Off-topic: On 12/16/20 4:11 PM, Lamar Owen wrote: > 2.) The enthusiasts who were building their own machines from parts. > That group is small, but they also tend to be very vocal; IT > professionals often fall into this group, and MS wanted to keep them > happy for all the reasons previously posted. In less developed countries PC's are sold without any software, even laptops. In Serbia where I live 70+% of Windows and paid-for software are illegal/pirated versions. If you want to live from servicing PC's you HAVE to install pirated software. I am focused on supporting businesses and govt made a deal long time ago with BSA for Serbian "IRS" to check software licenses. It was done in a way that "IRS" is demanding proof from businesses that they *paid taxes* on software that is not free of charge. So if you have use software with licences you need to pay for, show us you paid taxes on that software (20%). Even then some small businesses refuse to pay for OS/software, calculating "IRS" has no time to check them. If you buy laptop, you can use magic to write it off the books so "IRS" has no legal right to check it for software (they do not touch private citizens for a reason). Since it is illegal to install pirated software, PC resellers are not allowed to preinstall pirated software, but no one can prevent them to sell it without any OS/software on it, so 70-80% of PC's sold in Serbia are sold without it. Similar is in many countries outside of "Western countries". -- Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Love is in the Air) PL Computers Serbia, Europe StarOS, Mikrotik and CentOS/RHEL/Linux consultant