Hello:

On 11 Aug 2024 at 20:25, Simon wrote:

re: > Ian Smith - > MS and locking

> It might ...
I (very) seriously doubt it.

Because the Average Joe does not give a Flying Flamingo* about any of
that and government's regulating bodies (the ones that matter in
countries that matter) don't really care as long as the boat is not
rocked too much. ie: does not cost their respective political parties
votes or their government money.

There's far too much moolah involved.

I think MS won that battle (long ago) the day that potential buyers
of a new contraption called Personal Computer they could buy for not
too much cash were convinced that 'computing' was actually *easy*.

It did not matter that the learning curve ended up being relatively
steep, they now had a "computer" at home, just like the ones NASA
had.

How about that? 8^°

I care, you care, Linuxland cares (only to a certain extent, see
systemd and such crap) and ...

Who else?
Am I hearing crickets?

OEMs only want their products, be it a full blown PC/Laptop or a
lowly USB WiFi adapter, to have a sticker that reads: *Windows
Certified*, an informal guarantee they they will actually sell.

And they will give away their soul (think CEOs/CFOs+the entire board
as slaves) to get it.

MS gets away with it because *it can*, just like Google gets away
with what Android OS does in every device (cell phone/TV set, etc.)
it inhabits**.

Best,

A.

* John Bercow - 2019 -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNk8ii00IXk
** In 2024, almost 3.9 billion cell phones ~ 75% market share.