Ada seorang teman kirim ini. Saya nggak tau dikutip dari mana. Tapi cukup
lucu...dan mengharukan bagi Microsoft.
-tumpal-
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Linux Users To Converge On Microsoft Seeking Refunds
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A small but growing group of computer owners who
would rather use the upstart Linux operating system than Windows are
demanding refunds for the built-in Microsoft software they do not use.
In an initiative called Windows Refund Day, a grass-roots group plans to
converge on one of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news)'s Silicon Valley
offices Monday in the hopes of getting refunds.
The refund movement is gaining widespread support among users of Linux, a
version of the multi-user UNIX operating system designed to run on personal
computers and server computers based on Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news)
chips.
Linux, developed by a Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds in 1991, is still
maintained by Torvalds and a group of far-flung programmers, and given away
over the Internet. No company has control of Linux, but a few companies now
distribute the software for a fee and provide Linux service and support.
Windows Refund Day organizers are hoping to glean more attention for the
alternative operating system, which is becoming more widely used in network
servers, and to protest against the fact that it is nearly impossible to buy
a personal computer without Microsoft Windows already installed.
All copies of PCs sold with Windows come with an end-user licensing
agreement that states that, if the user does not agree to the terms of the
agreement, they can request a refund.
But people who seeks a refund usually find themselves in a Catch-22
bureaucratic nightmare.
"A lot of people have tried to get their refunds for unused Microsoft
products in the past and they run into bureaucratic obstacles,"' said Don
Marti, an organizer of Windows Refund Day and president of Electric Lichen,
a Linux marketing company based in San Francisco.
A Microsoft spokesman, Adam Sohn, said that users who do not agree to the
terms of the licensing agreement should contact their computer manufacturer
for a refund.
"They might say, 'hey if we sold you the PC and you are not using Windows,
we don't want to be supporting a PC that is not using Windows,'" Sohn said.
"Their license expressly states that, if you don't agree to the terms, that
person should go and contact their OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and
get instructions for a return and a refund."
And the nightmare begins. Most computer makers require the user to bring
back the whole computer for a refund, not just the software.
Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq:DELL - news), for example, requires the user to
send back the entire PC to obtain a refund for the whole system within 30
days.
"In our current build-to-order system, an operating system is required to
build and ship a fully-tested system," said T.J. Reid, a Dell spokesman.
Dell will offer customers Linux on servers, if they request it, but Reid
said it is "extraordinarily rare" for a customer to request an operating
system other than Windows on a desktop computer.
While the percentage of Linux users on the PC is indeed still a small
fraction compared to Windows, which dominates the market, International Data
Corp. recently said Linux is the fastest growing network operating system
and 1998 server installations were growing at a faster pace than Windows NT.
One intrepid individual, an Australian named Geoffrey Bennett, over a
four-month period argued in e-mails with Toshiba Corp. that the contract
says he can return the operating system to the manufacturer, not the PC.
Bennett was eventually sent a refund of $110 (Australian) by Toshiba and he
published his saga on the Internet, which has inspired users of other
alternative operating systems, such as Linux, BeOs, FreeBSD and others.
So what started out as a small grass-roots movement in the San Francisco Bay
Area for a Windows Refund Day has now attracted the attention of other Linux
groups around the world.
Web sites in other countries, such as Japan, the Netherlands, France and New
Zealand, have been created, explaining to users how to seek refunds by
returning the world's dominant operating system.
Linux users in two areas of Los Angeles and in New York City also plan their
own refund days Monday, with organized visits to Microsoft offices in those
regions.
Information posted on the Windows Refund Day Web site
(www.hugin.imat.com/refund/) explains that all participants must be polite
but firm as they descend upon Microsoft offices and the purpose is not to
complain about Microsoft products.
Organizers for the visit to Microsoft's Foster City, Calif. office said they
expect hundreds of participants, because with the President's Day holiday in
the U.S., many people with the day off will be able to join. Microsoft's
offices are going to be open, they said.
"It will be a spectacle in some way. That spectacle will depend on the
people and the energy that all comes together in that place," said Marti.
Larry Augustin, chief executive of VA Research, a privately held systems
vendor that develops PCs and server computers running Linux, said one of his
staff plans to drive a truck with a rock band. T-shirts will also be given
out, perhaps with a Penguin logo, the symbol for Linux because its creator
Torvalds loves Penguins.
Do the organizers really expect Microsoft to begin writing checks when they
arrive?
"Microsoft is very good at handling press. I expect them to be prepared with
something. I don't know what it will be," Augustin said. "It's going to be a
fun event...regardless what Microsoft does, we will have a good time."
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