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French Judge Orders Refund For Pre-Installed XP
Racketiciel writes "A French user asked for a refund after buying an ASUS computer
that came with Windows XP and other software pre-installed. ASUS tried to
apply a procedure which cost more money to the consumer than they
will give back... The court ruled in favor of the user,
who received back 130 Euro (~200 $) for the software.
Here is the ruling (PDF, French). In France, this is the fourth victory for refund seekers during the last two years,
and many people are now filing for refunds (in French). Two French associations (AFUL
and April) published
a press release on this victory the same day an important hearing happened." The English-language press release linked above gives a pretty good idea of what happened here, for those unsuited to wading through French.
Do Asus sell computers without Windows pre-installed in France? My French isn't good enough to find out, so if you could provide the link to this, it would be much appreciated for the rest of us /. readers not au fait with French.
The Mothership
But if i'm not mistaken the EULA does say "Click Disagree" and then take it back for a refund?
Does your car dealer sell you a car, you drive it away, then when you go to use the power windows it pops up an EULA with onerous terms that you don't agree to?
Thats complete and utter BS.
If I wanted an ASUS Computer, I should be able to buy JUST THAT. Most manufacturers still dont have a "No OS" option for their configured systems, and I'm damn sure that there isn't a single computer sold in a retail store that has "No OS" as an optional package(at least in the US).
Look, if the guy doesn't want to pay the Microsoft Tax, then he shouldn't have to. Last time I checked, they were 2 completely seperate companies, ASUS and Microsoft. Imagine that if every manufacturer pre-installed a $1000 copy of Adobe CS3 and you couldn't opt out of it, wouldn't you be a little pissed off? Wouldn't you feel that you'd have the right to get your money back for something you didn't want in the first place? This isn't the slightest bit different. Not to mention the whole EULA problem. If you can't see the EULA before you purchase something, you can't just say "Oh, well, I won't buy this then". If he didn't agree with the EULA upon starting his computer (which it may not have even appeared, if ASUS preinstalled XP, which would create a whole new problem in itself) then he has every right to tell ASUS to kiss his ass and give him his money back.
All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
Can't MS just send some programmers over there to take over the country?
It's not like they'd put up a fight...
You mean, like they did when they defeated the British Army and won the American War of Independence?
The *real* second wrong here is that the person had to go to court to get what they should have been able to buy in the first place.
It doesn't force them to consider Linux at all, there's no law on the books that says "if Windows is a pain in the ass, you must offer Linux."
What it will do is encourage the companies to not force bundled software. Either they'll make a point of selling bare-bones PC's, or they'll start honoring refund requests. If their licensing with Microsoft prevents that, then maybe they'll consider another operating system (which Microsoft would never allow to happen, Microsoft will just lower the price of licensing to make sure sales continue).
Nothing says it'd have to be Linux, it could be joe schmoes Perl-based OS if that's what Asus thought was a good deal for customers.
Tied selling, whether applied to banks forcing you to buy insurance to get a loan, even when you are already insured, or to buying a PC with MS Windows pre-installed, is illegal in many jurisdictions. The MS EULA also says something to the effect that you can refuse to use it and get a refund. These lawsuits simply hold the sellers responsible for all their promises.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
You MUST be an american. I know of no german speaking like this. For a simple reason : they get history taught in college there. France was not "taken over" in both world war, only 1. The "great war" the trench/battle limit went back and forth north of France, but nobody took over France. For the second war, what did you expect them ? To die like a single man ? Are you for real ? You are aware that "die in honor" is an outdated previous century concept, and all modern commander would accept surrendering ? There was no cowardiness shown by france during WW2, don't get me started also on resistance and the work thereof under extremly awful condition (torture, execution, hostage killing etc...). And by perpetuating this mostly US joke, all you show is your pettiness of spirit. Jeez and I bet you will be one of the first to complain that french give you the finger.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
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visit randi.org
So... people should have to pay in order to NOT have this crap pre-installed on computers they buy, so as not to hurt poor little Asus? A simple request should damn well be enough not to have a ton crap I don't want on the computer I'm already paying for. I shouldn't have to pay extra to get it removed. (This is part of why I always build my own.) You say two wrongs don't make a right, but how the hell is it wrong for a court to rule that the consumer has the right to buy a computer without crap pre-installed on it without paying extra?
I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
The fact is the Windows EULA is presented on first boot of any new computer that comes with windows.
This agreement states that if you do not agree to the terms you may turn off the computer and request a refund for Windows.
Anyone and Everyone who buys a new computer with windows pre-installed has the right to get a refund for Windows.
The reason this went to court was because ASUS was charging the customer more for shipping than they were refunding for Windows.
