I think in 5 years you'll see a resurgence of plain-old-computers. People will still be in the market for tablets, those that never needed a full blown desk/laptop to begin with. However, as more people begin to realize that they're just consumers of these new, handheld "TVs" of the Internet generation my hope is that the demand for boundary-less computing platforms will realize a resurgence. It's sad to see the overall industry being reduced to the world of locked out hardware because of... Software companies. Hypocritical? For sure. But if protecting the business model of a platform by ousting competition is the only way to lock in dominance I feel that's a cheap way to earn your keep. I think some would argue it's just the way things are today. I don't buy that.
I tried to buy a Lenovo sans Windows and they informed me it was not possible. Not possible to not write a bloatware image to a hard drive, of which takes time and energy for Lenovo in the manufacturing process. Really? Don't tell me as a savvy consumer that it's not possible since that is an aggregious lie. Instead tell me that it is not something that within your catalog of product options. At least then it's not a lie.
With the production lines that these manufacturers run, yes it is more expensive for them to pull a subset of computers and not load their bloatware windows image. That just isn't a situation they are setup for. You can argue about whether or not it should be this way, but that is the reality of the computer manufacturing process. Sure, it's more accurate to say they won't do it, but in all likelihood, they can't do it and keep their profit margin.
Now if they were to stay that they were contractually obligated to install windows on every machine, then they'd have a problem.
Disagree. If you've ever seen the manufacturing process it would just be a simple bypass. The installation of the images is done far closer to boxing than you likely realize. In all reality the bypass of that process could shave critical time off filling an order, especially when you're talking about made-to-order combinations.
Now straight line runs are another story, but that's not the context of the conver
Any change in the process makes it more difficult to manage. More difficult means more expensive. And maybe they've just decided that they didn't want the hassle.
It actually started already. I have a friend who was looking for a new laptop with a good screen, good keyboard and a trackpoint. He tried several laptops from Lenovo and Samsung and sent all of them back. You know what he ended up with? A second hand Thinkpad T61p, 15.4" non-reflective display with a form-factor 4:3 and a monster resolution of 1920x1200. He paid for this only 440 €.
For someone who does not need much power (works remotely) it is a very good choice.
I tried to buy a Lenovo sans Windows and they informed me it was not possible. Not possible to not write a bloatware image to a hard drive, of which takes time and energy for Lenovo in the manufacturing process. Really? Don't tell me as a savvy consumer that it's not possible since that is an aggregious lie. Instead tell me that it is not something that within your catalog of product options. At least then it's not a lie.