I don’t particularly have any sympathy for them, they chose their OS now, didn’t they? I use both Windows 11 and Garuda Linux, and there are things I like about both. While I have more control over how Garuda works for me, I get great satisfaction in overcoming all those self-advertising Microsoft wants to do in Windows, and a variety of other hacks to lighten it up for better performance and less bloat.
Ernie
I read some where that Microsoft wants to make windows as a monthly subscription for users
Thatvstory has been going around for some time now, they already have it in office 365, just like adobe and several others… Apps are easy to pay as you go but not sure about the operating system itself
Not really. When you buy a PC from a retailer you do not get a choice of which OS you want installed.
That rings a bell. I read a rumor that the next release of Windows (or part of it) would be cloud based and a monthly fee would be required to access the information on the cloud.
As far as i know no computer store here in Sweden has Linux as a choice when you buy a computer. which is a shame
The cup is not completely empty.
I’m pretty happy buying bespoke computers from my local non-corporate computer store (empty or with my own software specs) or buying used/refurbished boxes and flushing them, reloading them with Linux. Nobody is forced to buy preloaded computers.
There are a lot of things people are not forced to do. Maybe except as an old saying goes pay taxes and die. In real terms millions upon millions of new PC are sold each year with Windows per-installed. No choice is given.
What good is a new PC to almost everyone with out an OS installed? It would just be a piece of hardware with a power button.
Think of it like cars: nobody is forced to buy a new car either. But imagine a dealer selling a new car with no wheels installed. How far is a person going to get?
Same deal with PCs. A machine without an OS is about as useful as a car without wheels. People on this forum can install Linux, but we’re in a very small minority. The average person needs a working PC they can take home and works out of the box.
How far can a person go in a car with out wheels?
What good is PC without an OS ?
We are almost there … they sell new cars with no spare , or with a plastic imitation spare. EV’s in particular omit the spare.
But you are right about computers … the average illcomputerate person wants a computer WITH software. … and they dont want a choice of components, they want a package deal
Absolutely agree with Howard here.
Where I live we have independent computer builders who allow the purchaser to specify an OS or who provide a functional computer for the purchaser to install his/her own. Online sellers do the same thing.
The store I deal with also will de-bloat any computer you buy from them with Windows installed–I believe their preferred brand is Lenovo. They build a box for me, starting with an empty case on their shelf and allowing me to specify components. A week later they had it assembled. Surely it’s not the only shop in the world.
Well-described, Nev!
But if or when it goes wrong and has to be returned to base to fix I have heard about blame being put on the linux system, hence I will not install linux on client machines until its 2 years old and out of cover.
I had one client with a 6 year old machine so out of cover, installed linux worked fine, but she wanted to use a drawing tablet attached, instead of just asking, she went to a computer shop where he said linux does not work you must have windows, so got sold a drawing tablet, new copy of windows plus time and labour (silly price) next time I dropped in to see her she asked how do I … And then she told me the story. I had my own netbook with me, just plugged in the drawing tablet mint recognised it really quickly and it worked. But the shop said NO ,!
And your family continues to pay your tax as death duty.
Perhaps, but that doesn’t prevent you from making a different choice by choosing hardware with the OS you want, or by getting the hardware you want, then installing the OS you want too.
The real problem is complacency. Many users don’t care so much about which OS they’re using as much as whether it simply works, and Windows does meet that bar for most non-technically adept users, don’t you think?
Ernie
Yes. Accept whatever is dished up.
Car buyers are much more astute … they look at performance figures and specifications.
Perhaps computers should be 10x the price, then buyers would be more astute.
Aust does not have death duties. It is a very sensitive topic … no political group could survive bringing it in.
Taxes on things other than income or goods and services are frowned on , because they do not relate to any activity that a taxpayer could avoid . Capital gains tax is a hot topic in Aust at the moment.
Hi Bill,
That’s great that you live in an area that has shops that provide this service. And I feel like you have the knowledge and technical skills to place any OS on your PC.
The vast majority of new PC being sold, has an OS is per-installed. Whether it be Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS, and yes a very few Linux installs.
And the vast majority of the people buying a new PC are not taking them home and installing a different OS onto the PC they just brought.
Some 71 millions PC were sold in the US in 2025 according to site businesswire.com. PCs running Windows hold about an 80% market share.
In June 2025 about 5% of PC in the US ran Linux. quantumrun.com
“Linux holds 2.99% of the global desktop OS market in April 2026, according to StatCounter. The United States crossed 5% desktop share for the first time in June 2025.”
Howard, you’re right, of course. I spent 20 years or so bringing our part of the Air Force into the computer/Windows age. Many of my coworkers were so dependent on their punch cards and paper listings that they could not see the digital facts in front of them. Most of them religiously printed every email they received and filed them in folders. That’s after they slowly learned how to retrieve emails and execute commands to run the printer. Most had index cards listing every key click they needed.
The children and grandchildren of the folks I worked with are no smarter. They’re the phone generation–they can’t figure out what to do if they don’t have a phone app to tell them.
I don’t care. Computers are just a dumb tool which will do what I tell them to do. I can do everything I need done by speaking Linux to my computers, so I’ve given up trying to convert the unwashed heathens. They can suffer on, blue screen after blue screen.