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Microsoft Authorized Refurbishers
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has announced a program to 'establish a vibrant community of computer refurbishers across 133 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa who will be authorized to re-install its Windows operating system in donated pre-used PCs destined for schools, charities, non-profit organizations and under-served communities...Microsoft will provide re-installation of Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000 Professional in over 18 languages. The refurbished PCs will be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) and a special End User Licence as evidence of a legally installed operating system.' XBruticusX submits a story on news.com about the program.
A way to fight back as all the recycled machined getting Linux/*BSD installed on them. That's why they're "giving" Win98 for the lower end machines.
How odd that they would officially support the installation of an OS that's been EOLed (WinME is the oldest 16 bit still supported, yes?)
Bad management trumps ideology - Show the world you want better leadership. http://www.timefornewmanagement.com
so you'll essentially pay for the license for a computer that already most probably had a license!
So I guess this makes sense for them(microsoft).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
If the laptop/PC was bought with a install of Windows on it is it not legal to reinstall it?
As I recall the License says it is the install that is on that PC, it should transfer to the new owner shouldn't it?
So Microsoft can get refurbishers to pay again for an operating system that was licensed and installed on the system in the first place, since 99+% of PC's ship with windows when originally sold? Nice deal.
-- Greg
Slashdot, would a spell-checker for posting be too much to ask? It's not rocket science!
and of course they take the full retail version fees on their taxes as a charity contribution. They won't support Win98, or probably the 2k because of some stipulation in the "special eula", but uncle sam will get charged the full brunt for a full OS purchase with support.
Just three more hours seapeople and you can finally take me away from this crappy God Damned planet full of hippies
So another way to look at it is that Microsoft is giving out free software to the "third world", and someone is going to pay for it. Which explains why Microsoft software in the U.S keeps getting more and more expensive
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I'll bite this bait:
Why pay to reinstall the same OS that came originally on the system?
If It came with 98, then it has a legal license for 98, no need to buy a new one. If I donate it to a charity, then I donate my license.
If Some Evil Company manipulates the EULA to prohibit this act of charity, then I will just keep legal ownership of the PC and allow the charity to use My PC and My Licence to the OS as they see fit.
1) build a mailing list using good intentions.
2) Send list to BSA's foreign equivalents
3) Profit!!!
Remember, Microsoft is a for-profit corporation. They do NOTHING without a profit-derived motive. If they do, the Board is not doing its job.
"Piter, too, is dead."
Give away software save on you taxes. The key is to ensure that the software you give away doesn't impact your top line with the products you sell.... Hmm... windows 98 & 2K on refurbished systems, no danger there.
Seriously, this has to throw your head back. Especially in the regions suffering from hunger, AIDS, ethnic conflicts, civil wars, you name it.
Who's gonna care about about that little sticker on your box when you're an orphan suffering from dysentery with tsetse flies and mosquitoes flying around your head as you stare at a blue screen. Open source- the greatest equalizer mankind has ever seen.
Open source- the greatest equalizer mankind has ever seen.
Does this mean that MS is endorsing the use of outdated OSes to create yet more zombie machines ready to be hacked into? Or does it mean that Win98 will continue to get patches as long as third-world countries are using it?
Actually, the article mentions an upgrade to a newer OS.
"If It came with 98, then it has a legal license for 98, no need to buy a new one. If I donate it to a charity, then I donate my license."
It doesn't always work like that. People can donate the computer without donating the license. (Whether Microsoft sees it that way is a different matter I suppose, but if you went to Office Depot and bought a Windows box...) Ultimately, it means that the original owner of the machine may be using that Windows license elsewhere. This service provides a way to legitimize the computer.
Personally, I think Microsoft's being a little too restrictive with its licenses. Then again, it is creating a situation for them, though, where they can have companies line up to make sure that Windows is the OS they use down the road. Microsoft may be evil, but man I wouldn't mind having some stock.
"Derp de derp."
Just what we need, the entire third world running unsupported Microsoft OS'es. I thought Microsoft wanted to stop spam, not encourage it...
Anyone going online using one of these computers in a year or so will find out the hard way what the term "HaX0red" means.
