The French are a strange lot, sometimes I think they are like us, and other times I’ve no idea how to define them. Today however, I’m liking the way they think. Microsoft is under fire in French courts for not keeping their end of the bargain with regards to OEM license agreements.
When buying a new PC, you are probably going to get forced to get a copy of Windows with it, and in the license agreement they say that if you don’t want the copy of Windows, you should return it for a refund (or words to that affect). Well several people have tried to get this “refund” with varying levels of success. In particular the amount of the refund should they decide to give you one may or may not match what you actually paid for it. In short, some French groups are saying “selling Windows OS with hardware violates a minimum of three laws intended to provide consumer protection.”
Personally I think using Windows at all should be a crime, but that’s just me. 🙂 Microsoft were busted not long ago for their unhealthy OEM strategy where manufacturers were “Encouraged” to only sell machines with Windows installed. It is nice indeed to see them reap some of the rewards for their past questionable behaviour.
Sadly, this has created a rather interesting situation with the manufacturers, and several are apparently changing their policies whereby if you don’t agree to all the software licences they provide, then you must ship the entire PC back to the manufacturers for a refund. Sometimes that refund is at your cost. (For example shipping, and other expenses.) Companies said to be changing their policies are: Acer, Dell, IBM and Fujitsu Siemens. It seems that everywhere I look nowadays, governments and big companies are reducing our rights, if it isn’t the record industry it’s the movie companies, or new government laws. I have less rights now, then I did 10 years ago with my VHS video recorder and my old copy of DRDOS. Where will be be in another 10 years?
The Inquirer has covered this in some detail here.
Franki
