Microsoft Hatred FAQ

[David Schwartz]

<joe at invalid.address> wrote in message 
news:m3irvma9w3.fsf at invalid.address...

> "David Schwartz" <davids at webmaster.com> writes:

>>     I think you need to look up "extortion" in a dictionary. I can
>> walk up to you and say "if you want me to mow your lawn, you must
>> pay me $1 every time you smoke a cigarette". So long as you can say
>> "no" and all that happens is that I don't mow your lawn (which I
>> have no obligation to do anyway), it isn't extortion.

> Extortion isn't the right word, of course. Nevertheless, being unable
> to pay for a computer without also having to pay for an operating
> system I don't want seems wrong to me.

    Then don't do it.

> Yes, I have alternatives, I generally buy components and put them
> together myself. But why should I have to do that simply to avoid
> paying  for an OS I'm not going to use?

    When you are not in the majority, you are going to face inconveniences. 
You'd face the same inconvenience if you wanted to buy a new car without 
seats. Most people wants cars with seats, so that's the way they're 
packaged.

> The way this seems to work in practice strikes me as questionable at
> best. Perhaps not illegal (IANAL so I don't know that) but certainly
> one-sided. For one example, see
>
> http://www.netcraft.com.au/geoffrey/toshiba.html

    This, I think, is unacceptable.

    DS