This reminds me of Nestle's baby formula in the 80's. They gave out free samples in hospitals and villages in various impovrished countries in Africa, saying it would make babies much healthier than breast milk. Mothers would use the formula and their breast milk would dry up. Then they'd be forced to buy the product because there were no other alternatives. Unfortunately, lots of babies died because the mothers flat out couldn't afford the formula after the samples ran out.
"There are no such things as mutual fantasies. Yours bore us and ours offend you."
- Bill Maher
Who's going to do windows update on these? These PC's will be one big DDOS launcher and spam host for all the spammers and kiddies out there. There are three upcoming remote vulnerabilites in windows 2000 according to Eeye's upcoming vuln. page.
x .h tml
http://www.eeye.com/html/Research/Upcoming/inde
I dont think these will be patched any time soon.
From the article:
"Computers donated by large companies are typically three years old and the MAR program upgrades the software to newer versions of Windows that donated PCs can support, for a nominal charge that covers materials and program operations.
Through the EMEA MAR program, Microsoft will provide re-installation of Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000 Professional in over 18 languages."
Since when would installing 98SE onto a 3 year old machine be a newer OS?
Sadly, my first thoughts on this weren't "Oh that's a good thing...", it was "What's the catch?"
I see it a bit differently. Microsoft (and other software vendors) are desperate to maintain the fiction that shrinkwrap/clickthru EULAs actaully mean anything (they viiolate just about every common law principal of business agreements).
By getting people to agree that they *need* to worry about the transfer of license when a PC is sold, they reinforce the idea that the EULA actually means something.
It's a lot better on the ol' PR than suing an orphanage somewhere over EULA viiolations.
Welcome to the Turing Tarpit, where everything is possible but nothing interesting is easy.
"Hmm, we have all this 'product' that costs practially nothing to reproduce once it has already been developed. And we also have a bunch of poor people threatening to move to Linux.... hmmm. I know! Lets give away old versions of our software to indoctrinate these poor people and make them dependant on us! Yay!"
Wake me up when Ford starts giving away F150's to African farmers.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
Why pay to reinstall the same OS that came originally on the system?
Simply put, because they're not.
As TFA says, recipients of these computers will pay "a nominal charge that covers materials and program operations."
What is happening here is good. These computers were largely destained for landfills, and their hardware contains many toxic chemicals, such as high concentrations of lead, that seep into our environment. No one likes lead in the watertable. Furthermore, these computers will be upgraded to Windows 2000, the most stable Windows OS.
Large and small corporations alike were finding it hard to give away they're hardware with the software because of the restrictive licences. The alternative would be to install Linux on these computers and THEN give them away. To hedge its bets, Microsoft decided not to ease up on the license, but rather implement a program to make it easier to give computers away. Ok so its not all good..
So the program allows people to become authorized redistributers of this hardware, and in the process they will *relicense* the software on the hardware so it can be legally used. They're not paying for a new license, they're paying for the paperwork involved with keeping track of said license, and thats a big difference.
I agree, its not the most ethical way of going about this : it ensures a stranglehold on the obsolete hardware market, however it is not to increase profits, but merely to maintain marketshare and domination over a segment of the digital population that would otherwise likely migrate to Linux. They need to keep all those terminals around schools and libraries on Windows, otherwise people might realize that Linux isnt the bogeyman its made out to be.
Yeah, ok, I admit, its bad... but at least now I understand why its bad, and I'm not merely reaching for my pitchfork.
-- "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." Jean Jacques Rousseau
I think it's more a credit to Linux than a discredit to Microsoft.
that's just great! Not only does MS find a way to make more money, but they also find a way to make hackers and virus writers even more happy by putting ultra vulnerable systems back on the web... I mean, sorry, but this just doesn't sound like a good idea to use win 2000 now that the source code has leaked! Not to mention the ever-growing number of viruses that will infect these machines and create a non-protectable because obsolete "virus pit" of the internet... It's like keeping someone with chicken pox in a public place: most people are vaccinated, but the few that aren't risk death if they get the disease. Oh, and of course it's an attempt to keep the youth prefering windows.... Everytime I read slashdot I get more unneverd by MS's outrageous actions! This is against common sense!!! When will law start following common sense???? probably not until the next Wallstreet crash because of the stupidest lawsuit ever... (which I thought was going to be SCO/IBM but it's not going to be bad enough to make a change in the legal system necessary...)
