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by jasonlotito 3938 days ago
> I'm talking about being able to buy a computer from a manufacturer without having to pay $99 for an installation of Microsoft Windows that I explicitly do not want.

You can. You are not limited to specialty outfits as well, nor are you required to pay a lot for it, or any of the other numerous criteria you try to add on as well. Being able to buy a PC without paying for Windows or paying for an Apple product is incredibly easy for the average person today.
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fapjacks 3937 days ago
No, you are shoehorned into buying a very specific model. It should be no problem whatsoever to choose any model on that site, and select "Ubuntu" for the OS, but you can't. If you go and look (and here I mean actually go and look[0]), the vast majority of machines that you can buy do not have the option to not pay for a Windows license. The choice you get is "Windows 8.1 or Windows 10".

[0] http://www.dell.com/us/p/laptops/xps-laptops

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dump100 3937 days ago
that is a choice Dell has made based of customer demand, sales and is no longer forced by MS to do so. MS tried this in 90s and it was major issue in the antitrust investigation
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fapjacks 3937 days ago
... And clearly today, as well.
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