On 19 Apr 2002, Malcolm V wrote:
> On Fri, 2002-04-19 at 13:23, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: [Lias] Latest Microsoft Stupidity
> > From: "Les Bell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ...
> > Microsoft page at http://www.microsoft.com/education/?id=DonatedComputers
> ...
> > The statement appears to be an attempt to scare educators into not
> > replacing the pre-loaded - and probably registry-rotted - copy of Windows
> > on the machine with something useful, such as Linux.
>
> I see nothing wrong with this page (except the broken links it contains.
>
> The statement seems to merely be Microsoft-centric based, ... of course
> the donated machine will be a x86 with Windows "blah" pre-installed.
>
You seem to have missed this paragraph:
If you feel it is in the best interest of your school to accept the
donated PCs, make sure that the hardware donation includes the original
operating system software. Keeping the operating system with the PC is not
just a great benefit - it is a legal requirement.
In other words, you cannot be given a PC with no OS on - that's illegal.
You cannot be given a computer with an OS on that's not the OS originally
installed (eg, linux on an originally-windows machine) - that's illegal.
In short, the only computer donations worth accepting are donated machines
with Windows installed, along with all the original disks or CDs, printed
manuals, certificate of authenticity, EULA, etc (see questions 2 and 3) -
anything less is illegal and going to land your school in hot water.
The page is not merely saying "If your donated machine has windows
installed, make sure it's legal", which is how you seemed to understand
it.
The page is saying "Unless your donated machine comes with *insert large
list of stuff here* as well as having Windows installed already, it's not
worth your while to accept the donation" - and, of course, they do their
best to make it sound next to impossible to meet the required criteria..
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