Acer and ASUS both still ship Linux and doing so does reduce the cost of production of machines so they can and do offer lower prices.

Deflecting? No. I just aptly demonstrated to you that you cannot take Google’s search results literally. Yet you do. What you fail to understand is this:

A Google search is not useful for answering qualitative questions. Google spitting out so-and-so-much pages for “microsoft sucks”, “linux sucks” etc. doesn’t really tell one if there’s any truth behind that. In line with Google’s page rank algorithm it only tells you how much interest there is concerning a search. Consequently, the aforementioned search results tell us that there really isn’t much interest with regards to Microsoft and bribes. It’s a topic which doesn’t generate much debate, mostly due to the fact that you would have to present arguments and evidence. And we all know that whiny tech “journalists” can’t really bring forth any of those two things, all they can bring forth are anecdotes and made-up stories about how Microsoft allegedly tries to influence others to treat them preferably.

So, yes, I do think that you actually failed basic reading and comprehension. But don’t worry. In the future I will make extensive use of smiley symbols to mark sarcasm and irony.

writes Dougman, after deflecting from the subject matter: The claim from finalzone was that MS specifically bribed Asus and Acer not to install Linux on their netbooks, which is wrong. So since you couldn’t dispute that, you deflected to MS behaviour in general (which wasn’t the issue).

“while CH the Troll thinks I failed basic reading and comprehension.”

Try to prove me wrong on this one by answering my question: Where did I state “that M$ does no wrong” ?

Searching for “microsoft” and “sucks”: about 27,300,000 results.

So M$ sucks more? Ahhh, good observation!

Anyway, when you find sites like Slashdot on the first page of search results, you already know that this is about paranoia, geek angst, and hating Microsoft for old time’s sake.

And when we’re talking about Google as the “truth” machine, consider this:

- Searching for “microsoft” and “bribed”: about 1,450,000 results.
-Searching for “linux” and “sucks”: about 13,300,000 results.

I guess the latter results all come from people Microsoft has bribed.

Go, Linux!

Where exactly did I state anything like that? Please learn to read.

Meanwhile, a cursory review with Google shows otherwise:

http://goo.gl/MZxdn

Makes you wonder, if their crap was so good, then why the need to bribe to begin with?

It’s hard to forget something that didn’t happen.

The reason why Acer and Asus put Linux on their first netbooks was to force MS to give them a cheaper windows – and one that could run well in the 1GB of Netbooks. So in the end MS gave them first XP and then the “Starter” edition of Windows. Problem solved, no further need for Linux (except on the absolut cheapest machines).

Well, Linux has lost on notebooks, too. And it will stay that way. Windows 8 has a good chance to increase its market share on tablets and smart phones, thanks to Android looking not so good due to a very unclear patent situation.

But believers will believe.