Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 11:52:13 -0500 From: Drew Baxter <netmonger@genesis.ispace.com> To: Peter Brevik <pb@ludd.luth.se>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: M$ refund.. Message-ID: <4.1.19990121114719.00c9c8f0@genesis.ispace.com> In-Reply-To: <199901211255.NAA26361@father.ludd.luth.se>
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At 01:54 PM 1/21/99 +0100, Peter Brevik wrote: > > About getting refund on M$ os bundling. > >As I understood when you buy from US, M$ os get supplied, and you have to pay >for it.. however, I have always bought my computer in parts in Sweden. >And no one ever forced me to buy M$ os with it. Is this not an option in US ? > > /Peter This is true for cases when you buy your machines in parts. My machine was built from high-grade Supermicro equipment, and it did not come with Windows. There are many companies here (I.e. Dell, Gateway 2000, etc) that have a binding contract with Microsoft. You have to have A copy of Windows come with the machine. Gateway 2000 offers an upgrade to NT 4 Workstation for something around 99 dollars during initial order of your machine. Microsoft locks in companies with cheaper rates on Windows bulk packs and licenses in many cases. Gateway 2000 is not able to ship their machines with Linux or with no operating system because of this bind with Microsoft. This in itself could vastly affect the possiblity of Alternative OSes (FreeBSD, et al) being available with a NEW PC. Microsoft sees the threat that Free UNIXes have proposed thusfar and is not likely to make it easy to move forward more. I think it's intriguing that something free is getting more media play lately than Microsoft paying for ad spots and getting into legal trouble. :-) --- Drew "Droobie" Baxter Network Admin/Professional Computer Nerd(TM) OneEX: The OneNetwork Exchange, Bangor Maine USA http://www.droo.orland.me.us PGP ID: 409A1F7D To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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