On Thursday 11 September 2014 05:04 PM, Nishit Dave wrote: > 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!
A copy of the notice is available at https://mediacru.sh/download/FIF_461bKH5T.pdf > 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? Acer America has a refund policy and they mention the refund amount https://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/280/kw/windows%20refund > 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) Good point. That would be an incentive for us to push for free drivers (another battle we have to fight) and choose an A-platinum rated hardware listed at http://h-node.org/ (it lists only a single high end model that is released in 2014 and about 9 models that released in 2013, we have to certify more models there. Anyone interested in certifying laptops at this months' meetup at Directiplex? All we need a gnewsense or another FSF certified distro live cd, debian live at the moment doesn't have a recent testing image.) > 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) Acer America asks the user to submit the laptop at their service center. It will be removed by Acer personnel. > 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 Not a good argument. They cannot get away that easily from providing hardware warranty because a different OS is chosen by the user. > 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 Well, its their call anyway whether to make it public or not. > 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 I don't think they would make that argument publicly. > 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. Things are changing in many places with GNU/Linux taught in schools. People know they have a choice and cost of choosing freedom isn't very high. > Anyway, all the best with the case. I wish you success. > > -nd >
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