Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 13:42:06 -0800 From: Josef Grosch <jgrosch@mooseriver.com> To: Gary Kline <kline@tera.com> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Linux tactics Message-ID: <19990213134206.A10635@mooseriver.com> In-Reply-To: <199902132126.NAA14285@athena.tera.com>; from Gary Kline on Sat, Feb 13, 1999 at 01:26:28PM -0800 References: <199902132126.NAA14285@athena.tera.com>
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*NOTE* This has been moved to chat.
BAFUG (Bay Area FreeBSD Users Group) is also involved in this. BAFUG has
been coordating the Linux people here in the Bay Area to pull this
off. More details can be found at our web site;
http://www.bafug.org/RefundDay.html
Josef
On Sat, Feb 13, 1999 at 01:26:28PM -0800, Gary Kline wrote:
>
> Sorry if this would be better considered for -chat or
> -advocacy; given the many strengths of *BSD, I don't
> think posting this to questions is a waste of bandwidth.
> Esp'ly not if it inspires any of our FreeBSD groups to
> copy our brother freeunix-lovers tactics.
>
> I build both of my PC's from nearly from scratch, so didn't
> have to pay for DOS/Win; but when I bought my newer P90 box
> it _did_ come with DOS. ---This from a cheap mail-order
> place, which only proves the total pervasiveness of M$.
>
> ...
>
> gary kline
>
>
> Encl: edited news clipping.
>
> SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A small but growing group of computer owners
> who would rather use the upstart Linux operating system than Windows are
> demanding refunds for the built-in Microsoft software they do not use.
>
> In an initiative called Windows Refund Day, a grass-roots group plans to
> converge on one of Microsoft Corp.'s Silicon Valley offices Monday in
> the hopes of getting refunds.
>
> The refund movement is gaining widespread support among users of Linux,
> a version of the multi-user UNIX operating system designed to run on
> personal computers and server computers based on Intel Corp. chips.
>
> Linux, developed by a Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds in 1991, is
> still maintained by Torvalds and a group of far-flung programmers, and
> given away over the Internet. No company has control of Linux, but a few
> companies now distribute the software for a fee and provide Linux
> service and support.
>
> Windows Refund Day organizers are hoping to glean more attention for the
> alternative operating system, which is becoming more widely used in
> network servers, and to protest against the fact that it is nearly
> impossible to buy a personal computer without Microsoft Windows already
> installed.
>
> All copies of PCs sold with Windows come with an end-user licensing
> agreement that states that, if the user does not agree to the terms of
> the agreement, they can request a refund.
>
> But people who seeks a refund usually find themselves in a Catch-22
> bureaucratic nightmare.
>
> "A lot of people have tried to get their refunds for unused Microsoft
> products in the past and they run into bureaucratic obstacles," said Don
> Marti, an organizer of Windows Refund Day and president of Electric
> Lichen, a Linux marketing company based in San Francisco.
>
> A Microsoft spokesman, Adam Sohn, said that users who do not agree to
> the terms of the licensing agreement should contact their computer
> manufacturer for a refund.
>
> "They might say, 'hey if we sold you the PC and you are not using
> Windows, we don't want to be supporting a PC that is not using
> Windows,"' Sohn said. "Their license expressly states that, if you don't
> agree to the terms, that person should go and contact their OEM
> (original equipment manufacturer) and get instructions for a return and
> a refund."
>
> And the nightmare begins. Most computer makers require the user to bring
> back the whole computer for a refund, not just the software.
>
> Dell Computer Corp., for example, requires the user to send back the
> entire PC to obtain a refund for the whole system within 30 days.
>
> "In our current build-to-order system, an operating system is required
> to build and ship a fully-tested system," said T.J. Reid, a Dell
> spokesman.
>
> Dell will offer customers Linux on servers, if they request it, but Reid
> said it is "extraordinarily rare" for a customer to request an operating
> system other than Windows on a desktop computer.
>
> While the percentage of Linux users on the PC is indeed still a small
> fraction compared to Windows, which dominates the market, International
> Data Corp. recently said Linux is the fastest growing network operating
> system and 1998 server installations were growing at a faster pace than
> Windows NT.
>
> One intrepid individual, an Australian named Geoffrey Bennett, over a
> four-month period argued in e-mails with Toshiba Corp. that the contract
> says he can return the operating system to the manufacturer, not the PC.
>
>
> Bennett was eventually sent a refund of $110 (Australian) by Toshiba and
> he published his saga on the Internet, which has inspired users of other
> alternative operating systems, such as Linux, BeOs, FreeBSD and others.
>
> So what started out as a small grass-roots movement in the San Francisco
> Bay Area for a Windows Refund Day has now attracted the attention of
> other Linux groups around the world.
>
> Web sites in other countries, such as Japan, the Netherlands, France and
> New Zealand, have been created, explaining to users how to seek refunds
> by returning the world's dominant operating system.
>
> Linux users in two areas of Los Angeles and in New York City also plan
> their own refund days Monday, with organized visits to Microsoft offices
> in those regions.
>
> Information posted on the Windows Refund Day Web site
> (www.hugin.imat.com/refund/) explains that all participants must be
> polite but firm as they descend upon Microsoft offices and the purpose
> is not to complain about Microsoft products.
>
> Organizers for the visit to Microsoft's Foster City, Calif. office said
> they expect hundreds of participants, because with the President's Day
> holiday in the U.S., many people with the day off will be able to join.
> Microsoft's offices are going to be open, they said.
>
> "It will be a spectacle in some way. That spectacle will depend on the
> people and the energy that all comes together in that place," said
> Marti.
>
> Larry Augustin, chief executive of VA Research, a privately held systems
> vendor that develops PCs and server computers running Linux, said one of
> his staff plans to drive a truck with a rock band. T-shirts will also be
> given out, perhaps with a Penguin logo, the symbol for Linux because its
> creator Torvalds loves Penguins.
>
> Do the organizers really expect Microsoft to begin writing checks when
> they arrive?
>
> "Microsoft is very good at handling press. I expect them to be prepared
> with something. I don't know what it will be," Augustin said. "It's
> going to be a fun event...regardless what Microsoft does, we will have a
> good time."
>
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--
Josef Grosch | Another day closer to a | FreeBSD 3.0
jgrosch@MooseRiver.com | Micro$oft free world | UNIX for the masses
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