Anyone who says this shouldn't have gone to court is shooting themselves in the foot.. Even us in the USA have the right to return windows if we disagree with the EULA. I don't want OEM's making it cost me money to do so!
No, the point is that a French customer should be able to buy a hardware without any software. There should be no obligation to buy any software when a French consumer is buying hardware. It is not about buying a PC with Linux, it is about the right to be able to buy a PC without software!
Yeah being part of Canada would be AWFUL. You'd have a decent minimum wage and free health care. What a nightmare that'd be.
If the memory of the people in the US went a little more back into history they'd also notice that France actually totally kicked the Western World's ass lead by a tiny Corsican. It's not like the can't fight, you know.
And Germany (then Prussia) saved the world from France once. At the battle of Waterloo.
Not only did Blücher's troops play a huge part in it, Wellington's troops also had a big share of German troops.
So I guess if you dig around long enough then most of the major nations have once saved other nation's asses and at other times kicked other nation's asses. So what.
There are two rules for success:
1. Never tell everything you know.
Yeah, but I doubt that was the parent post's point, rather a computer without any operating system.
But since you brought up Apple, what if someone for whatever reason wanted to by an Apple computer, but didn't want OSX? Apple doesn't give you the option to buy a Mac pro w/o an OS. Of course that's a moot point, since most people would buy a Mac because of the OS rather than them simply getting a PC and taking whatever OS they're given.
Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
Because in order to use the software installed, you had to agree to a separate license agreement with a third party who was not involved in the legal and financial transaction of buying the computer. Furthermore, that license agreement was not conveyed to you before you purchased the computer. If your car was a Honda civic, and it was advertised as coming with AC, but when you got it, it had a sticker over the AC button that said "By pressing this button you agree to be bound into the following legal agreement with Acme AC conditioners Ltd, France. You agree that any and all disputes will be governed by the laws of France. If you do not agree with this agreement, return this AC unit for a refund." etc etc. What would your response be? I suspect you would feel that you should be able to take it back and say "I'll take the refund". Furthermore, I suspect that if they said "We will have to charge you the cost to tow the car to and from the garage, they will keep it as long as they want, and you'll get 1/10 the price of buying the AC unit alone back" you would be a little upset.
I think you'll find that it's part of the American culture to assume that they got where they are on their own, under their own steam by the sweat of their own brow, and that the rest of the world is a bunch of useless incompetent fools who blunder along blindly. Kind of the same attitude that teenagers have about their parents and grandparents. Not having the slightest clue what it was like for them and that they haven't actually gone through *anything* without someone holding their hand yet.
The truth of history is completely at odds with this, Americas success came from being geographically isolated from it all and more than a bit of international help when needed. This and the same double crossing ruthlessness that they accuse the rest of the world of has led to the USA of now, not some magical concoction of pixie dust available only to Americans. Just population and a smooth run for over 100 years. My country's the same, but we just call ourselves lucky.
It's nicer to believe myths than the truth, especially a truth that painfully goes against everything you 'know'.
Even the truth of what the French endured last century is quite painful to understand to a reasonable person. How many tens of millions dead and wounded, how viciously they fought in WW1, under conditions that make Iraq and Vietnam look like a stay at the Hilton in comparison. Where chemical weapons were used by both sides like regular munitions, fields were metres thick with the dead tens of thousands of men, who died to gain inches of land. Then 20 years later they have to do it all over again.
Then fifty years later three thousand out of two hundred million yanks die in the first attack on her home soil...well ever, and the biggest tantrum in the last fifty years is thrown and we're told over and over and over again how we should all feel so sorry and damn it, it's just the worst thing ever to happen to anyone! We listen for nearly a decade about how awful it all was, patting them on the head, saying "there there it's ok". All the while quietly waiting for them to grow a pair and grow the fuck up. How they have the audacity to put shit on the frogs who each and everyone lived through, experienced *personally* not just on the TV or paper, and fought valiantly in the most awful warfare in the history of this world...twice, when they carry on like such a bunch of drama queens about such a tiny incident in the history of the world is quite frankly embarrassing.
It's ok to have a bit of a dig and friendly rivalry, but the yanks seem to have started believing their bullshit. The comparison of an immature bratty teenager really is apt.
Free beer is never free as in speech. Free speech is always free as in beer.
I can still remember that some years ago the slashdot crowd cheered at the people who have tried to get a refund for OEM Windows preinstalled on their computers.
Either the people here are different now or it is french bashing time. Maybe both.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
The "whatever its origin" part is actually very important:
Basically, the French did not wanted to see their city destroyed by German tanks in the WW2. So the French goverment left the city and declared Paris an "Open City".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France#New_German_offensive_and_the_fall_of_Paris
We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.