Dell customer gets Windows refund

[CyberNerd]

Dell customer gets Windows refund

Thanks to Dell, one UK Linux user has succeeded in the perennial quest to buy and use a laptop without paying for an unused bundled OS.

 

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/110706-dell-windows.html

 

Cool, I got a Dell server running Centos and a 2k3 license somewhere :0

[Disease]

Cool a whole £42 pounds saving! He could go out and by a decent operating system with that, oh wait he has just given it back!

[Geoff]

Could a school claim back windows license money from Dell if they have a MS Schools agreement and had bought Dell machines with (for example) XP Home on? Just a thought.

[limbo]

I am pretty sure not - I remember somebody telling me that the Schools Agreement assumes that the original PC covered by it came with a Microsoft OS of some kind.

[webman]

Why waste a whole £42 on something he didn't use? Good for him I say

[NetworkGeezer]

Cool a whole £42 pounds saving! He could go out and by a decent operating system with that, oh wait he has just given it back!

 

Surely it's all about choice. If you don't *nix then fine don't use it but why should other people have to pay for something they don't want to use?

 

Isn't a free market about giving customers what they want so long as they are willing to pay for it?

[webman]

Ok Disease, say you bought a computer and it had SuperOS on it, but you wanted to run FreeOS on it. I'm sure you'd want a refund on SuperOS as it was included in the price you paid, but not wanted.

[Disease]

Ok Disease, say you bought a computer and it had SuperOS on it, but you wanted to run FreeOS on it. I'm sure you'd want a refund on SuperOS as it was included in the price you paid, but not wanted.

 

Actualy if you want my honest answer, no I would not I would just install what I wanted on the machine and be done with it. I could not be doing with the hassle of trying to claim back £42, in real terms its prabably cost him more than £42 to get the £42 back.

 

Flip side of it for you.

 

I buy a Tassimo coffe machine for £99.99, the machine comes with 4 sets of coffe with it

 

1 Dark

1 Light

1Medium

1 Cuppaccino

 

I for aguements sake do not like Cuppacinno should I therefore be entitled to £3.27 back which is the retail cost of the supplied Cuppacinno packs?

 

 

No I should not.

[webman]

We're talking computing not coffee machines. You sound like the sort of person who obviously has money to burn.

[Geoff]

Equating computer software to physical goods makes no sense.

[Disease]

Ofcourse it does, money is money.

 

You don't like the example of the coffee machine because it shows up your obvious prejudice to everything MS, as someone else said in another thread, people would not bash MS if their software was free.

 

So in point my example is valid because money is money and goods are goods, how much and what it is is irrelevant.

[Disease]

Computing Example then

 

I get works with a new pc but I use office should I get my money back?

 

It comes with symantec firewall on it but windows has its own or I have zonealarm.....can I have my money back please.

 

It comes with a 56k modem,,,,,can I have my money back please.

 

No.

[CyberNerd]

If you had actually read the fine article (which I know you haven't because yoy keep stating £42, yet TFA clearly states £55.23)

It does actually say that there is a refund clause in the MS EULA. Dell are simply honoring that.

[webman]

Yes, Disease, I probably would because works is as much use as a chocolate teapot. But then again I don't buy from OEMs (build my own and only choose what I need) so wouldn't encounter this problem anyway

[Disease]

We build here as well I was just using that as an example.

 

Cybernerd : read the article, it says Linux Man which obviously elevates the subject to Linux vs Windows : Win 1 for Linux because if it was just about the fact that he got his money back why make a point about him being a Linux man. when that has no bearing on it if it was just about the great fact that MS allow you to get a refund of their pre installed OS?

[CyberNerd]

YOU AGREE TO BE

 

BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS EULA BY

 

INSTALLING, COPYING, OR OTHERWISE USING THE

 

PRODUCT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT INSTALL

 

OR USE THE PRODUCT; YOU MAY RETURN IT TO YOUR

 

PLACE OF PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND.

[Disease]

Dell customer gets Windows refund

Thanks to Dell, one UK Linux user has succeeded in the perennial quest to buy and use a laptop without paying for an unused bundled OS.

 

[webman]

Would you be making such a fuss about this post if the article had referred to him as a Mac user or a just a computer user? Probably not.

[CyberNerd]

It has no bearing on what operating system he switched to, and frankly I don't care, I simply copy and pasted the first paragraph of TFA.

If you have issue with the article, go hassle the author.

 

Campaigners have been asking software vendors to do this for some time, most refuse. IMO this is the breakthrough -regardless of what OS he eventually installed.

[Geoff]

They refuse because they are bound by their OEM agreement with Microsoft IIRC.

[NetworkGeezer]

Precisely Geoff. What Disease is failing to acknowledge is that it's vendor lock in that's the problem. The complaint would be the same if it was SUN or Apple which were the monoply. Some plucky startup called Microsoft would be complaining about barriers to entry created by establised players.

[limbo]

Ok - lets say I want to buy a MAC but do not want to run Mac OS - oh, actually, that argument is a bit of a cul-de-sac isn't it!

[CyberNerd]

not really, Linux will run on it. Not read the Mac EULA though - maybe they don't offer refund?

[ThatBoringBloke]

Bloke bought Computer, bloke already has a copy of the OS he wanted to run, bloke asked supplier if he could get a refund for the OS that came with the machine since he already has a copy, supplier said ok.

 

End of.

 

It matters not what OS the bloke was going to run, he simply wanted to buy the hardware of the supplier and not the software. Dell supply servers with no OS / SW, so why not desktops?

[Geoff]

Minor nit pick. It was a laptop not a desktop machine. Dell already supply desktops with Linux/FreeDos/no OS.