Technology

OEMs: Sorry, best I can do is tripling the amount of pre-installed bloatware that I get kickbacks on, to not only offset the cost but raise profits more

Here in Brazil, a lot of vendors are offering laptops with linux, but they do this just to offer a lower price, and put the most weird distro possible, that no one knew existed, so everyone who buys have to install their own os. The bad thing about it is that it creates a really bad first impression about linux on common users, who mostly end up asking the tech person from the family to install windows for them

Edit: another random fun fact: in order to offer a lower price, some brands around here also ship laptops with freedos, don't ask me why.

The problem there is Windows still has negative cost for OEMs due to all the bloatware they bundle.

They get paid for that McAfee and Epic Games icon.

They used to have agreements to make it difficult to do so. I don’t know if that’s still the case but it’s pretty awful. I think OEMs had to pay licenses for every machine shipped regardless if it had a windows license.

The other issue is that oems have a large amount of compatibility and support built up over the years for windows. They also know their customers can deal with Microsoft for “support” and ignore driver and support costs for whatever distro of Linux they were to choose.

Sure an OEM could lead the way and show everyone else the path to freedom but think of the shareholders

That's twice as much as I was paying, I'm going to write a strongly worded email to that penguin guy

Bingo!

It was always believed that Windows OS was a "loss leader" for Microsoft.

Windows OS will never show a profit, when you take into account the development and testing time and effort. I mean, a one time purchase that's expected to be supported for years!?!

Side note: This also explains why Windows 11 is de-evolving into an AI generated, ad ridden, telemetry gathering, cesspool of an OS ("we gotta make money somehow - think of the share holders")

But, what Windows had done is create a platform for Microsoft to upsell (and vendor lock-in) profitable applications like Office, Outlook, Teams, etc.

However, that business model doesn't work anymore. As, all of Microsoft's products are now in the cloud. They're all subscription bases, which means predictable and indefinite revenue. User's don't need to be running on Windows - they just need a web-browser or thin-client. Microsoft already has people (brainwashed into) wanting Office - they don't need to _force _ people into trying Office.

tl;dr: Developing and supporting Windows OS is a financial drain for Microsoft, and they're doing everything they can to scuttle it.

The Tux trumpets are getting louder…

While I understand your sentiment about Windows, this is how you end up in a world filled with iPad kids who become adults who accept technology that they don't own.

And they'd get away with it too if it wasn't for those damn Linux distributions.

They literally said that's the plan. Consumers better fight back.

Every RAM stick I bought in the past 15 years is worth more per GB now than when I bought it... If you bought RAM in 2008 the same is true, I just didn't buy RAM at that point.

That LLM response from the search bar when you were just searching for a file? That's not free, we have to pay for that! If you didn't want it you shouldn't have accidentally triggered it by needing to search for a file. That's on you.

It's possible to get refunds for unused OEM Windows licenses in the EU.

https://en.refund4freedom.org/

Volumes are going to be down, but they want the same revenue, so they increase unit price, comfy in the reality that it will still be, percentage wise, not worth it for most to care. Will it make it unaffordable for some? Probably not appreciably more than the hardware is doing all by itself.

So in short, it is just because they can.