Right time to get rid of windows on laptop
A Linux user get a refund from Dell for the copy of Windows that came with his machine. A copy of Windows he didn’t want.
A fellow from the UK (Sheffield to be precise) by the name of Dave Mitchell had a little problem with the Dell Inspiron 640m laptop. The laptop itself was fine, but the bundled copy of Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2 wasn’t. He had purchased his Dell laptop with the intentions of running Linux on it, and not Windows.
Dell did eventually refund Daves 47 that he was forced to shell out for the operating system he never wanted, and wouldn’t use. Dell was considerate enough to refund the tax he paid on the unwanted OS too. This has been happening for years; Linux users buying machines that come bundled or pre-installed with Microsoft Windows. Microsoft claimed that any such refund for an unused copy of Windows was the responsibility of the OEM manufacturer.
Despite the occasional instance of reform where it pertains to refunding unused copies of Windows, there as been some measure of reluctance within the industry. Microsoft fears that people may install pirated copies of Windows onto OEM built machines. And conceivably, manufacturers can charge a little bit extra for that single copy of that volume purchase of Windows. The Linux community has dubbed this seemingly idiotic catch-22 as the Microsoft tax.
here is some oddities to the difficulties Dave encountered is receiving his refund as the EULA that applies to Windows does allow for refunds of unused (and presumably unopened) copies of Windows. In Daves case he took the extra effort to film his experience with his particular laptop and its bundled copy of Windows. He filmed himself licking the ‘I do not agree’ button on the End User Licence Agreement.
A simpler solution to all of this; OEMs should give us the option to purchase a system with no OS installed. Perhaps a check box or an e-mail would suffice.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 10th, 2006 at 10:46 am and is filed under General, gnu/linux. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
could save a few $$
