[News] EU Could Display Price of Windows on Boxes, for Refunds
Roy Schestowitz
Hash: SHA1
Displaying the price of Microsoft Windows to be decided by the ECJ?
,----[ Quote ]
| Most laptops are sold without the price of Microsoft Windows displayed before
| the consumer buys it. This is an issue if you want to use another piece of
| software on your laptop, such another version of Microsoft Windows, or Linux,
| FreeBSD, OpenBSD or OpenSolaris. In an answer given by Commissioner Kuneva to
| Belgian MEP Saïd El Khadraoui (PSE), there is a mention of two decisions
| pending at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) related to this issue...
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http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-86599/displaying-the-price-of-microsoft-windows-to-be-decided-by-the-ecj
http://tinyurl.com/4vgop5
Recent:
How to get a refund for Windows in Poland?
,----[ Quote ]
| Reading the Slashdot article about Dave Mitchell from Great Britain, who got
| a 47 pounds refund from Dell for returning his copy of Windows was an
| inspiration for me to check, if it is possible in Poland, too. This is my
| success story.
|
| I am a 3rd year’s student of Information Technologies at the University of
| Lodz. In September 2007 I’ve purchased the Lenovo ThinkPad R61i laptop
| from “Poltronics” company in Lodz, for 3355 PLN. From the very beginning I’ve
| been informing the seller, that I won’t be using Windows, because it is Linux
| I work on. In return, I was told, that they cannot sell me the laptop without
| the Windows OS pre-installed. At that point in time, Lenovo didn’t offer the
| ThinkPads with Linux, as they are now (with SLED) on the (more expensive)
| ThinkPads T-series.
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http://polishlinux.org/linux/how-to-get-a-refund-for-windows-in-poland/
AbcLinuxu.cz Reimbursed User for MS Windows License from Lenovo ČR
,----[ Quote ]
| The biggest Czech Linux portal, AbcLinuxu.cz, along with its operator, the
| Stickfish company, reimbursed a user for a MS Windows Vista Business OEM
| license in Lenovo ČR's stead. The paid amount is the same the manufacturer
| offered for returning the license in accordance with the EULA of the Windows
| Vista Business OEM software that was supplied with the Lenovo laptop.
| However, Lenovo ČR required a non-disclosure agreement to be signed that
| would cover the entire negotiations with the company and its results for the
| compensation to be effected.
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Related:
Microfraud?
,----[ Quote ]
| THE ALLEGATIONS WERE shocking: For years, Microsoft has systematically
| distorted its profit figures in an effort to consistently beat Wall Street
| expectations and keep its stock price steadily rising. The false reports
| would violate SEC regulations, and amount to outright fraud.
|
| More shocking was the source of the allegations: Microsoft's chief of
| internal audits, Charlie Pancerzewski, who reported directly to the company's
| chief financial officer.
|
| Most shocking of all was what happened to Pancerzewski when he reported the
| suspicious bookkeeping to his supervisors, Microsoft CFO Mike Brown and chief
| operating officer Bob Herbold, in the spring of 1995. Soon afterward,
| Pancerzewski—who for nearly five years had received stellar performance
| evaluations—received his first-ever unsatisfactory one, and was eventually
| forced to resign.
|
| Two months ago, Microsoft quietly settled a lawsuit containing these
| allegations, filed in 1997 by Pancerzewski under the Whistleblowers
| Protection Act. The auditor claimed he was wrongfully terminated after
| telling his supervisors that Microsoft might be breaking securities and tax
| laws. The lawsuit made its tortuous way through several rounds of pretrial
| motions until last fall, when US District Judge Carolyn Dimmick denied
| Microsoft's final plea for summary judgment, finding credible evidence that
| Microsoft may have violated SEC rules, as Pancerzewski alleged. Shortly
| thereafter, Microsoft and Pancerzewski settled out of court. Terms of the
| agreement were sealed, but one source who claims familiarity with the case
| says that Microsoft paid Pancerzewski $4 million.
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http://web.archive.org/web/20070308032343rn_2/www.seattleweekly.com/1999-01-06/news/microfraud.php
Feeling the heat at Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| If I ask you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?
|
| Ballmer: Open...Linux. I don't want to say open source. Linux, certainly have
| to go with that.
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http://www.news.com/Feeling-the-heat-at-Microsoft/2008-1012_3-6232458.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc
Did Microsoft want to 'whack' Dell over its Linux dealings?
Dell's secret Linux fling
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/09/dell_linux_china/
Microsoft 'killed Dell Linux' - States
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/19/microsoft_killed_dell_linux_states/
,----[ Quote ]
| From: Joachim Kempin
| Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 9:43 AM
| To: Bill Gates; Pete Higgings (Xenix); Nathan Myhrvold; Brad Silberberg
| (Xenix); John Ludwig; Russel Siegeirman (Xenix); Steve Ballmer;
| pau...@EXCHANGE.MICROSOFT.com
| Subject: RE: AOL
|
| are you suggesting we should put them in our box? May be all of them?
| Not a bad idea - but the OEMs might not be too hapy about it. They are
| loosing their $$?
| P they are not in compliance. Compaq
| truely pisses me off.
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http://edge-op.org/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/122106/PLEX0_2455.pdf
Microsoft Shuts Down Linux 10 Years Ago Says Iowa Attorne
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| Going back now to as early as 1998, Microsoft starts to realize that
| Linux might pose a possible threat, and Vinod Valloppillil, who is
| a program manager at Microsoft, is asked by Mr. Allchin, Jim Allchin,
| to analyze potential strategies for combatting open-source software,
| and specifically Linux.
| His memos are leaked to the press in April -- I beg your pardon --
| in October of 1998 and become known as the Halloween documents.
| And the evidence will be that Microsoft uses its influence in the
| OEM channel, the computer manufacture channel, to make sure that
| end users have a difficult time buying PCs with Linux preinstalled.
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Microsoft's Dirty OEM-Secret
,----[ Quote ]
| They are, in short the secret to Microsoft's success. And the word
| secret is to be taken quite literally: No OEM may talk about the
| contents of his contract, or he will lose his license, and (assumption)
| likely be sued for breach of contract as well.
`----
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/10/23/13219/110
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nes...@wigner.berkeley.edu
wrote:
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>
> Displaying the price of Microsoft Windows to be decided by the ECJ?
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Most laptops are sold without the price of Microsoft Windows displayed before
> | the consumer buys it. This is an issue if you want to use another piece of
> | software on your laptop, such another version of Microsoft Windows, or Linux,
> | FreeBSD, OpenBSD or OpenSolaris. In an answer given by Commissioner Kuneva to
> | Belgian MEP Saïd El Khadraoui (PSE), there is a mention of two decisions
> | pending at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) related to this issue...
> `----
>
Don't worry---teams of lawyers with suitcases full of cash are rushing
to Brussels as we speak. Before you know it, t he ECJ will be filled
with Microsoft lackeys.
Roy Schestowitz
Hash: SHA1
____/ nes...@wigner.berkeley.edu on Wednesday 24 September 2008 15:52 : \____
So you already know, eh?
Just yesterday:
Microsoft recycles its lobby platform "Voices for Innovation" to lobby against
Open Source software
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft recycles its lobby platform "Voices for Innovation" to lobby
| against Open Source software in the European Parliament systems. Over the
| past few weeks radical elements in the open source community have intensified
| their efforts in the European Parliament.
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- --
"There is such an overvaluation of technology stocks that it is absurd. I would
include our stock in that category. It is bad for the long-term worth of the
economy."
--Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO
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