If Lenovo has in fact eliminated the option of “no pre-installed OS” or “FreeDOS”, then that would be a step backwards for me. Likewise, if you need to make a custom order to get “no pre-installed OS” or “FreeDOS”, that would be a step backward because custom orders generally mean that there is a longer wait and a higher price on an item which is otherwise the same. I appreciate that someone is willing to go to the trouble to verify this apparent policy shift with Lenovo and I would be pleased if they report that Lenovo offers a “no OS” or “FreeDOS” option on the same footing as the other options.

If I ordered a Thinkpad with FreeDOS, it would not be because I actually planned to use FreeDOS as my operating system

No, I didn’t miss the point at all. I said that I doubted that Lenovo got many requests for laptops preinstalled with FreeDOS – you yourself have just now admitted that you don’t want to run FreeDOS, you just want it so you can install your own choice of OS. While I understand and even sympathize with what you want, you have to understand that Lenovo likely stopped offering it on their website (except perhaps by special request) because nobody was requesting it.

Think of it like this – you are a store owner that sells…. I dunno, bikes maybe. You only have so much room in your shop. If nobody is buying the little red tricycles, you’re going to drop them and put something else there instead – something that is selling. Now if someone comes in and asks for a little red tricycle, you might be able to say “I don’t have any in stock at the moment, but if you are willing to wait – I can put one on order for you.”

Likewise, if you really want a lenovo laptop with FreeDOS, you might be able to special request it.

From my perspective, the problem is not so much that they offer Suse as an option, but that they have eliminated the option of FreeDOS.

Yea, because I’m sure they had tons of demand for FreeDOS.

</sarcasm>

Note: comment has been flagged for arriving from a possible incarnation of a known (eet), pseudonymous, forever-nymshifting, abusive Internet troll that posts from open proxies and relays around the world.

It’s Lenovo that sells Thinkpads, no? Anway, you’re correct that the vendor can do what they want but, of course, there may be negative consequences to their choices. From my perspective, the problem is not so much that they offer Suse as an option, but that they have eliminated the option of FreeDOS. It also would have been nice if, like Dell, they offer Ubuntu as an option. In sum, Roy S.’s point stands.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news

yesterday, this was an option when choose an operating system when configuring a t61p. it took off almost $40 if you chose this over vista or xp. i was very happy because i was probably going to purchase one later this week with the dos license, but now there is no option for the thinkpad dos license anymore

i thought it might of been just the cpp site, but it’s the main site also. i’m about to cry.

If you want a Thinkpad, then buy one, then download and install FreeDOS.

Lenovo just yanked the option to get a ThinkPad with FreeDOS, I was about to purchase one for myself and mentioning it to others. But, now I refuse to and will go elsewhere.

D.