The Computer Broker will sometimes discount their ex lease boxes if you don't want the OS, and many of them come in OS and OSless options straight off the floor.
Even the ones without an OS seem to have a license sticker, which presumably means you can install the licensed OS, although i note the opinion of someone on NZLUG who had read the licence who said that after the second owner, the license was no longer transferable (ie the third owner had to buy another licence). Anyway there is more than one MS license and I guess you need to read the actual one that pertains to the actual machine. In buying ex-lease gear I look at the hardware price in the knowledge that I don't give a rats thingamy what version of windows i can run on it. If the vendor will take a few dollars less without the OS on board, thats cool, but I look first and foremost at whether the hardware is worth the price. One time the broker did discount me a box with no OS. The guy was going to reformat the hard drive to remove whatever abomination had been installed on it, and I said "I'm in a bit of a hurry, theres no way I am going to run that piece of crap, I promise I'll take it off as soon as I get home" He grinned and handed me the box (and of course I kept my word, its now running mythtv). Nick On Tue, November 20, 2007 3:30 pm, Edwin F wrote: > There was a discussion on the NZLUG recently about the availability of > OS-less ex-lease boxen - apparently, most of them suffer from the MS > tax due to their old licenses being no longer transferrable, or > something to that effect. > > I thought I would throw it out there that I am in the process of > starting a small ex-lease thing, and I would gladly supply cheap, > OS-less boxen if the demand is there, and perhaps somebody would like > to contact existing ex-lease sellers around Christchurch about > supplying OS-less boxen for a lower price and compile a Linux-friendly > supplier list on the CLUG wiki? > > Hope nobody minds, but... > == blatant plug time == > > I have a bunch of these boxen, currently: > Intel Celeron 2.0GHz > 512MB DDR RAM > 40GB HDD > Broadcom GigE > CD-ROM Drive > Floppy Drive (remember those? -- neither do I) > > They came with 17" CRTs, too, so those can be had providing it is > being picked up or the extra shipping is paid (for... uh... across > town) > > These I can supply for ~$200 each, give or take. > > == blatant plug time ends == > > Thoughts? > > > Cheers, > Edwin. > > -- Nick Rout
