[speeder]

I needed to buy a computer some years ago.

My favourite OS is Fedora.

First thing, is I find out that all manufacturers only were selling non-Windows machines at a significant markup, the only way this made sense to me is if Microsoft is actively bribing them (ie: "selling" windows for a negative price).

So I thought, I would just buy this cool Windows 8 laptop, and remove Windows 8, since it is crap anyway.

Well... no, I am still using that Windows 8 (now 8.1, after it forcefully upgraded itself), because for some reason (maybe a UEFI bug) I can't make anything that ins't Windows that came installed to boot, not even Windows install discs boot, much less Linux discs, and yes, I did disabled SecureBoot, but it still blocks everything except Windows 8 itself from booting (this mean I can't use Memtestx86 either)

If that ins't closed, I dunno what is.

[SloopJon]

> First thing, is I find out that all manufacturers only were selling non-Windows machines at a significant markup, the only way this made sense to me is if Microsoft is actively bribing them (ie: "selling" windows for a negative price).

It's not Microsoft bribing them, it's the crapware vendors.

[raesene2]

So your pc or fedora has a bug which prevents you changing os and it then follows that Microsoft have a monopoly power in PCs... Sorry I don't quite think that follows

[mordocai]

Nitpicking, but the problem as they described is definitely not fedora. It is definitely a PC problem.

The main problem here is that Windows is such a monopoly that the PC manufacturer didn't care to make sure anything else worked.

[arien]

Just like mobile developers don't bother making Windows Apps because they consider the % of users is too low.

In other words, this manufacturer probably didn't care because the % of users who would use it for something other than the standard config is too small to justify the time spent outside that standard.

I don't think this specific case can be called monopoly. You can install Linux and other stuff fine in most laptops, this looks like an isolated case. I mean, you can even install Ubuntu on a Surface Pro and Surface Book (proprietary MS hardware).

[pistle]

The vendor knows that if someone WANTS a non-windows PC, they are going to be willing to pay more, so the price goes up. They also are implementing a whole new process for a small set of customers which increases their costs. They pass those directly on to the consumers with the need/want. It's the special flower luxury tax.

[scholia]

Exactly right.

It actually does cost more to make and sell a non-Windows PC. You have extra work to install and validate the different OS for hardware and drivers, plus extra stock-keeping, accounting and distribution costs, and then extra advertising and support costs.

And you don't get a kickback from installing crapware ;-)

If you do all that, most of your buyers will complain that you've installed one version of Linux and they would have preferred a different version....