Choose GNU/Linux or Windows, but Microsoft gets your money either way

This situation has been discussed in the IRC channel for days and also mentioned in this Web site's comments. For those who do not know, Lenovo ceased to deliver PCs with FreeDOS and specified no reason for this move. So essentially, no matter what PC you now buy from Lenovo, Microsoft will be paid. Microsoft is in some sense creating a Linux-Windows monopoly using Novell's SUSE.

Here is one relevant post on this subject. It comes from an external source (the rest you can find in IRC logs).

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.

In light of the recent developments that are discussed more heavily (Ubuntu paying Microsoft for codecs), this ought to serve as an in-advance warning. Regarding Netbook Remix, this one from Intel is worth staying away from in favour of similar Linux gadgets. And it's not just because Intel is a convicted monopolist in several continents; it's because it sets a dangerous precedence for Free software and has some memories from Dell return to haunt. ⬆