Dell No Longer Selling Systems w/o Microsoft OS

Some Sys Admin sent in an email that he got from Dell which basically says Microsoft will no longer allow Dell to sell PCs without an operating system. Please note that Microsoft is not a monopoly, and does not use their monopoly power to squish competition in the market place. The message itself is attached below, and is worth a read, especially the last bit.

UPDATES

1. Effective 8/26 - New Microsoft contract rules stipulate that we can no longer offer the "NO OS" option to our customers beyond September 1st. As such all customers currently purchasing a "NO OS" option on either OptiPlex, Precison or Latitude for the express purpose of loading a non-MS OS will have the following options:

1. Purchase a Microsoft OS with each OptiPlex, Precision or Latitude system.

2. For OptiPlex and Precision - purchase one of the new "nSeries" products (offered for GX260, WS340 & WS530 - details in the attached FAQ) that are being created to address a different OS support requirement other than a current standard Microsoft OS.

We must have all "No OS" orders shipped out of the factory by September 1st. The "No OS" legend code and SKUs will be I-coded on 8/19 and D-coded on August 26th to ensure shipment of orders prior to September 1st. FYI - this effects all of our competitors as well.

Comments

Re:It's a shame...

[StandardDeviant]

undying need to profit and destroy its competitors

Puh-leeeeeez. That's what corporations do. It is the corporate officer's duty to undertake whatever actions maximize stockholder benefit. Period, end of sentence. Offering health insurance? Stock options? Good pay? Those are all tools to maximize worker productivity. Understand, this is neither a good nor a bad thing in the moral/ethical sense. In the world of business, there is no right and wrong in the moral sense, only "right" as in following the law and making money. Look at it this way, if Dell did the "right" thing by standing up to MSFT and lost money or went out of business, is it morally correct that this action hurts Dell's stockholders and employees? Gordon Gecko may have been a loathsome character, but his "Greed is Good" speech is closer to the truth (in the ethical sphere of corporate reality) than many would like to admit.

If you don't like the way business is run, then don't get a job at one. Start your own, give it the college try, and hope that you can look yourself in the mirror after ten years has turned you into that which you railed against as a young turk.

Re:Monopoly

[blueworm]

Microsoft does not hold it's market share purely because of its bad business practices. Windows is very easy to install, device drivers are easy to manage, you can change display modes with a mouse click, etc... I don't care for many of their business practices and I wish someone else would develop a product that could seriously compete. I believe that an OS (but not all software) should be free. However there is not a competing product out there which is free and has the ease of use of Windows.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Well

[FakePlasticDubya]

If they really wanted to, Dell, or other companies could cancel their contracts with Microsoft and sell PCs with no Operating System or PCs with Linux. However, they know that the customer base that "wants" Windows is larger than those that want no OS or Linux. So thus, they will agree to Microsoft's wishes and keep renewing their contracts.

Why don't we hear the Mac people complaining about similar things? As far as I know, though I may be wrong, you can't purchase a Mac with no operating system on it. In fact, Apple's selling practices are more constrained than Microsoft, they just don't have the market share MSFT does.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that companies will do what is profitable, and that is to sell Microsoft Windows on their desktops.

If you don't like the fact that Dell won't sell you a computer with no Operating System on it, then don't buy a Dell. If you don't like the fact that Microsoft is forcing Dell not to sell no OS computers, then don't buy Windows and run something else.

The majority of people complaining here are the ones who wouldn't buy a Dell in the first place, and who don't run MS software anyway.

Microsoft has a monopoly in the OS (If we define monopoly by a excessive share of the market). So what? No one mandates that you buy it. In fact, with advanced in Linux and the various windows managers and the software available, you can do virtually anything in Linux you could in Windows and just as eaisly.

Use the power of the market (or the lack of a market -- free software) to tell Microsoft you don't like what they are doing. If you are a Sys Admin, urge your company to run *NIX instead of the latest and "greatest" Windows server suite.

Re:Monopoly

[Jonny 290]

Umm, yeah. Then you have 5000 .doc files that were all made with different versions that you have to open up and get the metadata so you can figure out why the fuck those list bullets aren't showing up correctly.

And yes, I know that there are serveral versions of the .doc format, but the latest MS word processor can read them all. If you wanna use Word 6 on a P133, well, OF COURSE you're not going to be able to view that 200 page document with embedded video clips that the boss created on his new XP box. That's what you get for using dinosaur hardware and software.

I'm not saying MS is right, I'm saying that they're protecting their interests, and the last thing they're going to do is create a forward and backward-compatible file system so you have no need to upgrade when Word 2003 comes out.

YHBT

[JPriest]

YHBT.YHL.HAND.