On 11 Sep 2014 12:56, "Pirate Praveen" <[email protected]> wrote: > > We have now sent a legal notice to HP on this via Prasanth Sugathan of > Software Freedom Law Center and it is covered by Economic times > > http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/software/ishan-masdekar-sends-legal-notice-to-hp-for-compelling-him-to-buy-a-notebook-with-windows-8/articleshow/42219383.cms >
Bravo for this initiative, all who are part of it! I see some issues with getting a refund and starting a flood: 1. OEMs get an OEM license from Microsoft for installing Windows on to consumer PCs - the terms may be negotiated, and pricing may be very low for a leading OEM like HP (though not negligible) - would the OEM or Microsoft be willing to make their pricing public? 2. Both the OEM and Microsoft can say that the OS is an essential part of the system, as the proprietary drivers of some components will not run on any other OS, and alternative drivers may have unintended effects or illegal uses (such as SDR manipulation) 3. They could also claim that it would be virtually impossible to verify whether each request for refund has come after Microsoft software had been removed completely (and we can't allow them to implement a kill switch) 4. They could claim that they would be unable to market and sell their products without a warranty for performance and quality if they are unable to control which OS is loaded on to the PC, and that blank devices can only be niche, probably obsolete products 5. Microsoft tax is also the name for the underhand practice where it extracts a heavy price for licenses from OEMs that sell more than a certain percentage of Linux PCs, and no OEM would want to acknowledge this publicly 6. OEMs rely on quick obsolescence, which is accentuated with Microsoft bloatware, to keep on getting your money every few years - Linux makes this cycle much longer, plus after sales service harder - so no positive incentive for them And so on and so forth. Of course, you'll appreciate that I'm just playing the devil's advocate here to help us consider what would be the best strategy for getting a wider range of devices without a preloaded OS. The demand for this option is minuscule, as most Linux enthusiasts would not mind having a dual boot system, if it allowed them more choice in how they use the device. India, especially, sees people buy these OS-free PCs to install pirated copies of Windows on them, thus defeating the whole purpose for which many people have devoted huge amounts of energy and time. Anyway, all the best with the case. I wish you success. -nd -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
