Post #2087697

2026-03-11 09:24 UTC

You can buy computers without an operating system installed on it but most consumers barely understand what a computer is and would think that a computer without an operating system was broken. So there never was much of a market and then Microsoft came along and paid the OEMs to install Windows. Quite a few website will let you untick the windows 11 licence if you want to go your own way. Unfortunately the Linux market is so fragmented that your average user is overwhelmed. This is not helped by the Linux community who in a general rule are not particularly accommodating towards novices.

Replies (2)

@iglou@programming.dev 2026-03-11 10:14

This is not helped by the Linux community who in a general rule are not particularly accommodating towards novices. Luckily this trend is shifting! More and more linux distros oriented towards users new to linux, and helpful communities.

Open ##2087703
@utopiah@lemmy.world 2026-03-11 12:57

You can buy computers without an operating system installed on it AFAIR that hasn’t been the case in most places for a while precisely because Microsoft made partnerships with OEMs to avoid that situation. I believe new laws were added, e.g. in Europe, but I would be curious were this was the case. In fact I remember the opposite, namely that most computers one would buy always came with an OS, Windows for PC and MacOS for Apple computers. Even computers that one would buy in part that would be assembled for them from non OEM would also have the options to have an OS. In fact I’d be curious about example of fully assemble PCs, not just parts nor SBCs, that could be purchased without an OS before the law in the places where its the case now, would prove an OS-free option. Can you please share examples? Also, assuming you do find such examples (thanks in advance) I’d then be curious what’s the market share, namely is it significant, e.g. 10% or is it basically anecdotal, e.g. 0.01% and thus just enough to say “it’s possible” yet has no actual impact.

Open ##2087716