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Microsoft's Guide to Accepting Donated PCs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the stuff-to-read dept.

An anonymous reader links us to Microsoft's Guide to Accepting Donated Computers for Your School, which contains humorous statements such as "If a company or individual donates a machine to your school, it must be donated with the operating system that was installed on the PC. " It's just an amusing little read that basically amounts to keeping the license with the PC. Also neglects to mention the Naked PC discussed in this slashdot story.

3 of 586 comments (clear)

  1. Re:FUD by edrugtrader · · Score: 1, Troll

    i give up...

    yes, microsoft is forcing all school children to use windows. they are evil evil sadistic people. you can NOT donate a PC unless it has windows on it.

    sigh. /. you have disappointed me.

    --
    MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
  2. Re:Alternative guide! by kiwimate · · Score: 1, Troll

    Disclaimer: this is not a rant against the original poster to whom I'm replying. It's a rant against every idiotic /. user who needs to learn how to read and understand. Next time, read the article and use your alleged brains.

    - You may refuse any (software) licenses donated since you have not accepted them.

    This isn't the point. Apparently the simple rules aren't stated explicitly enough for the typical /. reader (or maybe they are, but hey, we can go into MS-bash mode -- who needs to worry about trivial things like facts?).

    The point is...

    I have a computer with a pre-installed version of Windows. It's a package deal. This Is Significant And Important (TM). I donate the PC to a school. The Windows license must accompany it.

    * They don't have to use the software; they just have to keep it attached to the PC somehow. They can stick it in a library and run any OS they like on the PC. However, they have the license, and so that brings us to...

    * I no longer have the license to that pre-installed version, and so can't keep the media and install the OS on another brand spanking new PC I buy to replace my old PC that I've just donated.

    The second point is the crux. I got the pre-installed OS as a part of the PC package, therefore I can't split it up when I donate the hardware. Ergo, I have to legally acquire a new OS for my next machine, whether it be a legitimate copy of XP from Dick Smith's CompUSA or a downloaded Linux ISO. Moan about the whole I-want-to-be-able-to-buy-a-Hewlett-Dell-Gateway-PC -without-paying-the-MS-tax if you like (I do), but for crying out loud get the story straight. Pretty please.

  3. Don't like the website? Wait a couple of days... by Kaiwen · · Score: 2, Troll
    that they're not doing it here shows that they are intentionally trying to mislead people

    Someone once said, "Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity." Or if someone didn't say it, he should have.

    Please, folks. This is not some nefarious Redmondian plot. It's simply a case of some middle-management MS trog going live with a website without running it by the legal department first. Had the MS legal eagles clapped eyes on this concoction before it debuted, there's no way that statement about "owning" licensed software ever would have seen the light of day.

    This is just some Redmond lackey trying to explain the OEM OS license in public-speak and horribly mangling it in the process. This mysterious much-maligned Microsoft minion is not malicious, just misinformed.

    Before we all get our undies in a bundle, I suggest everyone calm down, count to ten, wait a couple of days and then check the site again. I all but guarantee it will either be gone, or at least substantially reworded to conform much closer to legal realities.