Hardware Manufacturers Gouging Customers

rahlquist writes "An article over at infoworld discusses that buying that used router on ebay may not be a good deal if Cisco can find its way to screwing you. What's next, buy a used Ford and pay Ford to transfer the license for the onboard computer's OS or face piracy charges if you continue to drive?"

Comments

don't give them any ideas

[Anonymous Coward]

What's next, buy a used Ford and pay Ford to transfer the license for the onboard computer's OS or face piracy charges if you continue to drive? don't give them any ideas

Re:What's the point?

[Grishnakh]

The thing is, the market should be sorting this out. Just like the idiot motel-owner went out of business because of his high prices and stupidity, these companies should do the same. Cisco and NetApp don't have monopolies; their competitors should be able to out-compete them on this point. If customers are too stupid to go with customer-friendly vendors when the option exists, then those customers deserve to lose their money. What needs to happen is what's currently happening: this issue needs to gain visibility (like with this article) so that customers will be informed and no longer buy equipment from these companies, since they can count on the resale value to be nil.

I know I'd never buy a car that I couldn't resell later, and had to just throw away.

Actually you pay SCO, not Ford

[nzyank]

The OS in your car is embedded Linux, so you owe SCO $699 even if you bought the car new.

Re:Good news, bad news re: Cisco

[mellonhead]

Microtik is located in Latvia. That would be the Latvia in the former Soviet Republic. Good luck with that injunction/threatening letter from a lawyer...

Re:Reselling the same thing.

[Waffle Iron]

If I give up my ownership, do I get my $15K back? Something tells me no.

Even though your software license is nontransferrable, non-reinstallable and nonrefundable, you still get to keep it. Your $15,000 keepsake will be yours to cherish forever.

I suggest folding it up into a little square and putting it in a pendant. Give this to your wife as a gift. It cost about as much as a quality 2-carat diamond, and it has the same intrinsic value. She'll really appreciate this heirloom as a token of your affection for her.

Re:Good news, bad news re: Cisco

[Fat Casper]

Huh? What does copyright laws have to do with that? Copyright laws doesn't prevent you from selling, say, a book you bought or anything else just becayse there is something that has a copyright "in" it. Copyright laws deals with making copies , doing public performace and such.

What is the issue is contract laws and any special contract you may have done at the same time you purchased something but again, that has nothing to do with copyright laws.

That's a nice used car you just bought, but I don't believe that you have a legitimate license to use the software in the PCM. Just you wait until the traffic cop down the road realizes that he's stopped a pirate.