PC hardware.

More correctly, you should say 'PCs preloaded with open source Linux software can subsequently be installed with Microsoft Windows. However, some people do this without paying a license fee to Microsoft.'

Hmm. Put like that, it sounds like a non-story....it smells like lazy journalism with a Microsoft agenda to me; perhaps it would be more appropriate to focus on the aspects of choice within the PC market, and the convoluted process one has to go through to get a refund if one doesn't want the copy of windows preloaded on many PCs.