[tacticalogic]

I opined once (on another thread) that the Linux community owed a debt to Microsoft for making PC's a commodity item, and that a lot of development was done on PC's that originally shipped with Windows installed.

I was informed this was bullshit, and that the Linux community would just build their own PC's if it they didn't have old Windows PCs to re-purpose.

[ShadowAce]

You were informed incorrectly.

But then--you were also wrong.

By the time Linus posted his now famous usenet post, 386 PCs were pretty standard, but PCs with Windows pre-installed on them were not. 1991 was still the era of Windows 3.1, and no standard software images were being installed pre-sale. Since he lived in Finland at the time, it's difficult to say with certainty whether he had ever had Windows installed on that machine.

[Texas Fossil]

I opined once (on another thread) that the Linux community owed a debt to Microsoft for making PC's a commodity item

Depending on your age and perspective you might say the real debt was to IBM for the standardization of the platform. Microsoft was a beneficiary of that, as was Linux.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

-——————I opined once (on another thread) that the Linux community owed a debt to Microsoft for making PC’s a commodity item-——————

I could go along with that.

Apple’s OSs have typically been much more............. bossy........ than Microsoft’s. Until recently. MS wants to end this before it gets any worse.

Apple computers may have still made computers a commodity, but this sort of strong arm tactic is one that Apple would’ve employed long, long ago. IMHO.