Naked PCs Recommended
[25/09/2007]
Computers should be sold without an operating system in order to foster competition and bring down prices, a major European thinktank has recommended.
In a submission to the European Commission, the Globalisation Institute claimed that the lack of choice in desktop operating systems is a more central issue than that of bundled media players — the issue that sparked the Commission's antitrust action against Microsoft.
"The vast majority of computers sold are commodity products. While manufacturers compete on styling and brand reputation, in addition to specification, no manufacturer or component manufacturer is the sole choice for consumers," wrote Alex Singleton, the Globalisation Institute's president, in the submission. "There is no reason why there should not be diversity in operating systems, too."
Singleton suggested that most people are unable to easily purchase a computer without automatically paying for Windows. "The result is that consumers who, given the choice, would opt for a cheaper operating system, find themselves automatically buying the market leader," he said. "There is no meaningful competition between operating systems for commodity computers." He said that the institute's analysis excluded Apple's OS X because the Mac is a "premium, niche product, like a Bang & Olufsen television, which is difficult to justify in the business world outside of the publishing sector".
