Why can’t we buy fully assembled computers without any software installed?
I’m not talking about making available a few fringe models, but rather to have that choice on every darn model that Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. offer on their custom configuration websites.
The price of the computer can be adjusted for the lost incentives tied to trialware and related software trash.
Hardware drivers can be provided on a CD and made available for downloading.
To say that we must have an operating system installed in order to use the hardware ducks the question and doesn’t fit today’s mature computer market. Most of us have licensed copies of XP and Vista lying around, we can download Windows 7 RC for free, and many prefer one of the Linux distributions.
If the answer to my question is that Microsoft makes the manufacturers include Microsoft software, isn’t that forced tie-in a blatant anti-trust violation?