[nylug-talk] How to get a Windows tax refund

[Jay Sulzberger]

On Sat, 6 Jan 2007, Gregg Levine wrote:

> On 1/6/07, Jay Sulzberger <jays at panix.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Sat, 6 Jan 2007, alex at pilosoft.com wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, 6 Jan 2007, Jay Sulzberger wrote:
>>>
>>>> I do not know whether Dell sells any home computer without a Microsoft
>>>> OS.  Certainly they do not sell one at a lower price than the same
>>>> computer with a Microsoft OS already installed.  On the Dell website,
>>>> only Microsoft OSes are advertised.
>>> False.
>>
>> You may go to
>>
>> http://www.dell.com
>>
>> and see that Dell offers to buyers of home machines no choice of
>> OS: it is Microsoft only.
>>
>>>
>>> If you want to rail against windows tax, rail against someone other than
>>> Dell. Dell very much sells OS-less desktops (under "small business"). In
>>> fact, its right on the website:
>>>
>>> http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
>>>
>>> "Open source desktops"
>>>
>>> As far as price - it varies. Often enough, the promotions that are applied
>>> to windows servers are not applied to os-less servers on website.
>>> Occasionally, you can call your phone sales rep and they might budge,
>>> particularly for a large order (say, 50 machines). Currently, os-less
>>> desktops are 30$ cheaper than corresponding windows machine. Compare:
>>> http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/optix_n?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=anavml
>>> http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/optix?~ck=anav
>>>
>>> Not every desktop is available OS-less, currently, only OptiPlex are
>>> (although, they did have dimension os-less at one point).
>>>
>>> I know, we own a large number of Optiplex boxes that are OS-less.
>>
>> Not to give refunds is a gross violation of the decision of the
>> court in the large antitrust suit.  Serge got a refund, but most
>> folks who try do not.  It is a further violation of the court
>> order to give the impression that only Microsoft OSes run on Dell
>> home machines.  Dell and Microsoft are engaged in a combination
>> in restraint of trade.  The issue has been abjudicated.  Dell and
>> Microsoft lost.  But because we who run free OSes do not go to
>> the court, Microsoft and Dell continue their gross attacks on us,
>> and on every buyer of a home machine.
>>
>> Dell and Microsoft wish to end even the bare possibility of
>> running a free OS.  To repeat: Dell does not offer for sale any
>> home computer without a Microsoft OS already installed, and Dell
>> and Microsoft ignore the plain and simple terms of the Refund
>> Clause of the Microsoft EULA.  Note that Microsoft wrote the
>> EULA.
>>
>> http://www.windowsrefund.info
>> http://www.thetc.org
>>
>> oo--JS.
>> _____________________________________________________________________________
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>
> Hello!
> Excuse me? Your not getting it, are you? There was indeed an blurb in
> the new products section of an issue of Linux Journal last month that
> describes a Dell machine that was built especially for Linux (and
> probably the BSD crowd as well!).

Please go to

http://www.dell.com

and look for a home machine with a free OS installed.

There are none.

>
> Don't go basing it on that poorly designed website of theirs that's
> only useful to someone who's a complete naif about hardware. (I should
> know I went through that hassle for a Dell Dimension who's from the
> generation before this one.)

Poor website design is not the issue.  Dell and Microsoft have
agreed to refuse to sell any home computer that does not have a
Microsoft OS installed.

>
> It also happens that those gonophs in Redmond do honor the terms
> behind the refund, and it was discussed to its probable demise about
> eight years ago at an OEM meeting I attended.

No, Microsoft and Dell do not honor the plain and simple terms of
the Refund Clause of the Microsoft EULA.

>
>
> Now if you want me to prove it, please contact me off list the Monday
> of the first meeting for this year, and I'll bring in the issue.
> Ordering it of course is the other problem..... But that's for another
> one of these.

No.  I will pay you full price for a Dell laptop that you buy and
deliver to me with no Microsoft OS on it, and for which you have
gotten a refund.

>
> And other then that off list one, please let's drop the subject.
> -- 
> Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com

No.  If we do not get the Refund Clause of the Microsoft EULA
enforced, then shortly no Dell computer will boot any free OS.

oo--JS.


> "This signature was once found posting rude
> messages in English in the Moscow subway."
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