[nylug-talk] OT: machines with windows pre-installed

[Rajesh Menon]

I'm guessing that the price of the Microsoft OS is included in the price of
the desktop/laptop.

When I bought my laptop, the manufacturer wouldn't sell it to me without the
Microsoft OS, even though I didn't want it. I didn't want it primarily
because I don't use it, and thought the cost would go down for the laptop.

Of course, when I got my laptop, the Windows Install CD wasn't there - just
the Repair CD. First thing I did was re-partition my disk for dual-booting
Linux and Windows. The Repair Disk is of no use to install Windows, so I
borrowed my friend's disk and installed it.

Sometime ago, Microsoft introduced their "Genuine Advantage" program. I
believe their first step was not to allow windows updates. At least they
allowed the download and install of other products.

Today, I wanted to try IE7 and was stopped by the same program which tells
me that I need to have "Genuine Microsoft Software" to get it.

I am furious. If I paid at the time of purchase for an OS, shouldn't the
Install Disk be part of the purchase? I have a Mac, and the thing came with
2 Installation DVD's.

What other software company follows the practise of making the customer pay
for the product and with-hold the selling of the installation scripts?

As it is, I use my win32 partition a handful of times a year - primarily
because some website is very IE-centric and won't load on anything else. I
hope by their next OS release, the rendering of websites on IE7 won't be
much different than those on the gecko browsers.