LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Jeremy Ervine <omegasys@adam.com.au>
  To  : linux <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 01:06:14 +1030

RE: Buying a workstation

$40,000 .... sounds like a bit of b.s. !

I've been retailing PC's/Laptops for the past year ... and I have never come
across any law stating "an operating system must be supplied with each new
system sold". This law is fictitious, it sounds like the retailer was trying
to get some extra $$$, or was greatly mis-informed. To have a law to supply
Micrososft Software with anynew computer is almost like saying ... by law
you must give money to Bill Gates even if you choose not to use his product,
which obviously a great number of people are now doing (for obvious
reasons). I quite often supply brand new computer systems with absoulely no
software installed with them to various clients for various reasons, and to
make a law agains this is almost insane. Many people already own licenced
copies of software, or wish to use an alternative operating system to the
horrible "Micro$oft" products, and often in may cases, a number of companies
who have purchased systems own bulk software licenses and download a
pre-setup image of their desired operating system from their local network
server.

Cheers,
Jeremy

ps . Alan, if your win95 is still in all it's plastic wrapping, i'd be happy
to buy it off you to sell to the next (unfortunate) person who wants to buy
a copy of win95.


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Kennington [mailto:akenning@dog.topology.org]
Sent: Wednesday, 26 January 2000 10:30 AM
To: Nick
Cc: Alan Kennington; LinuxSA
Subject: Re: Buying a workstation


On this topic, a couple of months ago,
I bought a laptop, and was handed over a copy of
windows 95, which I said I didn't need.
It was also installed on this second-hand laptop
already.
They guy told me he had to give me an OS,
because otherwise he would get a $40,000 fine or
something.
He said I could come in and spend 3 hours installing
linux in his shop if I liked.
But he said that there was a presumption that
anyone who did not have a copy of an MS OS
certificate was going to use a pirate copy of
an MS OS.

I.e. there is a presumption of intent to steal, if you
don't buy an MS OS certificate.
So now I have a daggy old $50 wind95 OS
in an unopened packet at home, and MS has $50.

Despite Geoffrey's world-famous pioneering
tour de force (which filled up space
in newspapers which politicians would die for),
the practice is still that
computer vendors, even second-hand,
are intimidated by a kind of
mafia-like operation into hadning over money
for stuff that people don't want.

It's a bit like having to hand over money for
a crate of Coke every time you ahve a party,
because you need to have some
fizzy drink in the summer, and Coke is the dominant
vendor, and if you don't buy any, then
it is presumed that you will steal some Coke from
somewhere for your party.

Cheers,
Alan Kennington.

PS.  The parties referred to in this
e-mail are entirely fictitious, and do not
represent any real-life company or organisation.
Any resemblance to any person or compnay is entierely
coincidental and unintentional, and no liability is
assumed for any harm arising fromt he reading
of this e-mail.

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