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

[Michael Bacarella]

On Mon, Jan 08, 2007 at 04:27:41AM -0500, Jay Sulzberger wrote:
...
> The fifty dollars given back in the few refund cases we have won
> is not the money at issue: rather the billions of dollars paid
> for copies of Microsoft Jumbo Office Suites is the issue.  If
> people who buy home computers learn that they can run a better
> operating system, then they will run the better operating system,
> and sales of Microsoft Jumbo Office Suite will fall.

The cases where refunds are issued for Windows in accordance
with Microsoft's stated policy are exceptional.  It should be
known that they were required by regulators to add this clause
and both Microsoft and its partners, as a practice, disregard the
clause or misrepresent its meaning whenever it suits their
interests.

While the vendors have mixed feelings on selling desktops with
no OS, they put on a much more united front when it comes to
laptops.  According to practice, the laptop and the Windows license
are one and the same.  There is simply no OS-less laptop option.
Pure-Linux laptop vendors tell me that even at the wholesale level
it is impossible for them to buy their stock without paying a per-unit
cost for a Windows license.  Paraphrasing one of them "Unfortunately,
you're paying for it whether you want it or not.  I can offer to
ship it either without Windows or install it to a separate partition."

Currently there are no administrative processes in place that will
allow a consumer to bring these vendors into compliance.  They must
pursue legal action and this is frustrated by further legal manuevering
from the vendor's terms of sale which require disputes to be resolved
through arbitration.

-- 
Michael Bacarella <mbac at netgraft.com>

1-646-641-8662 (cell)

545 Eighth Avenue * Suite 401
New York, NY 10018

http://michael.bacarella.com/
http://netgraft.com/