Microsoft and the Laptop Monopoly

Why can't I buy a laptop without an operating system (OS) on it? Oh yeah, it's because Microsoft controls the computer world.

As many that have read my articles already know, I prefer to use Linux as my operating system on my computers. So, when I began my search for a laptop computer, I naturally began to contemplate how to get Linux on my laptop.

Sure, it can be done. It is relatively easy to put a new operating system on anything that can read a compact disk, laptop included. For example, if you have a Windows computer and a virus corrupts the hard drive that is one way to repair it. I know that almost never happens (countless Windows users are laughing over that small joke). But, even with a virus ridden hard drive, you can still reload the Windows CD, format the drive and reinstall. All's well. This is the same way that any operating system is installed. As mentioned, this is a relatively simple process.

The current cost of Windows is somewhere between $100 and $200. Knowing this, my reasoning is, "Well, why can't I just get a laptop without an operating system? I'm going to install my own Linux system anyway, so why do I have to pay for Windows?" That should save me money, right?

The search began for the OS free laptop. Internet sites were scanned, friends called, favors called in, all in the search for the laptop without Windows on it. Several options began to show up, but none of them great:

1. Buy a Windows laptop and go ahead and put Linux on it after the fact. This defeats the purpose of the OS free laptop, right? Easy option, but not my best choice.

2. Buy a used laptop with Windows on it. This also defeats the purpose, but is at least cheaper. This was still not the option I was looking for.

3. Buy one of the few available OS free laptops on the market. Unfortunately, this option is actually usually more expensive for some reason. The perspective seems to be that creating a laptop without Windows is somehow harder to do, therefore it should be more expensive.

4. Buy a laptop without a hard-drive and put your own in it. Again, difficult to find such a thing. Also, not really less expensive either. This option once again defeats the purpose of attaining an OS free laptop.

When I go to buy a car, I may not easily be able to pick which engine goes in there, but at least I have a variety of options of car to choose from. In the case of laptops and, for the most part, computers as a whole, there are actually a few hundred different types of Linux operating systems available to put on computers. But it seems that laptops and computers (with minimal exception) all come with only one type of "engine" installed, Microsoft Windows. Why is that?

Not to exclude Apple computers, as they are certainly a viable option. But to be able to use Apple computers, for the most part, you must commit to buying an entirely different option than Windows, hardware and all. Apple operating systems are not, for the most part, transferable to anything other than Apple computers.

My point with all of this is that virtually all computers that have Microsoft Windows on them have the ability to have different operating systems on them. In America, supposedly the land of choices and monopolistic-free society, Microsoft is certainly exerting overly their capitalistic goals. There is nothing wrong with capitalism, not by a long shot. But when it is manipulated to exclude competition, it becomes something else entirely.

For those like myself that are hunting for different options than Microsoft, there is a small gradual change in the face of computing. More and more there are laptops and PC's available that have Linux of varying types on them pre-installed.

This is certainly a trend I like to encourage, but it still doesn't provide me with an OS free computer. Perhaps sometime in the future a computer laptop manufacturer will hear this plea and do something about it. Until then, I'll keep searching.