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

[Jay Sulzberger]

On Mon, 8 Jan 2007, Michael Bacarella wrote:

> 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>

I believe the Microsoft Technical Compliance Committee and the
FTC will act when we ask.

http://www.thetc.org
http://www.ftc.gov

oo--JS.


>
> 1-646-641-8662 (cell)
>
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>
> http://michael.bacarella.com/
> http://netgraft.com/
>
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