Slashdot Mirror
Amazon UK Refunds Windows License Fee, With Little Hassle
christian.einfeldt writes "Alan Lord, a FOSS computer consultant based in the UK, has announced that Amazon UK honored his request for a refund of the Microsoft license fee portion of the cost of a new Asus netbook PC that came with Microsoft Windows XP. Lord details the steps that he took to obtain a refund of 40.00 GBP for the cost of the EULA, complete with links to click to request a refund. Lord's refund comes 10 years after the initial flurry of activity surrounding EULA discounts, started by a blog post by Australian computer consultant Geoffrey Bennett which appeared on Slashdot on 18 January 1999. That Slashdot story led to mainstream press coverage, such as stories in CNN, the New York Times Online, and the San Francisco Chronicle, to name just a few. The issue quieted down for a few years, but has started to gain some momentum again in recent years, with judges in France, Italy, and Israel awarding refunds. But if Lord's experience is any indication, getting a refund through Amazon might be as easy as filling out a few forms, at least in the UK, without any need to go to court."
Now where do you get that from? There are vendors that sell boxed and/or subscription based Linux distributions (most known are Red Hat and Novel (SuSE), but there are others too).
And there is a lot more money in support, money that actually is helpful for the local economy.
Also there are other commercial operating systems that are sold (e.g. QNX).
They just don't have the power and ruthlessness of OEM bribery and monopoly like Microsoft, but they are there.
From what I've read, the range of refunds given has been variable if not arbitrary. This thread on the ubuntu forums is an interesting place to start reading about some differenct experiences people have had.
I was also interested to learn recently that it is possible to buy machines with no OS from some vendors. The college I work for has this ability through our Dell rep. This post in the above-mentioned thread is particularly interesting, as it claims that anybody can request and receive a new computer without an OS from several vendors.
I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
UK£40 is about 46euro or US$66. Maybe that's the rate for XP these days.
In Finland, the rebate for Vista Home Premium seems to be about 100euro, which is UK£86-ish or US$140-ish at current rates. That was the in-store price reduction I got for each of the two PCs I bought this year (in January and June from different local small system builders).
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
You don't have a choice, a us consent decree states that microsoft can not.
Microsoft gets paid, even if you don't you use their operating system, due to the per processor licensing scheme.
To gauge the Governments effectiveness (above rulings were in 1994) read this FINDINGS OF FACT (1998) which
to save you the read not much has changed.
From what I've read/heard, you are paying for the hardware and the hardware only. As Apple is a "hardware company." OS X is a freebie according to this logic many Slashdot users like to profess.
simple point: laptops. When the exact specs only exist on two manufacturer's machines, for example, and both only offer it with Windows installed, and jack the price $40 because of it, where is my choice? I can't just order the parts and build it.
Before commenting on the Bible, please read it first
The problem is, historically at least, Microsoft strong-arms the OEMs into ONLY supplying machines with Windows - if they refuse, MS refuse to provide them with a license. Yes, anticompetitive and probably illegal, but that's the way it was for a long time.
OEMs won't upset 95% of their business to appease the other 5%, and most of the people who want Windows want it preinstalled, so the OEM needs the license to do so. OEMs who offer non-Windows installs are much the minority right now, but at least it's a foot in the door.
> If you want to play any media on it that isn't opensource, it's not as simple as just trying to play the video and automatically finding the codec.
This is simpler under Linux than it is Windows, and far simpler than MacOS.
Ubuntu has staked the heart of this particular bit of FUD.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
The case in Israel was an out of court settlement. It never got to a judge. It was unique in that the plaintiff refused to settle unless it was also made public, but still, no judge.
Shachar
So if I want to build a PC and sell it with Windows on it, you are saying that *I* should be forced to sell it to you without Windows, instead?
No, but if you sell it with an operating system that has a EULA that states you will provide a refund if I don't agree to the terms of the EULA, you should be bound by that.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
With the notable exception of Great Briton. .UK
Country code GB, TLD
Which then pushes Ukraine over with .UA
Country code UK, TLD
Theres a monoply on PCs? WTF planet do you live on? I can buy the parts to build a PC from bestbuy, hundreds of websites and at least 10 different local companies (who also sell built to spec PCs, sans OS if I want). Plenty of local shops will sell netbooks too.
There isn't really any monopoly on the generic white box PC market, sorry to burst your bubble, but there are other websites besides www.dell.com, err, www.amazon.com. Oh hell, I think the point is made.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager