Re: [Hampshire] Microsoft Vista Refund - Information Sought

Paul Stimpson wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This seems like an abusive policy to me. A two way trip in the UK on the best value courier I use is going to cost more than £20. Depending on which courier Acer use for return this could be even more.
>
> Forcing customers to return systems at their own expense just feels like a way oh honouring the wording of the EULA whilst trying to discourage us from exercising our rights by making it cheaper for us to throw it away than return it for a refund.
>
> I've heard other manufacturers allow you to remove the OS yourself and that some even don't ask you to return the COA. (File under too much trouble for them to administer). I believe Dell may be one of these but have never tried it.
>
> Cheers,
> Paul.
>
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>

I have to agree and I pointed that out the Acer guy. I also asked if it
was possible to buy bare Acer laptops, to which he had no answer being a
drone. I pondered this on the Dorset list:

You have to wonder why, in this age of DVDs and USB memory cards and
memory sticks, manufacturers can't ship their wares with MS operating
systems in a sealed bag on bootable media which you can then send back,
seal intact for a refund, or install (either yourself or by request at
the point of purchase).

I appreciate that there are complexities around this that might require
a little thought and may challenge complete beginners, but when you look
at how easy it is to install most Linux distros these days, it wouldn't
take a huge amount of work to bring about in such a way that it is easy
to accomplish and MS licensing issues are handled to their satisfaction,
surely?


Anyone got any thoughts on that, other than the evils of cross-posting? ;-)

Obviously MS aren't going to be too keen on account of it effectively
breaking the covert monopoly enforced by OEM licensing and the
incentives* offered to hardware manufacturers.

Sean

* i.e. the incentive of /not/ being hit with a big stick by MS

--
The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
Frank Zappa