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