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You do know...
... about one special clause of Microsoft's OEM and third parties license agreement on sales of new computer equipment, do you?

Basically and long story made short, when most of the computer assembly giants licensed Microsoft, the guys at redmod demanded that besides royalties, the companies should have to pay a given percentange (as to how much I do not know) to Microsoft as some sort of "strategic partnership". At the time the deal sounded good, since no-body else was real comptetition to Microsoft (and that is why some vendors with other DOS versions did not include MS-Windows 3). When the next big thing came along (Win95) pretty much everybody else fell under Microsoft's spell, since there was no visible competition for them then... Only vendor who could sell computers with other OS and (I believe) was exent of this "MS Tax" was IBM since they owned OS/2 and had some patents MS was using.

So it came virtually useless to have another operating system (OS/2 for instance) as an option, since anyway, vendors should still have to pay Microsoft due to this clause. I ignore the status of this particular issue regarding OEM licenses from Microsoft and the state of this MS-Tax, as some vendors are marketing Linux computers (though mainly servers and workstations, not desktop systems); maybe microsoft gave up to some preasure to let vendors offer other OSes on Servers and Workstations? Or maybe these were not part of the original deal in the first place? I do not know.
Posted by: thetargos   Posted on: 10/03/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Why include this fourth-rate browser  Real World | 10/03/05
Don't bother  DrDoug018 | 10/03/05
Why now?  nomorems | 10/03/05
In bold move, HP to ship Linux on new PCs  Boot_Agnostic | 10/03/05
Good move!  An_Axe_to_Grind | 10/03/05
Why isn't Linux or NO operating system and option ???  realitycheck101 | 10/03/05
RE: Why isn't Linux or NO operating system and option ???  mtifo@... | 10/03/05
Becuase HD's come preformated, why stock blank ones  John Zern | 10/03/05
ROFL...it's all about Windows Baby!!!  Asesino | 10/03/05
Don't be so sure  nucrash | 10/03/05
I believe in Google more than Apple at this point  Asesino | 10/03/05
Microsoft was "convicted" on some counts...  Anton Philidor | 10/03/05
Know all about MA  Asesino | 10/03/05
Strange though  Fred Fredrickson | 10/04/05
Microsoft excluded?  IT_User | 10/03/05
But they may be back in  John Zern | 10/03/05
You do know...  thetargos | 10/03/05
More like this  osreinstall | 10/03/05
No, wasn't it more like ...  MacCanuck | 10/03/05
There was many different options.  osreinstall | 10/03/05
Cry some more.  vdraken | 10/03/05
Another Day, Another FUD Post From YeahRight  Whyaylooh | 10/03/05
Re: ...start telling the truth  Scrat | 10/04/05
MS still has 'em by the $$$  nomorems | 10/03/05
OS in new systems  Bob41 | 10/03/05
Everything old is new again  nucrash | 10/03/05
Heck, let's just put HotJava on there  Boot_Agnostic | 10/03/05
HP continues slide...  Mike Cox | 10/03/05
Here are the facts  ivanii | 10/03/05
Just what Mike needs  luke_sg | 10/03/05
3  John L. Ries | 10/03/05
8.0 - Nice shot with the HP printers (NT)  luke_sg | 10/03/05
What a MORON  jbaviera@... | 10/03/05
Who's the MORON?  Scrat | 10/04/05
Netscape  curio@... | 10/03/05
OS in new PC  Bob41 | 10/03/05
Can I get my PC with MS-DOS?  John Zern | 10/03/05
Oh, Great...  itpro_z | 10/03/05
Yea, I know  jbaviera@... | 10/03/05
IE  itpro_z | 10/03/05

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