

'Naked PCs' lay bare Microsoft's emerging markets problem - arms77
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/12/us-microsoft-emergingmarkets-idUSKBN0GA0V120140812?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

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guilloche
I have bought 4 laptops with windows pre-installed. Immediately after getting
them, I erased all windows and installed arch linux.

As I know, the pre-installed windows cost around $50, so the total cost of
microsoft tax is $200 for me. The only thing MS brings to me is the trouble to
erase them and install linux.

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samspenc
I don't quite understand why more computer makers - particularly in Asia -
don't pre-install an easy-to-use Linux operating system. It seems like the
perfect market for open-source operating systems.

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lutusp
> I don't quite understand why more computer makers - particularly in Asia -
> don't pre-install an easy-to-use Linux operating system.

I think the reason is that they anticipate that their customers expect
Windows. If they install Windows, they only have to sell the computer to the
customer. If they install Linux, they also have to sell the customer to the
computer.

It's really a shame, because Linux makes economic sense -- lots of free
software, idealistic developers, good documentation -- as shown by the number
of regional governments and municipalities that have switched from Windows to
Linux for economic reasons, mostly large-scale projects in which computer end-
users are coached and educated through the change.

When individual computer buyers start preferring Linux to Windows, that will
be an important turning point. But not yet, it seems.

