and I can do nothing but think that this is a purposeful tactic to continue this "debate" as an antagonist only.

You cannot simply be this dense.

my position was, and is, if there really is a market for no o/s boxes then
the nature of business implies that someone will fill it


And it has been pointed out by several, including me (not just Peter) that the market is NOT AT ALL free do this because of the coercive (AND illegal) contracts terms that MS places on the major manufacturers. They cannot respond to the market demand for a PC with no OS without MS driving them out of business in the market for PCs WITH an OS. How f***ing hard is that to understand??? The only people that can afford to do this are the ones with no volume deal with MS in the first place. MS cannot penalize them.

personally, when I get a new desktop for home in 07, I will select the components I want individually and put it together, no one will force me to buy any OS


More proof of you doing this to simply antagonize the board since your entire premise is based on your statement of "when someone gets a new computer they want to plug it in and use it". Apparently you are not the someone that you discuss in all subsequent posts.

And the point about wanting to buy mainstream is something that YOU use as an argument in this post? Considering the former quote from you...makes it now laughable.

However, it is a simple statement that you have YET TO ANSWER from my posts. Why, do you think, since there is absolutely no coersion in this marketplace (in your head anyway and nowhere else) , that these companies offer me a choice of motherboard, of processor, of video card, of net connectivity, of case, of monitor, of memory...yes, sir, every single component of their machine can be customized to my EXACT request...but I cannot get the machine without an OS and I have no offered choice of OS? Riddle me THAT...batman.

Now consider. The addition of the OS requires additional processes at the manufacture that increase their costs to build. They offer me the box with no monitor, don't they? Kindof kills your entire "use it out of the box direct" argement doesn't it?

And I remember distinctly that my company bought SCORES of machines from Compaq that had the OS loaded...and we had to contract with MS to pay for licenses for all those machines AGAIN because we had our own custom build. Do you think that my company..that bought nearly 10k of those machines wouldn't have tried to get that 50 a machine back if they could?

Market has spoken my ass. There hasn't been a free market in the PC space since damned near the beginning. The reason its been ignored is because people thought that interoperability was more important. And for most..that is still important. The problem is that those who know...realize how BAD this has been for technology advancement on the software side of the house. Guess you are happy to have to reinstall your OS every year so your PC keeps working. It doesn't thrill me. So, I pay the MS tax because I have to (I actually READ the refund stories and realize it ain't worth the effort)...and strip windows and load an alternative OS. An alternative OS that has to be free to even have a chance to compete for mindshare.

Yep, sounds like a free and unfettered marketplace to me.