Interesting - for the last three I had built for me in Melbourne, the two shops were quite happy to install, burn-in and nuke. One of the shops even advertise the windows free option on some computers.

At least on old hardware microcough-windblows10 is "free," they just don't want you to know or have all settings available if so. E.g: https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you...se-windows-10/
they seem to have removed lots of restrictions like changing your wallpaper or showing all system tray items &c.. I recently installed 10 pro (for free from m$) to play some of my old games... and close enough examples: https://github.com/Sycnex/Debloat-Windows-10

but they, like most corporations including canonical only make it free to own you!

Consider searching, "About 537,000 results (1.09 seconds)" like, KDE Slimbook::: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=open+sourc...22&t=h_&ia=web

or my favorite: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/novena

https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-e...ith-no-secrets



With Open Source Hardware slowly evolving(-why else run the softwares(!?)) my next device will not have $andow$ just $o I can wipe it clean. Used or refurbished hardware can get you around paying for Windowz in the first place? Just to wipe it.

Thank you all!

Very interesting! A kind of digital MSafia!

Maybe in Europe or America I could even try Windows, but in China, there is so much invasive software that gets sneakily installed and is hard to junk!

Also, Windows users think having 4 horizontal desktops is cool, although they don't use them!

If a computer doesn't have at least 16 desktops and wobbly windows (Thank you sooo very much Compiz, the Window God!) I feel an allergic reaction coming on!

I don't think China will ever switch to Linux. The government can't control it like Windows. Too many security protocols.

I did a web search for "does china require windows on computers" and could not find confirmation that it does. I did, however, find this: https://www.computerworld.com/articl...t-edition.html

It may shed some light on the question.

Aside: There's a reason I buy my computers from native Linux vendors when I can. As Zareason has gone out of business, I got my latest from ThinkPenguin, and it is working quite nicely, thank you very much. Ironically, it is a Clevo Style Note; I believe Clevo is based in Taiwan.

Isn't Deepin a Chinese owned company?

Buying a computer with or without indows doesn't mean that the chips* aren't embedded to spy on you! Some area* codes and Co.'s may require stronger detection and tinfoil saringes?!

Back when I use indows and Linux both, all the time, I would buy a computer and completely re-install everything using a "clean" m$.iso... (electronics stores like Best Buy install their own junk before you take it home) the CD key comes on the installed copy, write it down: https://www.online-tech-tips.com/com...s-product-key/using the key written down from:and if you want, for example resale value, you can put indows back on it.

Now that Linux is so easy, I always sell my old PCs with dual boot. Explaining to the customer, 2-OSs one with free everything!

Edit/add, like I should have done last time: not that I'm supporting windows, I fully suggest buying one with a Linux distributor tho open hardware is my next... maybe the MNT Reform.

I doubt very much the Chinese government requires windows on computers. In December, 2019 there was a lot of talk about the Chinese government prohibiting the use of windows on government computers as well as their using some Linux such as Kylin or a modified version of it. The Chinese obviously don't want the windows spyware on their government computers, they want their own. I'm sure if they do use/create some Linux version they will violate the various open source licensing agreements.

https://www.techradar.com/news/china...-time-to-shine

"but in China, there is so much invasive software that gets sneakily installed and is hard to junk"

Glad you said that. I'd hate to be accused of being unkind to some countries.

I still doubt one can buy a laptop in parts.

Can too. Tho searching laptop kits whould be easier.

Let's not forget, some countries are run by dictators but all kids on earth are too!

I remember there was (maybe still is?) a law in my country that required for all assembled computers sold to be sold with an OS (no idea why or how it came to be), and in that time I bought three PCs (for family, mostly) - and they all came with some linux distro preinstalled that booted only to bash, no graphical interface. Ticks the law requirement box, doesn't increase computer's price and takes no time, because they don't even configure and use simplest and fastest install option.

Maybe there's a similar law in China and instead of saying "computer must come preinstalled with an OS" the sales person said "computer must come preinstalled with windows", because to common people OS is Windows.

I'm not into laptops, I find desktops much more convenient to use. But even I need something mobile. Years ago I went shopping for one. Found a refurbished i5 Thinkpad on eBay, $150. Most likely some company was replacing their equipment, this i5 was two years old and had pretty recent/decent hardware at the time. When it arrived I peeled off the Windows license stickers and sold them on eBay for $50. This $100 Thinkpad still serves me today and does everything I need when on the road, even the battery hasn't failed and holds well. You can always spend $2,000 on a new shiny laptop if this is want you want. But you don't have to ...

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Same here, I also much prefer desktop machines any day of the week. Right there with you Emerson!

I just built my own (second) desktop machine, since I don't need the absolute greatest machine ever conceived. Actually, I'll likely never use all of my home-built machine's power, especially all 32GiBs of my machine's RAM. The only reason I even built my latest desktop machine was because my old machine was just way too old to buy components for (well, unless maybe you're talking about just another SATA hard/SSD drive or similar).

I like your style Emerson!

My two cents, with Moore's Law plus inflation: I've never owned a house phone.

Refurbished that don't burden the grid (as if) rock; reduced, reuse, "recycle." (Tho recycling is mostly a corporate scam from the plastic industries... https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/89769...ld-be-recycled)

I think that those folks that have lived in China and many other countries may have slightly better information as to how life is. The OP states his opinion based on his experience and I believe him.

There is a few recycling companies where I live. They do sell all sorts of parts but almost never any from modern current state of art devices in any quantity. I have recycled quite a number of systems and at the time they paid me what I considered a good sum per pound. The systems were too old to really justify giving to Goodwill.

I have a new batch going on. I'll try Clear Linux on them and see if they are of any use to be donated. Otherwise old is just slow and takes too much electricity usually to be usable.