Uh... actually it's not. Assuming you'll change your mind, if you start with with windows you have it installed from the start, and thus pay a small amount included in the price of the laptop. But if you start with linux, you'll have to buy a separate windows license which will most likely be more expensive.

So it's "cheaper _unless_ you change your mind".

This reminds me of the forum at ornery (http://ornery.org/), one of Orson Scott Card's sites. Pretty much everybody there thinks OSC is a nut and isn't shy of saying so, and still the guy keeps footing the bill and AFAIK has never interfered with the forum. We're not talking about a few people, the forum is pretty damn big and reasonably well known.

(As for _why_ they think that about him, that's a different discussion. Suffices to say he's always been openly pro-Bush.)