| 1 |
On Tuesday 23 March 2010 00:02:54 Zeerak Mustafa Waseem wrote: |
| 2 |
> On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 11:36:59PM +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote: |
| 3 |
> > On Monday 22 March 2010 21:21:26 KH wrote: |
| 4 |
> > > Am 22.03.2010 20:17, schrieb Mick: |
| 5 |
> > > > TBH, I wouldn't pay money for it but as many OEM impose a MSWindows |
| 6 |
> > > > tax on all of us I had no other option if I wanted to buy this |
| 7 |
> > > > particular laptop. |
| 8 |
> > > |
| 9 |
> > > You can refuse the license agreement and give windows back. If you are |
| 10 |
> > > lucky, the vendor will give you some money back. |
| 11 |
> > > |
| 12 |
> > > kh |
| 13 |
> > |
| 14 |
> > Yeah right, good luck with that. |
| 15 |
> > |
| 16 |
> > Three people in my entire country are known to have gotten that right, 2 |
| 17 |
> > from Toshiba. In all three cases, the hardware vendor refunded the cost |
| 18 |
> > as a PR exercise. |
| 19 |
> > |
| 20 |
> > Microsoft are dead sneaky about this one, at least under ZA law. The |
| 21 |
> > hardware vendor accepted the license to install it (remember it's on OEM |
| 22 |
> > install not a box set), and you buy the hardware knowing full well that |
| 23 |
> > it comes with Windows. That's part of the deal and there is no deal on |
| 24 |
> > the table where the machine does not have Windows. |
| 25 |
> > |
| 26 |
> > There is nothing unfair about this. No vendor has a *duty* so sell you |
| 27 |
> > what you want and they cannot be forced to. Microsoft does not enforce |
| 28 |
> > that vendors sell Windows-only machines (and they proved as such to the |
| 29 |
> > relevant Commission). Vendors almost uniformly virtually every model |
| 30 |
> > with Windows, the exceptions are low grade machines the no sane person |
| 31 |
> > would buy today, and servers). This is not even anti-competitive, the |
| 32 |
> > vendor can sell what they like and can offer only a certain OS of they |
| 33 |
> > choose. Much like a Toyota dealer is perfectly free to sell only Toyotas |
| 34 |
> > and cannot be forced to offer Hondas as well. |
| 35 |
> |
| 36 |
> Well you I'll have to agree with you that it's not unfiar or anything else |
| 37 |
> as such. I do however think that it would be benefitial to the consumer if |
| 38 |
> the market was more open than it's current state. That being said we do |
| 39 |
> have the option to buy costumized computers without the MS tax. |
| 40 |
|
| 41 |
It's not all dark in this tunnel. There is light at the end, and no, it's not |
| 42 |
the train's headlights ;-) |
| 43 |
|
| 44 |
Customer demand is still the best way to get providers to change their |
| 45 |
offerings. We who want OS-less machines, or machines with Linux, might be few |
| 46 |
today, but that doesn't have to be true for tomorrow. |
| 47 |
|
| 48 |
|
| 49 |
-- |
| 50 |
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com |
Archives