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Microsoft Laptop Recipient Auctioning Laptop

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the something-for-nothing dept.

Salvance writes "While most bloggers who received the controversial Vista powered Acer from Microsoft are keeping them, Laughing Squid has decided to auction off his free laptop from Microsoft and donate all proceeds to the The Electronic Frontier Foundation. (EFF) He saw this as a great opportunity to support a worthy cause, and some other bloggers are following suit. What's funny is that Microsoft is now backpedaling and telling bloggers to send back the laptops. Do they even have a legal right to do so?"

5 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. Can they ask for them back? Yes. by j-beda · · Score: 5, Informative
    But must they be returned? Probably not. In must places, unsolicited gifts cannot have strings attached. If someone sends you something in the mail, it is yours, even regardless of what is included in it. This is to prevent people from sending out "valuable" product unsolicited and then demanding payment. This means that if someone in the shipping room makes an error and send out actual valuable product to the wrong person, typically that wrong person is under no obligation to return it.

    1. Re:Can they ask for them back? Yes. by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Informative
      And if the bank accidentally transfers money into your account you can keep it. If they ask for it back, it's entrapment. What's more, if a cop gives you a speeding ticket and he's not wearing his hat, you don't have to pay.

      Smart-ass.
      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  2. Re:This article needs to be changed. by LunarCrisis · · Score: 5, Informative
    FTFA (the fourth link)

    Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding of our intentions I'm going to ask that you either give the pc away or send it back when you no longer need it for product reviews. The summary is still wrong, but not as wrong as you make out.
    --
    Mr. Period: Nine is the one that's right by ten!
    Nine: One day I will kill him. Then, I will be Ten.
  3. Re:This article needs to be changed. by 1u3hr · · Score: 5, Informative
    The Slashdot editorial comment: "Microsoft is now backpedaling and telling bloggers to send back the laptops. Do they even have a legal right to do so?" is misleading. The letter from MS quoted in TFA is couched as a request. No one claimed they had a "legal right" to demand their return.

    I hate MS as much as anyone, but there's no need to make stuff up.

  4. my laptop was sent without return instructions by laughingsquid · · Score: 5, Informative

    There seems to be quite a bit of misinformation here regarding my "agreement" with Microsoft (there wasn't any) regarding what I can do with the laptop. I've updated my blog post with the following:

    As I mentioned in my original post on the laptop, the only communication I received about this was an email from Edelman. The email stated that Microsoft was sending me a "present" with "no strings attached" (those were the exact words used in the email). They did not include any instructions at all regarding what to do with the laptop. Also, I did not receive the same email as the other bloggers, including the follow-up email that was sent by Microsoft to Marshall Kirkpatrick asking him to return or give away the laptop. I have asked Edelman for an explanation regarding this inconstancy, but have not yet received one. So just to be clear, I was never sent any kind of instructions on what to do with the laptop and I did not sign anything, including an NDA.