Ed Foster reported several weeks ago in InfoWorld that MS is
not permitting vendors who bundle Windows 98 to ship the
OS CD-ROM with the computer. (So be warned!) Not only that,
it has not made any big public announcement, so a lot of
people are going to be rudely surprised, when some new
installation says, "Place Windows disk in CD drive!"
I quote from Ed Foster's column in InfoWorld for June 5th:
"...a number of readers believed Microsoft's real intent is
to discourage customers from trying alternative operating systems.
"[One reader wrote]'The lack of a CD-ROM will clearly serve as
a disincentive to anyone wishing to experiment with Linux.'"
"An IT manager at a large manufacturer says that's exactly what
Microsoft officials told him. 'I spoke to some of my contacts
there, and found out that the medialess format is primarily designed
to be a firewall against competitors like Linux,' he wrote, explaining
it will make it harder to have a back-out strategy in place if an
experimental Linux deployment gets in trouble. [...] 'To discourage
corporations and consumers from changing, they are no longer
distributing CDs with every machine, in hopes that the fear of
change without any practical possibility of return will discourage
most users from even looking at other systems.'"
Now even as the judge has determined already, MS certainly
does not play fair! Neither with competitors nor customers!
You can follow the complete thread in InfoWorld on the web
at www.infoworld.com. Ed Foster's column is called "The
Gripe Line." The thread started about 3 weeks ago.
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