@nononono RE:Dell would've been making shoes without MS

What the author of this article was referring to when he said "MS made Dell pay it a license fee for Windows for each and every PC it sold" was a practice used by Microsoft back in the day when Microsoft would charge OEM's a license fee for every PC sold, regardless of which operating was installed on the PC when it shipped, even if the PC was sold with a non-Microsoft OS, the OEM still had to pay Microsoft a license fee.

Back in the day, Microsoft had the attitude that regardless of which OS the buyer chose at the time of purchase, the PC would end up running Windows, therefore the OEM had to pay a license fee. It was MS's belief that all people on the planet loved windows so much that they couldnt resist installing windows on all PC's, as such, if the buyer chose a different OS, ie a free OS, they did so only to avoid paying for windows, so if the user wasnt going to pay for it then the OEM had to.

Thus the Microsoft Tax was born...

Finally there may be an end to the Windows tax that we've been paying with Dell all of these years. People like myself don't use Windows. I use Linux, and I'm tired of having to pay for Windows because it's bundled with cheaper new PCs.

France is suing Google for Wifi Spying, password and medical record privacy. And it appears the USA is joining in on the action.

Sorry I don't trust Google and Chrome with it's data mining, even though you can turn that feature off in Chrome.

I'll either switch to Linux or stick with Microsoft but and Operating System by Google makes me nervous.

Narg, you may be a Windows 7 fanbois, but the simple fact remains that more computers are running Windows XP than all the other operating systems combined.

Perhaps it is because XP does the same job Windows 7 does, much faster, with far less resources needed, doesn't have the loads of DRM horse hockey built in, and is just an overall better OS.

In the early days there was always competition to MS-DOS (DR-DOS, CP/M86 etc), and when there was windows 3.1/95 there was also OS/2; its only recently that you couldn't get anything other than windows on a PC. Dell exists because there was a demand for IBM compatible PCs; microsoft is currently exploiting its dominant position to reinforce its monopoly. Competition is always good for consumers.

"MS made Dell pay it a license fee for Windows for each and every PC it sold"

That's called a relationship. If it wasn't for Microsoft Dell wouldn't exist. I think you know this so are you actually saying that Chrome will be free to PC builders as is Android to cell phone builders? Boy, Adsense is ridiculously lucrative.

"MS made Dell pay it a license fee for Windows for each and every PC it sold"

That's called a relationship. If it wasn't for Microsoft Dell wouldn't exist. I think you know this so are you actually saying that Chrome will be free to PC builders as is Android to cell phone builders? Boy, Adsense is ridiculously lucrative.

Google's Chrome OS - Let the excitement begin.

I'm using Google Chrome Browser 6.0.437.3 dev and its awesome.

I feel Google's Chrome OS has a lot of promise and can herald a revolution.

so bad that people went back to 3.3. Or the feeble Win 3.1 shell atop single-tasking DOS, and essentially same all the way to the giant flop of Windows Me; the first versions of 95 and 98; and on the NT front, the laughable versions prior to 2000, and OH HEY, what about the most reviled OS of all time: VISTA?

Given M$'s record, all you can do is try to erase the past with the standard mantra of "you're not using the latest version that fixes everything".

OK, someone at Dell comments that there is a shift away from MS. But, was that taken in the correct context? Obviously not.

Sure, Dell is looking at Chrome and Andriod on small form factor machines. Everybody knows that. But it's not time to say MS is out. Far from it.

The anti-MS zealots still think that Windows is bad. Strangely enough, 99% of those still have XP headaches in their mind. XP is dead. Windows versions 6.x have arrived and are kicking butt in the real world. Time for you idiots to stop orbiting and come back to Earth.

What's to get so excited about a castrated Linux that only runs Google-branded content - and consumes an entire platform while costing precisely the same as one that runs a real OS? I am very confused.

Dell must be trying to renegotiate MS cut of every new Dell PC.

Doesn't really matter, the market pretty much dictates what is on Dell's boxes, and until there is a massive revolution in the perception of the OS in the home then Windows will remain top of the heap. It will be years before Chrome or anything else gets any sort of decent foothold on the home market.

it's M$ out-eviling all others. go_ogle may give them competition now, though...

If was technical merits, that was handily won by 32-bit OS/2 v2.1 of 1993, which not was true time-slice preemptive but multi-tasked nearly all Win 3.1 and DOS programs better than DOS itself.

jokes!

No way in hell can Goog compete with MS on OSes.

Chrome isnt even a proper OS .. its a virtual environment practically tethered to their Cloud.

Thats not an OS

finally a viable OS to compete against windows

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah dont even say Apple....an OS that can utilize 5% of the available software is not a viable option