[QUOTE=chalsall;312360]Let's run a test here.

I challenge you have Dell, HP or IBM agree to sell you a computer without Windows installed.[/QUOTE]

I'm one person. Even if I had the money, they wouldn't care. If I'm a company, they might care.

PS [URL="http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/21/14015361-romney-paid-141-percent-effective-tax-rate-in-2011?lite"]Romney paid 14.1 percent effective tax rate in 2011[/URL]

[QUOTE=Dubslow;312361]I'm one person. Even if I had the money, they wouldn't care. If I'm a company, they might care.[/QUOTE]

And so it is... The "one person" accepts that they don't matter.

Hmmm....

[QUOTE=chalsall;312365]And so it is... The "one person" accepts that they don't matter.

Hmmm....[/QUOTE]

???

If I called in demanding a computer without Windows (and thus the small discount), I'd be told no.


That doesn't mean that I can't make a difference. (As before, I never said I don't matter, I only said they don't care.)

[QUOTE=Dubslow;312370]That doesn't mean that I can't make a difference. (As before, I never said I don't matter, I only said they don't care.)[/QUOTE]

And that's the point.

You, the consumer, can't buy a computer without Windows pre-installed. And, thus, without paying the "Windows Tax".

Sure, you can order the parts separately and build it yourself.

But how many even know know to do that? And if you are a business, how many would be willing to take the risk doing so?

There was a time when Bill Gates was charged with leading a company which was a convicted monopoly which was about to be broken up.

But then, hey!, the government changed, and he got a "Get out of Jail Free" card....

[url]http://www.pcworld.com/article/259229/dells_ubuntu_laptop_program_enters_beta_blows_away_expectations.html[/url]

While we were in California, we bought a decent computer for $200, from Fry's Electronics. We also bought a copy of Windows to put on it (for about $100). [The computer needed some ram upgrade, and a video card upgrade later, but it was a decent computer for what we needed.]

[QUOTE=Zeta-Flux;312383]While we were in California, we bought a decent computer for $200, from Fry's Electronics. We also bought a copy of Windows to put on it (for about $100). [The computer needed some ram upgrade, and a video card upgrade later, but it was a decent computer for what we needed.][/QUOTE]According to the logic used by some folks in political commentary nowadays, Obama should be given credit for that low price (or blame for the needed upgrades), because it occurred during his administration. They take no account of historical cause-and-effect, or whether the president could actually have any significant influence on those circumstances.

(Republicans may want to interpret that paragraph as some indictment of Obama's baleful influence on the free market, or something like that, without ever admitting their own laissez-faire role in repealing regulations that had previously kept private excesses from crashing the global economy so badly that recovery is taking much longer than recoveries from "ordinary" recessions.)

[QUOTE]According to the logic used by some folks in political commentary nowadays, Obama should be given credit for that low price (or blame for the needed upgrades), because it occurred during his administration. They take no account of historical cause-and-effect, or whether the president could actually have any significant influence on those circumstances. [/QUOTE]Um... We bought the computer when I was at Berkeley doing my graduate work, from 2001-2006.

But, yes, the logic doesn't make sense.

[URL="http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2125031,00.html"]Bill Clinton On Why The World Is Getting Better All The Time[/URL]

[QUOTE=chalsall;312360]Let's run a test here.

I challenge you have Dell, HP or IBM agree to sell you a computer without Windows installed.[/QUOTE]Been there, done that.

Sitting right next to me is a Dell which came with RedHat Linux pre-installed.

Next challenge please.

[url]http://www.mormonthink.com/christian.htm[/url]

:question: