This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
Steps to repeat:
- Visit a local PC store.
- Attempt to buy a machine without any proprietary software.
This morning I stumbled over something amusing in Launchpad (Ubuntu’s bug tracker). The very first bug that exists for Ubuntu – which remains open since 2004 – is one that states that:
“Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace. This is a bug which Ubuntu and other projects are meant to fix.”
Whilst it is only meant in jest, it’s admirable what the community and company wants to achieve, and ultimately set out to do: allow users to purchase PC’s without proprietary software.
Even reading through the comments over the space of 2004-2012 is fascinating. There’s a lot of back and forth between users over whether or not a bug of this nature could ever actually be resolved.