---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
They're doing this just to combat the use of Linux and *BSD etc, because they know that up until now they've never provided any of older copies of their OS free of charge for use in older machines because they are in CAHOOTS WITH INTEL AND OTHERS in the great and evil CULT OF THE UPGRADE.
The ONLY reason they're doing this is to try to undermine what has become one of the key uses of Linux and *BSD, installing legally in refurbished, recycled machines. It's even more dispicable than that because it's no even the an action taken in the free market, it's normally for charitable reasons that machines are refurbished, so they are doing this just to flex their corporate muscles NOT for any alturistic reason.
REMEBER. MICROSOFT IS NOT NICE, IT IS EVIL, THEY ARE GREEDY, SELFISH BASTARDS AND THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT. They run MSNBC, they give money to the Republicans. Don't trust them, wipe your hard drive of that horrible, despicable, evil virus that is their joke of an OS. FREE YOURSELF. Go on you know you can!
Upgrade your life.
and I authorize myself to install Linux on them and erase windows as fast as humanly possible..
http://www.systemrecycler.com
50+ billion in the bank and they still can't modify a license to accomodate donating to charity. Sad really.
No money in the budget for training and support, fundamentally no need, and, for related reasons, I've seen exactly zero interest in maintaining old, cheap, hardware.
Here in town, the Civic Guild donated a gorgeous 19" LCD color monitor to the local library. Seniors manning the desk were tiring under the strain of using the new electronic check-out system. The aging CRT that had served well enough before went to the dumpster when no one would take it even as a gift.
One of the more important points that has been raised here, which I find relevant is the problems of viruses and worms. A worm has a payload of a few KB at most, while the patches that are required are a few MB( if ever M$ puts them out).
In Africa and poorer parts of Asia, phone lines still charge by the minute. Dial-up is still slower than 56 Kbps (I've worked on connections of 7-8 Kbps too, due to less bndwidth/more customers at the ISP, who is milking everyone for all his worth). Connections break and have to be re-established. What is the chance of a non-profit taking the effort to actually download and install the patches? Conversely, there is a high chance of it being infected. (I speak from experience in a small town in India, where I've sat up half the night to get my Windows 98 box upto speed on all patches). Of course, it would be too much to expect M$ to give away CDs of patches as well.
Wow, I wish I had their skills.
Problem: People are using old computers to experiment with Linux, and aren't paying us enough money.
Solution: Provide a seemingly philanthropic way for these people to donate their computers, and make them feel bad for selfishly hoarding computers that could otherwise be used for kids. Then, when this plan works, sell more addon licenses for products such as Office. When these refurbished Win98 and Win2000 machines propagate, scare the schools into buying new computers with WinXP by inundating them with stories of hackers and crackers.
I for one, tried to submit a similar story...the details are exactly the same, except it was for k-12 schools, not other countries...but I'm sure its the same program. Check it out:
Microsoft giving free licenses to K12 schools Monday February 23, @12:35PM Rejected
WTF? Over?
isn't what I am asking, but getting closer. Look back at it again. You said "linux 2.2, 2.4", but that doesn't tell me what distro it is. Linux is a kernel, there isn't a distro called "linux". Well, there is but it's a RH clone. Anyway, did you compile it,install from a command line in a terminal, have to tweak drivers and whatnot, or dids it install from a CD pretty easily? answer a few questions, click here, clcik there? See, I have to think about the end users/kids I give this to, if it gets screwed up, THEY got to be able to fix it if it's bad by re installing from a disk.
See? I get responses, I appreciate it,but they haven't answered my questions. This winow manager is lightweight, this other one might work, etc, and such and such from the olden days, but yet no single answer, because I know why, it ain't been done, can't be done. And linux gurus wonder why man pages are hard for people to understand, regular old english can be hard to understand too.
