I screwed the pooch, mea culpa. Here's a better one. I'm sorry about this lengthy intro paragraph, but it doesn't seem to want to let me submit this again - which is both stupid and annoying.
There's no contract between me and Microsoft.
Of course there is one. An agreement is a contract. If you read/. as much as I do, you will notice the story about Apple pursuing employees over breaking their NDA and spreading rumors. As you know, an NDA stands for Non Disclosure Agreement. There's the word agreement in there. If you read the comments related to the Apple story, you will see people yelling that an Agreement (an NDA in that case) is a contract. Now you are telling me the opposite... I chose to believe that you are wrong.
I belive you are missing something vital here - there IS REALLY no contract between you and Microsoft, when you purchase a COMPUTER. The contract is between you, and the person/company that sells you the computer. As such, you are NOT bound by any agreement that company has with Microsoft. When I build a system for someone, I bundle M$'s OS into the cost. I have no problem selling someone a system with NO OS loaded, and let them scramble for themselves. I have yet to have a request for a Linux system, but if I did, I'd build it - and still charge them for the OS, but not as basly as M$ does - basically, I'd buy them a box'd set so they'd get support - from someone ELSE, not me on the OS related issues. If I go and BUY a system at CompUSA, and it doesn't list the OS seperate, you had better belive that I'm going to bitch. I have my OS already, and I don't want, and will not pay for, another crappy M$ product.
This is one of the main reasons I build all my own systems now.
There's no contract between me and Microsoft.
Of course there is one. An agreement is a contract. If you read/. as much as I do, you will notice the story about Apple pursuing employees over breaking their NDA and spreading rumors. As you know, an NDA stands for Non Disclosure Agreement. There's the word agreement in there. If you read the comments related to the Apple story, you will see people yelling that an Agreement (an NDA in that case) is a contract. Now you are telling me the opposite... I chose to believe that you are wrong.
I belive you are missing something vital here - there IS REALLY no contract between you and Microsoft, when you purchase a COMPUTER. The contract is between you, and the person/company that sells you the computer. As such, you are NOT bound by any agreement that company has with Microsoft. When I build a system for someone, I bundle M$'s OS into the cost. I have no problem selling someone a system with NO OS loaded, and let them scramble for themselves. I have yet to have a request for a Linux system, but if I did, I'd build it - and still charge them for the OS, but not as basly as M$ does - basically, I'd buy them a box'd set so they'd get support - from someone ELSE, not me on the OS related issues. If I go and BUY a system at CompUSA, and it doesn't list the OS seperate, you had better belive that I'm going to bitch. I have my OS already, and I don't want, and will not pay for, another crappy M$ product.
This is one of the main reasons I build all my own systems now.
Slashdot Mirror
I for one really hope that this works - I love kings writing and I'd like to get it in online form.
I screwed the pooch, mea culpa. Here's a better one. I'm sorry about this lengthy intro paragraph, but it doesn't seem to want to let me submit this again - which is both stupid and annoying. There's no contract between me and Microsoft. Of course there is one. An agreement is a contract. If you read /. as much as I do, you will notice the story about Apple pursuing employees over breaking their NDA and spreading rumors. As you know, an NDA stands for Non Disclosure Agreement. There's the word agreement in there. If you read the comments related to the Apple story, you will see people yelling that an Agreement (an NDA in that case) is a contract. Now you are telling me the opposite ... I chose to believe that you are wrong.
I belive you are missing something vital here - there IS REALLY no contract between you and Microsoft, when you purchase a COMPUTER. The contract is between you, and the person/company that sells you the computer. As such, you are NOT bound by any agreement that company has with Microsoft. When I build a system for someone, I bundle M$'s OS into the cost. I have no problem selling someone a system with NO OS loaded, and let them scramble for themselves. I have yet to have a request for a Linux system, but if I did, I'd build it - and still charge them for the OS, but not as basly as M$ does - basically, I'd buy them a box'd set so they'd get support - from someone ELSE, not me on the OS related issues. If I go and BUY a system at CompUSA, and it doesn't list the OS seperate, you had better belive that I'm going to bitch. I have my OS already, and I don't want, and will not pay for, another crappy M$ product.
This is one of the main reasons I build all my own systems now.
There's no contract between me and Microsoft. Of course there is one. An agreement is a contract. If you read /. as much as I do, you will notice the story about Apple pursuing employees over breaking their NDA and spreading rumors. As you know, an NDA stands for Non Disclosure Agreement. There's the word agreement in there. If you read the comments related to the Apple story, you will see people yelling that an Agreement (an NDA in that case) is a contract. Now you are telling me the opposite ... I chose to believe that you are wrong.
I belive you are missing something vital here - there IS REALLY no contract between you and Microsoft, when you purchase a COMPUTER. The contract is between you, and the person/company that sells you the computer. As such, you are NOT bound by any agreement that company has with Microsoft. When I build a system for someone, I bundle M$'s OS into the cost. I have no problem selling someone a system with NO OS loaded, and let them scramble for themselves. I have yet to have a request for a Linux system, but if I did, I'd build it - and still charge them for the OS, but not as basly as M$ does - basically, I'd buy them a box'd set so they'd get support - from someone ELSE, not me on the OS related issues. If I go and BUY a system at CompUSA, and it doesn't list the OS seperate, you had better belive that I'm going to bitch. I have my OS already, and I don't want, and will not pay for, another crappy M$ product.
This is one of the main reasons I build all my own systems now.