hi all,
yesterday, i opened the Economic Times, New Delhi edition, to note a splashy
ad from IBM, promoting a range of their new laptops. another page had an ad
from HP+Compaq, also for laptops. all the ads prominently displayed they ship
only with Microsoft WindowsXP or other flavours of windoze. they also carried
a small line on .../software/piracy/howtotell.html.
duh!
so i picked up the phone, boldly called up IBM (the guyz who pledged nearly
US$ 1 billion on gnulinux).
"Hi! saw your ad in the paper, wish to buy the laptop model xxx, but does it
ship with the *original* ms windoze?" i asked.
"yes!" asserted the helpful woman voice.
"good. so if i buy the laptop, *but* i do not wish to use win, and only use
gnulinux, could u provide me with that?"
"uhhh.... sure! we will provide you with the laptop, you could install the
linux."
"sure. but since i will *not* use the ms win sottware ever, and you bundle
it, could u please sell me an unbundled version, with the money for the
software deducted?"
"nope" she sighed, "the machines come bundled. we do not unbundle. you may
install linux on your own if you wish." she said.
"okay, don't unbundle." i persisted. "if, in front of your staff, i switch on
the machine, see the EULA, and click on 'disagree" do i get my refund. hey! i
am not breaking any law, i am complying with it, since i disagree with its
terms and conditions i'd rather disagree than break the agreement. why don't
u check with your management, or suggest a way out, or something."
"gimme your name and number, and i'll call back in 2 hours." she promised.
"after about 26(!) hours, which is the next day, i got her call.
"did some dealer from us contact u?" she asked.
"nope!" i said.
"okay, lemme check" and she hung up.
meanwhile, i also called up the hp-compaq number, and tried the same thing.
the conversation was nearly identical, the only difference "you could try one
of our dealers, maybe they could give you a discount."
!
so i tried a dealer, who promptly told me, "you gotta call up the headoffice,
we don't do no such thing."
duh!
encouragingly, saw a news in the papers (TOI) today, that LG is about to
introduce linux-based PCs in the market very soon. they also have in place
some training and orientation for customers, the article said.
i hope the other players follow the same path.
meanwhile, would be really quite wonderful if other ilugd members could call
up the big giants in computing, and ask for gnulinux boxes. they need to hear
the demand, and to give customers a choice. and microsoft should be given a
chance to respond positively and favourably towards people who are honest and
fair enough to 'disagree' with the eula. and of course, return them the money.
c'mon guyz.
the number of compaq, that i called : 9628-123-123.
ibm's number: delhi: 3702022 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
compaq did not have an email id, but i suppose u could check out their
website.
the ads contain a list of dealers in the delhi and ncr region. u could try
their numbers as well.
we could post our experiences on the ilugd website. and we will use the
information to educate end-users on the choices they have, and promote those
companies who give end-users a choice. companies need to understand that
ilugd includes people from corporates, enterprises, as well as tech
consultants who advise and consult such organizations on deploying gnulinux.
important: the info is obviously not restricted to laptops. it applies
equally on desktops as well.
but what about toshiba, dell, sharp, sony, etc.
would be fun if someone could call up microsoft and get their take on this.
c'mon guyz. we need to see some action!
LL
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