Debian guru's plea for sane computing future

Well, I read the short article. What I don't understand is Garbee's contention that:

Quoting:For example, OEMs spend little or nothing on pre-loading Windows on hardware; were they to load Linux then the cost of the devices they sell would be much more.

I've loaded hundreds of disk images to PCs. I've tweaked dozens of disk images, both Windows and Linux, before transferring the image to PCs. What is the difference between loading a pre-existing Linux image or a Windows one? Is it that the OEMs add all that cr@pware?

> What is the difference between loading a pre-existing Linux image or a Windows one?

Absolutely none. If they use Norton Ghost, which seems to be the industry standard, it even handles both. Obviously if the use the Microsoft tools, that's another matter.

Now, preparing and supporting two images is an additional cost, as is after sale support. Those can't be ignored. But the imaging process itself? That's not an issue.

Why then is the cost of loading ChromeOS and Android not much more than Windows?

The cost difference should be zero. An image is an image is an image, Most image loading tools I've used, both commercial and FOSS, are OS agnostic. Clonezilla server edition works well though there is a learning curve to it and the cost is zero. As jdixon points out, Ghost should handle Android or ChromeOS or any other Linux distro you can think of without missing a beat.

The only issue I can thing of is that the companies pay vendors to load their crapware onto the machines people buy. The crapware only runs on Windows. The vendor can't charge for crapware or adware or nagware that won't run.

Quoting:companies pay vendors to load their crapware onto the machines people buy. The crapware only runs on Windows. The vendor can't charge for crapware or adware or nagware that won't run.

If Linux based operating systems were a common consumer install that looked like a good sale, those same companies would be paying to have Linux based crapware preinstalled Android devices certainly gets their share right now.

> Is it that the OEMs add all that cr@pware?

I should note that all that additional software actually makes image creation and support more difficult. But if you get paid to do something, you're usually willing to put up with it being a bit harder than it has to be.

> If Linux based operating systems were a common consumer install that looked like a good sale, those same companies would be paying to have Linux based crapware preinstalled

Yes. And would probably try to make uninstalling it just as difficult as it is under Windows. :(