__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Monday 10 July 2006 07:22 \__
> begin oe_protect.scr
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> __/ [ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ] on Saturday 08 July 2006 08:20 \__
>>
>>> Dear Goat,
>>>
>>> Why don't you write a letter to Tradecete and point out the situation
>>> on the Dell web site?
>>> It makes a good point. If you do, be polite and to the point.
>>>
>>> Best wishes, Nessuno
>>
>> I'd second that. It can have true influence. If you need the contact
>> details for the commission, ask David Ferguson. He's been in this
>> newsgroup for a while.
>>
>> The one issue is that you might have to be based in Belgium in order for
>> your letter to be valid (unless, of course, Brussels is merely relevant
>> being the centre of operation for the EU). Also, David is a journalist and
>> he had prior contact, so maybe use his as a mediator to hand in a followup
>> that won'e be overlooked.
>>
>
> It's an EU complaint, but I don't think it matters where you live.
In that case, a fresh complaint can be made to the local consulate (or
whatever relevant body/person) which references David's letter as precedent,
as unsupportive as it may seem. The followup to David's letter indicates
that the vendor has confidence in the choice of the O/S -- a fact that is
quickly falsified by stating The Quick Facts. I suggest you look at
Ballard's message posted 2006/07/09, 21:03. It is long, so I will quote the
relevant bits.
,----[ Rex Ballard: ]
| Microsoft has the additional advantage of maintaining a monopoly
| control of the desktop market. Regardless of what happens after the
| machine is sold, OEMs know that given the choice of purchasing more
| than enough licenses regardless of whether they were actually needed by
| end-users or not, and having too few licenses, with the inability to
| purchase more, and at prices which price the end-product so much higher
| that competitor products that demand would falter, the OEMs negotiate a
| better deal by purchasing far more than they actually need. For
| example, if an OEM expects to sell 10 million PCs, and Microsoft is
| willing to sell him 10 million at $80 per copy, or 15 million at
| $40/copy, purchasing the 15 million copies give a net price of roughly
| $60/copy, which is still superior to the smaller order.
|
| Of course, this quantity discount also gives Microsoft the ability to
| impose some unusual restrictions. For example, Windows must be
| installed on every machine sold. Windows must be the ONLY operating
| system installed on these machines. The OEM is not allowed to make ANY
| alterations to the configuration, including partitions which would
| allow users to install Linux in a separate partition, 3rd party
| software that competes with Microsoft products including Lotus Smart
| Suite, Netscape Communicator, or Open Office/Star Office. The OEM can
| include this software "on the side", and even Linux, but cannot
| preinstall the software.
|
| Failure to comply with any of these terms could result in automatic
| revokation of licenses, which meant that the OEM was back into the
| state of "All Or Nothing", with the option of renegotiating for
| licenses (which may involve additional cash payments and nearly always
| involved additianal restrictions).
`----
Best wishes,
Roy
--
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