Anyone Ever Declined the Windows EULA?

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/29/lenovo-imposes-nda-vista-refund

Its been happening more and more frequently. People purchase a machine that came with Windows on it but didnt want/need it. Call up your manufacturer Rep and tell them you didnt agree to the MS EULA Agreement and ask for a refund for the OS. I myself work in the IT field as a Network Engineer and have more than one unused copies of Windows yet Lenovo forces me to buy Vista with my new T400. I downgraded it to Vista Home Basic but its still software that I didnt want or need. Anyone else try this?

 

He bought the laptop without realizing it had Vista?

 

no, he bought a computer and dont want to use the vista preinstalled

 

I dont think we have the option of choosing any other OS thn Vista these days, microsoft is probably forcing the laptop manufacturers to force the customer to have vista, so ur chance of getting a refund has no possibilities. I have tried tht last yr with HP and they said no straightaway.

 

there is been reports of ppl getting refounds, and u can actually get laps with linux... check dell or the small asus.. u can even get em without the OS, check xoticpc and the sagers...

 

From what I've seen the linux laptops and desktops cost more than the same model with windows xp/vista

 

The last generation of ThinkPads had the option for Linux. I'm pretty sure a Linux alternative will be available for the Tx00 series.

 

thats cuz all the bloatware that comes with windows actually makes it cheaper for the consumer (or rather, when they take it out they force manufacturers to charge more)

 

Would it be better if the buyer negociated the terms before taking possession of the merhandise? I mean by agreeing to pay for what it says on the delivery amounted to a contract between buyers and sellers. If the seller delivers less than what it supposed to be, then it is "fraud", the buyer cannot just take the delivery and requests for refund at market value, picking out the parts that it does not want.

Personally i dont like taking a pre-loaded system if i can avoid it, but claiming a refund in this case is totally non-sense. It better to take the licence out (his coa) before activation and to resell it himself. Lenovo had every right to make him sign the papers because he took the goods. If the key happens to be "floating" out there, then Lenovo can be sued for selling pirate software.

cheers ...

 

I have never declined the Windows EULA because I have never purchased anything with it pre-loaded that I did not intend to purchse.

 

I read an article awhile back about someone who did manage to get a Vista refund from HP, but it took a long time. Never actually tried it myself, as I've never had any extra operating systems lying around.

 

I read the same or a similar article. It sounded like he just harassed them so much they gave him money to shut up.

In the case of the article I read the guy got a check for $200, but I doubt it's common to get that much if anything. HP certainly didn't pay $200 for one OEM copy of Windows.

 

There are some boutiques that offer a no OS option. But the main retailers and PC/laptop makers bank on the fact that 99% want and need an OS.

 

Dell also offers No OS (technically FreeDOS) or Ubuntu options on some of their machines... and I wouldn't really call Dell a boutique. But yeah, I guess technically those are offered with free OSes, not no OS.

 

A lot of new laptop`s only have Vista driver`s!!!

 

Are these corporate or higher level machines? And what I meant by boutique is places like Xoticpc and such. But as far as manufactures offer laptops to SOHO and lower consumers I have yet to see a brand offer a no OS option (and yes im VERY open to being proved wrong ).

 

But the great thing with the linux community is that open source devs come out with all sorts of drivers for common hardware.

 

Both. As I mentioned it's a free OS, not no OS. But since it's free you can just throw it away, no harm done.

Dell Home Ubuntu systems: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
Dell Home FreeDOS systems: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/e510_nseries?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

(Dell's business lines also offer some models with free OSes.)

But I'm not trying to discount the boutiques at all... they're worth considering too. I just wanted to point out that Dell is another option, if you don't want to pay for an OS license.