The free software Foundation is lobbying for the computer's release from the grasp of proprietary software vendors.
By making the recommended changes in any or all of these five areas (free software drivers, proprietary BIOS locks, free BIOS support, the "Microsoft Tax," Digital Restrictions Management) hardware vendors will help establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the free software community. Vendors will realize increased sales, and the free software community will have hardware that meets its ethical requirements.
I'd say free the computer! :)
Anyway, vendors can provide software-free computers and let consumers pay them to have their newly purchased OS (at USD0 or USD499!) installed. This is an added revenue for them, right?
I do not think that it will have that much effect on manufacturers, really. Unless they are afraid of the Redmond giant.
[Note: views expressed here are solely the author's and now Creative Weblogging's view. Photo taken from Linux Bios project]
see http://doted.info