Re: The OEMs sort-of deserve it
"I don't have a lot of sympathy with the PC OEMs. They have, for literally decades, leached off the Windows thing"
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, MORON!
I used to sell RISC OS machines before those bloody Americans destroyed that market (and my source of income). I loved those machines. Fun, fast and of incredible build quality. I therefore had no choice then to direct my efforts to the only platform available. At least with PC's I could build the machines that adhered to my quality of standards.
"None of them have made any effort to build anything other than a "Windows" box,"
Yes WE HAVE. A professional PC builder builds far better PC's then HP, Dell and others. Most of us build PC's ourselves. We are NOT just "box-shifters"! How did e.g. Alienware started before being bought by Dell?
"They have all sucked-up to MS, and have been more than happy to pass-on the WIndows tax to consumers."
No we didn't! You obviously have no idea of how it all came to this. In fact YOU have yourself to blame for this!
"I'm not going to get upset for them now that their golden egg seems to be cracking."
What golden egg? You consider a Windows PC a "golden Egg"? Fool! I'd rather go back to sell RISC OS machines then this crap. But fucking users like YOU who didn't bought them because "it had no Office" or "you have no games" or any other lame excuse to grab a cheap PC and download pirated games and apps. You caused this all upon yourself.
For me, I couldn't care less whether that build-to-order PC ran Linux, Windows or even OSX. I'd still have work "supporting" users.
"As for paying 100 quid for the OS, I notice that Apple only charge £14 for an upgrade to the latest version of OS-X! Which one do YOU prefer?"
Oh Please. You can't run OSX on a non-Apple PC so the price is calculated in the Apple HW (which is considerably more expensive). Not to mention just a few "choosen" may sell them and their apps. So much for "free market".
You fuckers should stop buying PC's from chainstores. And help the small PC shop around the corner whom builds his own PC's. With the components that the client wants. Instead of crappy chinese build shit sold by a US-company with a chain of stores in the UK.
Should have bought Risc PC's back then, then you wouldn't be in this mess!