Dell has been selling business PCs without Microsoft's Windows
operating system installed to business clients for some time, the
company admitted this week.
The Optiplex GX260, Precision 530 and Precision 340 can be ordered
by certain high-volume business clients with a clean hard drive and
a copy of FreeDOS, an operating system distributed under the GNU
General Public Licence, the company said.
Dell has been selling PCs without an operating system installed
"for some time, for an extremely small minority of our customers
who prefer this option," according to a spokesman.
Microsoft's new licensing policies demand that manufacturers ship
all PCs with an operating system installed, saying this is a way to
reduce piracy.
However, companies that wish to use other operating systems such as
Linux find it easier to install alternative operating systems on a
PC with a clean hard drive, Pete Kastner, chief research officer at
analyst Aberdeen Group, said. PCs have to be wiped clean of the old
OS before a new one can be installed, which requires time and
labour by a company's IT staff, he said.
By putting a copy of FreeDOS in a PC's shipping box, Dell is
complying with Microsoft's policies while continuing to meet the
requests of its customers for a PC without an operating
system.
Dell already ships PCs with distributions of the Linux operating
systems for select business customers who request specific software
to be installed on their PCs before delivery.