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The trick with selling Linux is not telling the user it's not Windows. I used to refurb old laptops for old ladies. Throw a light version of Linux on there, show 'em the internet, maybe setup email, done. And I never got pestered to come back and fix shit.
My parents bought laptops together around 2013 that they still use today, just with new batteries and SSD upgrades.
Windows 10 was already pushing it, I had to do some funky things to stop Windows from overwriting old drivers with newer versions that broke stuff like the trackpads. Now they have Fedora KDE spin. The GUI is similar enough when all you do is use Thunderbird, Firefox, and the File Explorer.
Changing OS was still scary to them, so I just brought over a live USB for them to test drive.
The test drive is brilliant! But for most of the folks I'm talking about, not going to give them a choice that will only confuse them. Not to be the high-handed, know-it-all IT guy, but sometimes you present a solution as a fait accompli. "There ya go! Here's how it works. Any questions? Enjoy!"
And BTW, YES to you! A fresh $20 battery, an SSD and Linux Light (or similar), new laptop as far as they can tell. We on the same page!
My grandmother used Ubuntu for years. I setup autologin and put a Firefox shortcut on the Desktop. The next time a problem cropped up was when the LTS support ended
Haven't they been doing this for years?
This is fair, and might advertise a bit just how expensive Windows still is.
Have other companies been doing this before, I’ve heard of Dell selling Linux laptops but not sure if they’re cheaper.
They've done that on and off for ages, and the ones being offered with Ubuntu here are mostly pretty expensive or else not so interesting. I've been content to buy older Thinkpads and self-install Debian for my past several laptops. I was somewhat tempted by recent Ideapad Yogas but resisted, and since then, prices have gone up, whether due to tariffs or whatever else.
This is no news. Lenovo has been offering a variety of windows or no OS for years.
Yes, but they usually came at the same price.
That's not correct at all. Did you visit lenovo.com lately?
What? What kind of raw deals do you guys get?
In Europe I could always return the Windows licence and get over 100€ back.
AFAIK that ended about 10 years ago, due to some legal technicality.
In the US, I asked before buying, and they gave me a $50 or so discount. It was better than nothing, so I took it.
Dell used to have done this for a while until one day they decided not to. They pre-installed with Ubuntu if I recall.
Wow $140 USD is a lot for preinstalled windows IMO. 😱
Yeah, they only gave me like $50 or so off when I told them I didn't want the Windows license. Granted, it shipped w/ Linux, so they likely still paid for the license, but still.
We had a campaign here several years ago, and $50 was the accepted rate most places.
I don't think you can legally demand it anymore, but you used to be able to demand that windows was removed, and you were compensated for the price of the license.
Here in EU what made that possible was AFAIK regulation about anti competitive practices.
Problem is it's never Microsoft that pays, it's always the vendor or retailer.
Exactly. And my understanding is that they pay something close to the retail rate, whereas they get a discounted rate from Microsoft, so they're getting shafted multiple ways.
Yeah I didn’t believe that amount, looked it up, and it looks like digital W11 Home keys are $139 USD directly from Microsoft.
I’m surprised manufacturers aren’t getting some sort of license discount.
They are, but likely not passing the savings on.
If I were to guess, I'd say they may get a discount but Lenovo could be reducing their margin to incentivize people away from Windows so they can stop paying out Windows licenses in the future.
That makes the most sense
When Microsoft battled Android to sell their own phones, they demanded a $35 license fee for "Microsoft Patents" on Android!.
AFAIK that was about the same as a Windows OEM license! Just about every Android phone maker folded and agreed to pay!
So IDK Microsoft can be very aggressive in their license pricing. There are also different versions of Windows, and a multi language license is AFAIK more expensive.
Still for me it would be absolutely insane to pay that much, as I would just format it anyway, and install Linux. And with Linux I can use whatever language I want!
