Re: Netscape, XyWrite, and the Media

["Walter Jowers" walter.jowers@xxxxxxxx]

Harper's may have published a "study" in 98, but I bought the computer, with
no OS installed, last summer. I suspect anybody can do the same.

But let's just assume somebody chooses to buy a computer, and that person
doesn't want the OS installed: I say he needs to stop whining and crying and
learn to find the DOS prompt and type format c: If he's unwilling or unable
to do that, he needs to get used to the idea of paying for support.

For even a semi-serious computer user, it's worth a couple of hundred bucks
to start off with a clean hard drive.

Y'know, we could save the taxpayers a pile of money if people would just
learn to reformat a hard drive. Don't like Gates' stuff? Format c:, Bubba...
Don't like bloat? Custom install.

Might make a pretty good Public Service Announcement.

Virtually shaking hands with Peter Evans,
Walter Jowers, Nashville
E-mail: walter.jowers@xxxxxxxx

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul D" 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 8:13 AM
Subject: Re: Netscape, XyWrite, and the Media


> At 10:09 PM 2/21/00 -0600, you wrote:
> >I bought a perfectly good and useful PC from Transcend PC
> >(www.transcendpc.com), which they shipped with a barenaked hard drive and
a
> >startup floppy. Not buying the OS saved me about a hundred bucks.
> >
> >When I get my hands on a new computer, the first thing I do is wipe the
hard
> >drive and do a custom install of the OS and other software. No trashware
> >that way.
> >
> >Meanwhile, my neighbors (who are much more computer mainstream types)
think
> >Bill Gates is personally putting icons in their system tray, without
their
> >approval. I imagine the average DOJ lawyer thinks the same thing.
> >
> >My next task: Use that swell 98Lite to skin back the OS on my laptop to a
> >>
> >> Uhh... you mean to say MS does *not* have contracts with manufacturers
for
> >> installing their OS before shipping? You mean, we can go and by a PC
> >> *without* Windows installed? Can you tell us where?
> >>
>
> There was a study which was published in "Harper's" in the summer of
> 1998 showing that _NO_ manufacturer of PC's would provide a system
> with anything other than Windows. One or two said they would _remove_
windows
> and give you a blank system but they would not thereby reduce the
> price. If you insisted on , say, Linux, some would not do it, some would
> do it and charge extra.
>
> There is also evidence that MS bullied European manufacturers if they
> would not install it, and that a system with DR DOS installed woould
> be deliberately dumped with error messages (leading, according to
> its owners, to the demise of DR DOS. MS settled a suit with Caldera
> recently over this issue)
>
> regards
> -pjd
>
>
>
>