I must say, that would be interesting...most resellers (ie, Future Shop in Canada) charge a re-stocking fee if you return a computer. Some less-reputable retailers even go as high as 15% of the purchase price. (OUCH!!) However, it might just be worth it to take the laptop back, in the bag, and say "I can not agree to the EULA if I haven't read it. Please open the bag and read it to me." Then, say, "Nope. I don't agree with that." That way,
1) You didn't open the bag. (the retailer did), 2) You did not agree to the EULA (and have a witness) 3) The retailer MAY decide to refund you your money. (Not LIKELY, but it's possible.) 4) If #3 doesn't happen, you can ask the retailer to witness you boot the machine with your trusty Linux boot disk and fdisk away. You can now return your Windoze CDs to Toshiba guilt-free.
Of course, IANAL...But that SHOULD work...
"If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer"
Even with it on by default, how many sites would be in a position to require it "within months"?
Now, I don't have any numbers, but I know for a fact that there are still significant numbers of computers out there NOT running P2s after a year of having them shoveled down our throats. (or implanted directly into our brains ala Homer Simpson) Not to mention those pretty 'lil iMacs.
Considering how many NON-P3s are out on the market right now, IMHO, it would be the height of lunacy to put "This site designed only for the P3 processor" on your ECommerce site.
Personally, I think that if sites started requiring the CPU ID, it would be a major blow to the ECommerce industry as a whole. I don't know many ppl who will be willing to shell out $2-3K just so they can purchase a $20 item on the 'Net. And the majority of 'Net users aren't 3D-game-a-holics who 'need' the speed increase of a P3! I say this while typing away on my K6-200 (running Linux), which is still plenty fast for 90% of what I push through it. (Of course, that's not saying that I won't be upgrading to a K7 this fall...we've all got to have goals.)
Gui, Gui, Gui. The AWT is agravating, Swing is a mess.
I'm so sick of beating my head against the sun.awt.motif.* packages (which are ENTIRELY undocumented) that I'm seriously considering building a JNI wrapper for GTK just to be done with it once and for all. To hell with platform-independance.
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I must say, that would be interesting...most resellers (ie, Future Shop in Canada) charge a re-stocking fee if you return a computer. Some less-reputable retailers even go as high as 15% of the purchase price. (OUCH!!) However, it might just be worth it to take the laptop back, in the bag, and say "I can not agree to the EULA if I haven't read it. Please open the bag and read it to me." Then, say, "Nope. I don't agree with that." That way,
1) You didn't open the bag. (the retailer did),
2) You did not agree to the EULA (and have a witness)
3) The retailer MAY decide to refund you your money. (Not LIKELY, but it's possible.)
4) If #3 doesn't happen, you can ask the retailer to witness you boot the machine with your trusty Linux boot disk and fdisk away. You can now return your Windoze CDs to Toshiba guilt-free.
Of course, IANAL...But that SHOULD work...
"If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer"
Even with it on by default, how many sites would be in a position to require it "within months"?
Now, I don't have any numbers, but I know for a fact that there are still significant numbers of computers out there NOT running P2s after a year of having them shoveled down our throats. (or implanted directly into our brains ala Homer Simpson) Not to mention those pretty 'lil iMacs.
Considering how many NON-P3s are out on the market right now, IMHO, it would be the height of lunacy to put "This site designed only for the P3 processor" on your ECommerce site.
Personally, I think that if sites started requiring the CPU ID, it would be a major blow to the ECommerce industry as a whole. I don't know many ppl who will be willing to shell out $2-3K just so they can purchase a $20 item on the 'Net. And the majority of 'Net users aren't 3D-game-a-holics who 'need' the speed increase of a P3! I say this while typing away on my K6-200 (running Linux), which is still plenty fast for 90% of what I push through it. (Of course, that's not saying that I won't be upgrading to a K7 this fall...we've all got to have goals.)
Really? What was it replaced by? Did I miss that vote? I guess I should attend the weekly meetings more often then....Damn! ;)
Gui, Gui, Gui. The AWT is agravating, Swing is a mess.
I'm so sick of beating my head against the sun.awt.motif.* packages (which are ENTIRELY undocumented) that I'm seriously considering building a JNI wrapper for GTK just to be done with it once and for all. To hell with platform-independance.