In many countries, tying sales of two products is sometimes forbidden. So, when trying to get a refund for a Windows OEM product, you could state, the Windows OEM is tied to the purchase of a computer, and try to sue someone.
Officially, Windows OEM can't even be bought without buying a computer also. On the other hand, it often is also impossible to buy a computer without Windows OEM tied to the purchase. This is a hindrance to competitors. If people buy a new computer, they can't use their products without also paying for Windows, and most people don't need two operating systems.
The most important indicator of tying is probably the price: Windows OEM is always included in the price of purchasing a computer. This means, people don't know how much they pay for their software in first place, which is anti-competetive. In the second place, people cannot buy some (in practice, that means 98%) models of computers, without also buying a Windows XP OEM license. In most countries, including The Netherlands, where I live, it is not clear if this is forbidden. But since Microsoft didn't want to face the risk of being sued over this, they gave the EULA a strange twist.
The first lines of the (Dutch) Windows XP OEM EULA state:
This User-agreement ("Agreement") is an agreement between you (the end-consumer / natural person or 'rechtspersoon') and the manufacturer ("Manufacturer") of the computer system or the computer system parts ("HARDWARE") where you obtained the mentioned Microsoft-software products ("SOFTWARE").
So, if you agree, you don't have an agreement with Microsoft, but with the manufacturer which made your computer. That way, Microsoft can't be sued for tying, since it is the hardware manufacturer who is responsible for this. If that's the case, we should also try to get our refund at the hardware manufacturer.
Point one of the Dutch Windows XP OEM EULA states:
If you do not agree with the provisions of this Agreement, you're not allowed to use the SOFTWARE, or copy it, and you should directly contact the Manufacturer for instructions concerning the returning of the unused product following the return policy of the Manufacturer.
So, we only need to know what the return policy is, it seems. However, this term is (deliberately?) vague: What do you return? Your whole lap- or desktop? Or just the Windows CD? And then there's the stuff on your hard drive, if Windows is on your harddrive, how can it be returned?
The return policy of the hardware-manufacturers tells this. Though, this policy can't be found on the sites of the hardware-manufacturers, or it must be I'm blind. Then, there's nothing else we can do, than contacting our hardware-manufacturers to straight this out.
I decided to do this, and sent out nine letters, in my own language (Dutch), to the big hardware-manufacturers. I did this first in an electronic way: find forms on the websites of the manufacturers, or find an e-mail adress. This is where the first troubles arose: which department should I ask? For registered customers or companies having questions for soft- or hardware support, there are plenty places to ask. But there are no forms or mail-adresses to ask questions about the policies of the companies. So tired of it, I just picked some addresses and started. Finally, IBM (Lenovo), NEC/Packard Bell, HP/Compaq, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Medion (sold at the Aldi in Europe), Fujitsu-Siemens and Sony ended up with one of my letters. Sony got a written one since I couldn't find a right e-mail-address. I got two auto-responses, and after that, nothing.
The first to let me know they received the letter was Medion. They said they forwarded it to the right person. Apart from that, I received no answer within three weeks. I decided this didn't work, and sent written letters by post to everyone, except Medion, and added Targa (sold at the Lidl in Europe) to the list, using the whois output of targa.nl, which probably was a bad idea. Since Sony already had a written letter, I sent them a registered letter. Sony replied, the Dutch Sony-headquarters wasn't the r
"Sony CEO Howard Stringer revealed that the company has learned from the launch of the Xbox 360 and will be employing similar but more aggressive tactics. For example, Microsoft managed to create an artificial sell-out demand for their new product by constraining the number of available units. Sony will do the same. In fact Sony will be releasing only three units on launch day.
"We also won't be telling customers which stores will be getting the stock to encourage the tradition of lining up in vain for days on end only to be disappointed. It's a part of the traditional fun of launch day," said Stringer.
Sony expects to set a new sell-out record. They are aiming for less than 10 seconds. Sony expects the headlines such as "Sony PS3 sold out in 5 seconds" will boost sales even more if they actually had more units to sell. "
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/11/playstation_3_l aunch.html
Posted Dec 1, 2005
"Several members from GameSHOUT are getting fedup with Xbox 360 defects. According to Microsoft, they will not refund or replace discs that are scratched from the Xbox 360 video game console. However, they will offer "Perfect Dark Zero" for free.
One GameSHOUT member, going by the name "Insanity Rulez" stated that the Microsoft Xbox 360 failed to save his "Call of Duty 2" video game. All stats are gone, and he got an error when making any attempts to resume his game mission. He stated, "I took out my game and checked it over and the 360 had totally ruined my game! It looks like someone took a pencil with the eraser side down [covered with sand paper] and touched the disk while spinning it! There is a perfect circle around the center of the disk and it prevents it from working on certain missions."