I ain't mad, I'm just giving up on this project, I will finish out giving away the boxes I have, with windows on them, and someone else can be the linux evangelist, I won't be doing it anymore, too frustrating. I'll use it personally, but I can't recommend it yet to other people with older machines, and if they buy new machines some OS or another will be on them. It was just something I thought I could do to help some poor kids from poor families. Screw it, thanks anyway for replying though, you and the other guys. Not answering anymore on this thread, I'm getting too frustrated. That less than half a dozen spec points are too hard to understand it seems. Sheesh.
Which means that in the third world,which has the fastest growing population and is starved for computers, and is gonna get them,old and used first, but the ones that make the impression on them, that MS is gonna arrive on those machines and stay on 99% of those machines, too.
I got no dog in this fight, but some ya'all who DO got a financial dog in the OS fight might want to think on that some... that's a lotta eyeballs and people out there who could use some help, roughly along the same lines I was outlining. I'll let *someone else* tell muhammed magooba josse whatever to CLI install the 2.xxx kernel, and to be sure to roll in the fluxbox then adjust the video raster on his monitor and freq and re compile the horiontal audio module, etc, cuz I sure as heck can't tell anyone over there that.
MS is gonna slap a cd in their hands that they can click thru on ancient boxes and it will more or less work.
Over one billion people, new markets, where most of the oil comes from,.and a lot of our food in the near future, and raw materials, etc, and most will be running on MS unless this is addressed, soon. I don't code, can't help there. Since I've first used it, it's got ridiculous, I am thinking about a personal "distro freeze" and stopping upgrading, because I can't afford a new machine right now, and last install I barely squeaked through with lots more ram than 16.
Old PB still works though. for now. Jobs priced me right out of apple, no way could I get anything today from them. sigh. I feel third worlded in my own country, I'm being priced or bloat coded right out of computing, I can smell it coming.
Sorry, I am just sad, that's all, this is like pulling teeth to get what I am asking and pointing out understood, it ain't worth it. "close enough" but still 2 or 3 times off in specs and size and speed and complexity of install and use combined with vagueness is only good for warfare with hand grenades in close situations, it isn't what I have been asking for or pointing out observationally.
I do appreciate the reply though, thanks. I give up.
thanks, you 100% got what I was saying and asking. There exists a TERMENDOUS international niche market that would go with all these millions of used machines out there, that instead of going to the landfill, could be used, with a free open source OS, would get all these third world folks juiced on computing, and using open source, but are gonna be using win 95 or 98 or close to that, because... I don't know why not. I've been looking for over a year now for a solution, haven't found it yet. Leave out one of the criteria, it's a non starter. If and when someone comes out with such a distro, it will be quite well received. I tried morphix lately it's a decent start, but still not quite there, it wouldn't run at all on most of the antiuqe boxes I have, let alone the older monitors, most of those won't use linux at all, I have to purchase 14 inch svgas and still hand tweak them to display, which ups my cost(real low semi retired fixed income, this gets pricey for me) on the give-aways. I got a shelf full of color monitors that are useless now, but they WILL run windows easily, every one of them. Not an engineer, I don't know why,(don't care, I accept it) but that's my reality. Windows goes on the boxes, much as I don't wanna.
Huge giant growing and expanding international market almost completely untapped, just opening up going *begging*,gonna be handed to microsoft on a silver platter, seems like such a waste.. oh well
I'm sorry, but I call BS on 90% of the comments in this article. Why does Microsoft specifically say that you don't need written permission to transfer a license if they're so desparate to "resell", as some misguided people may think, Windows 98?
Oh wait, you must be talking about if the user is missing their original installed media! Yes, DAMN Microsoft for charging a $5 per computer fee for media and license! How could they?!
Meanwhile, MS gets its tax rebates based on the full retail price of 98SE, a product they no longer sell to anyone.
Tech Public Policy stuff
Uhmm... This would be $5 to install Windows AGAIN on a PC it was already legally installed on....
So it's not like a pricetag, but like a "installing fee" for re-installing software.
bickerdyke