Jim Hall <[email protected]> wrote: >>I think it's pretty cool to see vendors including FreeDOS as a >>pre-installed operating system option. Unfortunately, I think many >>vendors (and users, probably) view FreeDOS as the equivalent of "naked >>PC", with the intention of installing something else after purchase. >>
Ralf A. Quint <[email protected]> wrote: > A lot of manufacturers do this simply due to the fact that Microsoft > gives them favorable prices for Windows (less than <$50 a pop instead > of the retail price of +$160) if they do not sell a PC "without" OS > and they also can not sell Linux on the same models. So FreeDOS is a > convenient loophole, nothing else. None of the vendors will support > any question regarding FreeDOS, whatsoever. I had a conversation with a Dell sales rep some years ago, and while he wasn't willing to discuss it over email, he did tell me just that when we met in person: It's a loophole. Microsoft gives out a fairly cheap OEM Windows license for high-volume system builders, with the proviso that they not sell "naked" workstation PCs, or workstations with Linux. So the vendors put some simple, low-cost operating system on there that no one will want to keep, and let the customer wipe it to re-install with something else. I think it was actually Dell that figured out the loophole first, and installed FreeDOS on their "n" ("naked") series workstations. It was an outgrowth of Dell previously selling workstations with Linux on them, before Microsoft re-negotiated the terms. At the time, Dell did have some basic support for FreeDOS - but troubleshooting was limited to "if we can get your computer to boot FreeDOS, we're done." IIRC, if you called in for help with FreeDOS, they'd tell you to delete your CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT (or, leave enough of a CONFIG.SYS to load the COMMAND.COM.) Failing that, they'd tell you to re-install from the FreeDOS distribution CDROM, and call back when you're done. No help in tweaking your system. Once you get the "C:\>" prompt, that was it. I don't know that they even go that far, anymore. I think you're right that they now consider FreeDOS a "pre-installed but unsupported" operating system. But still, I find it extremely cool to see "FreeDOS" as an operating system option on desktop computers. :-) -jh ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Write once. Port to many. Get the SDK and tools to simplify cross-platform app development. Create new or port existing apps to sell to consumers worldwide. Explore the Intel AppUpSM program developer opportunity. appdeveloper.intel.com/join http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-appdev _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
