From https://frame.work/blog/linux-on-the-framework-laptop :
“ There has been immense interest in this configuration, with it outselling pre-configured systems with Windows 10 by a wide margin.”
There is a market. And it is currently under-served.
“ There has been immense interest in this configuration, with it outselling pre-configured systems with Windows 10 by a wide margin.”
There is a market. And it is currently under-served.
When buyers need to opt-in to Windows for $139, it seems to stop the inertia. This is true even in my own case, even though I've used Linux on and off at home and at work for the past 15 years. My previous laptop came with Windows 10, and I just used it like that (with Linux VMs in VirtualBox as needed) for four years. Now I'm getting caught up and keeping up with Linux desktop distro news, excited about it all, and trying Manjaro as my daily OS.
Framework DIY orderer here. I plan on putting Linux on it because I wanted to try something other than Windows. I'm excited, but admit that I'm a bit scared as this is my first time diving into Linux.
Though, for completeness, I'd replace Linux with *nix - I'd guess there'll be some BSD users in there too.
This is why when the first M1 Macs were announced I immediately sold my 16" i9 MacBook Pro and bought an M1 Air for much less than I sold the Intel machine for.
I had a PowerBook and it was disappointing how quickly it aged because of this.
To the question: I have a watermark in the corner of my screen saying I need to activate, and I am unable to change my desktop background and some other things. Besides that, the OS is functioning normally.
It's odd because a decade ago I would've probably been fine with it, too.
This is also why "Windows is a service" according to those Windows Update nag screens, but if Windows is a service and it's free, are you the customer... or the product?
I think the one thing we have ( or should have ) learned. Is the paradox of computing. Bill Gate said all hardware will be free. Because the cost is driven down so quickly. And it will be software that rules the world. That was late 90s and early 00s. And it make sense. Because software development is getting more expensive.
It turns out no consumer is willing to paid for software. The vast majority of consumer market wants software to be free. And they are only paying for the product ( both software and hardware ). Most developers were surprised at their iOS copies sold compared to their macOS software. Where iOS had 10x the market size, but only sold less than half of what they did on macOS. That is a 20x difference.
However there is a license recycling market that buy up unused or reassignable licenses from say software shops that have gone under and still have 100 visual studio licenses etc
Is it really pirating when all you get is a key and a legal inactivated copy of windows from MSFT's servers says it's legit?
I bought an OEM pro key for $15-20, and it works great.
Research it a bit more and if you call MSFT support, they go into a loop about how if you typed it in and windows says it's good, it's a legit key from their perspective.
Checks notes to be arogant And it says here they're entitled to do so.
(Microsoft only really cares about licensing for business customers, enforced through audits anyway.)
The reason you can get entirely legal windows licenses for so cheap is that there are many institutional buyers who get the licenses they actually use separately but still purchase a lot of computers that have OEM licenses bundled [1], and now they all unload those licenses at whatever price the market will bear. Last year, that was ~6€, this year it's down to ~3€.
The fact that the prices is now so low is probably a part of why it keeps going down. A lot of people in this thread express suprise that a legit key could be so cheap so they obviously must be illegal, which drives away sales.
[0] https://www.computerworld.com/article/2505356/eu-court-rules...
[1] And do note that tying the OEM license to hardware is also entirely illegal inside the EU.
If that’s pirated software, Microsoft doesn’t try to detect it very much.
After that, I went to Linux on the desktop, and never gave Microsoft another dime, until my wife demanded Word on her Mac a couple years ago, and I now begrudgingly have an Office365 account.
I've never paid for it since. Office apps aren't really important in my personal life at all, the open ones do just fine if I ever need them for something. And if I need the real office I just use my work laptop :P
I know, I had to get one for my kids.
So maybe some are just buying a legal copy at a price that Framework aren't allowed tonsell at.
That said, if one isn't stuck in a very Microsoft-centric organization or isn't playing certain Windows-only games, which developer honestly want Windows now that even power management (suspend/resume) seems to work better under Linux?
easily confused with the conversation's "Windows key" aka "software license".
'Key' being alternately the licence key, or found on the keyboard.
The Framework is niche hardware and honestly, it's doubtful non-developers would ever hear about it. Odds are it's something Linux users are seeking out.
That's not true in this case. Framework charge you the full $140 for Windows Home and $200 if you want Windows Pro.
That's not what Framework's website is telling me. It looks like getting it with Windows costs up to $199 more
Framework's loss or they just don't consider it important?
I've never managed to buy the laptop i want without a windows license. Often it's been a PITA to take it off, too, to add insult to extra cost.
In the 90s they threw their hands up and said it was nothing to do with them that this kept on happening and it was all a hare brained conspiracy. Until that memo came out and proved otherwise, of course.
I can't imagine framework getting the decent OEM bulk windows license deals being as avowedly pro linux as they are.
My next laptop is definitely going to be something without Windows (Linux user for the last ~15 or so years).
I only got this deal over a project that procures hardware for universities and students. They offer a limited amount of models with a price that is about 20 - 30 % lower than retail. I guess big companies that order in the same volume get similar deals.