It's not just one Xbox 360 gamer, it's becoming a daily thing now as more GameSHOUT members report their defects. CD scratching appears to be the most common defect."
http://www.gameshout.com/news/122005/article1785.h tm
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In many countries, tying sales of two products is sometimes forbidden. So, when trying to get a refund for a Windows OEM product, you could state, the Windows OEM is tied to the purchase of a computer, and try to sue someone. Officially, Windows OEM can't even be bought without buying a computer also. On the other hand, it often is also impossible to buy a computer without Windows OEM tied to the purchase. This is a hindrance to competitors. If people buy a new computer, they can't use their products without also paying for Windows, and most people don't need two operating systems. The most important indicator of tying is probably the price: Windows OEM is always included in the price of purchasing a computer. This means, people don't know how much they pay for their software in first place, which is anti-competetive. In the second place, people cannot buy some (in practice, that means 98%) models of computers, without also buying a Windows XP OEM license. In most countries, including The Netherlands, where I live, it is not clear if this is forbidden. But since Microsoft didn't want to face the risk of being sued over this, they gave the EULA a strange twist. The first lines of the (Dutch) Windows XP OEM EULA state: This User-agreement ("Agreement") is an agreement between you (the end-consumer / natural person or 'rechtspersoon') and the manufacturer ("Manufacturer") of the computer system or the computer system parts ("HARDWARE") where you obtained the mentioned Microsoft-software products ("SOFTWARE"). So, if you agree, you don't have an agreement with Microsoft, but with the manufacturer which made your computer. That way, Microsoft can't be sued for tying, since it is the hardware manufacturer who is responsible for this. If that's the case, we should also try to get our refund at the hardware manufacturer. Point one of the Dutch Windows XP OEM EULA states: If you do not agree with the provisions of this Agreement, you're not allowed to use the SOFTWARE, or copy it, and you should directly contact the Manufacturer for instructions concerning the returning of the unused product following the return policy of the Manufacturer. So, we only need to know what the return policy is, it seems. However, this term is (deliberately?) vague: What do you return? Your whole lap- or desktop? Or just the Windows CD? And then there's the stuff on your hard drive, if Windows is on your harddrive, how can it be returned? The return policy of the hardware-manufacturers tells this. Though, this policy can't be found on the sites of the hardware-manufacturers, or it must be I'm blind. Then, there's nothing else we can do, than contacting our hardware-manufacturers to straight this out. I decided to do this, and sent out nine letters, in my own language (Dutch), to the big hardware-manufacturers. I did this first in an electronic way: find forms on the websites of the manufacturers, or find an e-mail adress. This is where the first troubles arose: which department should I ask? For registered customers or companies having questions for soft- or hardware support, there are plenty places to ask. But there are no forms or mail-adresses to ask questions about the policies of the companies. So tired of it, I just picked some addresses and started. Finally, IBM (Lenovo), NEC/Packard Bell, HP/Compaq, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Medion (sold at the Aldi in Europe), Fujitsu-Siemens and Sony ended up with one of my letters. Sony got a written one since I couldn't find a right e-mail-address. I got two auto-responses, and after that, nothing. The first to let me know they received the letter was Medion. They said they forwarded it to the right person. Apart from that, I received no answer within three weeks. I decided this didn't work, and sent written letters by post to everyone, except Medion, and added Targa (sold at the Lidl in Europe) to the list, using the whois output of targa.nl, which probably was a bad idea. Since Sony already had a written letter, I sent them a registered letter. Sony replied, the Dutch Sony-headquarters wasn't the r
"Sony CEO Howard Stringer revealed that the company has learned from the launch of the Xbox 360 and will be employing similar but more aggressive tactics. For example, Microsoft managed to create an artificial sell-out demand for their new product by constraining the number of available units. Sony will do the same. In fact Sony will be releasing only three units on launch day. "We also won't be telling customers which stores will be getting the stock to encourage the tradition of lining up in vain for days on end only to be disappointed. It's a part of the traditional fun of launch day," said Stringer. Sony expects to set a new sell-out record. They are aiming for less than 10 seconds. Sony expects the headlines such as "Sony PS3 sold out in 5 seconds" will boost sales even more if they actually had more units to sell. " http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/11/playstation_3_l aunch.html
Posted Dec 1, 2005 "Several members from GameSHOUT are getting fedup with Xbox 360 defects. According to Microsoft, they will not refund or replace discs that are scratched from the Xbox 360 video game console. However, they will offer "Perfect Dark Zero" for free. One GameSHOUT member, going by the name "Insanity Rulez" stated that the Microsoft Xbox 360 failed to save his "Call of Duty 2" video game. All stats are gone, and he got an error when making any attempts to resume his game mission. He stated, "I took out my game and checked it over and the 360 had totally ruined my game! It looks like someone took a pencil with the eraser side down [covered with sand paper] and touched the disk while spinning it! There is a perfect circle around the center of the disk and it prevents it from working on certain missions." It's not just one Xbox 360 gamer, it's becoming a daily thing now as more GameSHOUT members report their defects. CD scratching appears to be the most common defect." http://www.gameshout.com/news/122005/article1785.h tm