One of the most irritating things about the PC market is how difficult it is to buy laptops which do not have Windows pre-installed. When Ndiyo needed a machine to act as a mobile server for demos, we had to buy a Windows-crippled Vaio and then install Ubuntu on it. So despite wanting a machine that would run only open source software, we still had to pay the Windows tax.

It’s always seemed to me, therefore, that there was a market opportunity for a slick operation offering Linux-powered hardware. And lo and behold! — here’s one: :: system76. Looks pretty slick. Pity it only operates in the US.