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Get your Windows license refund

en.refund4freedom.org

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Re: Get your Windows license refund

#111

Post by vel0city »

bodge5000 wrote: post #109

I havent used Windows in years so maybe somethings changed, and far be it from me to get in the way of someone taking them down a peg, but this bit confused me: > The vendors do not remove the Windows license, and you must pay the entire price, even if you do not want to use this system. Surely if you don't want Windows you just boot from a usb drive and install another OS without having to pay them anything. Its not…

Its not like you enter in your payment information to buy the Windows license after you buy the computer. That's the thing. You inherently already bought the license when you bought the computer, it was just another item in the overall package like the RAM and the SSD and the battery and what not.

So even if on the first boot you just immediately booted into whatever other operating system, you still paid for Windows.

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#112

Post by arcastroe »

bodge5000 wrote: post #109

I havent used Windows in years so maybe somethings changed, and far be it from me to get in the way of someone taking them down a peg, but this bit confused me: > The vendors do not remove the Windows license, and you must pay the entire price, even if you do not want to use this system. Surely if you don't want Windows you just boot from a usb drive and install another OS without having to pay them anything. Its not…

I believe they are referring to preinstalled Windows as an OS when you buy a PC. The PC price itself already includes the price of the Windows License. And the article advocates requesting refunds if you intend to install a different OS.

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#113

Post by feelamee »

cpa wrote: post #13
p2detar wrote: post #3

I finally found the time this year to replace my parents' old T-series Thinkpad Windows 8 with Linux Mint. I also upgraded the hard drive to an SSD. The result - a 15 years old machine i5 Dual Core with 6GB RAM now boots and works extremely fast as compared to before. Also with USB and wireless mouse support out of the box - I didn't have to touch anything. Sorry, if this offends anyone, but Windows (non-Server editi…

In my experience, unfortunately it’s fast until you need to use a webapp (Gmail, FB, Netflix…). For document editing or code it’s pretty awesome but a sluggish web is a deal breaker for many these days.

> but a sluggish web is a deal breaker for many these days.

are serious? web is sluggish anywhere... and this is a common "trend"

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#114

Post by vel0city »

supernikio2 wrote: post #105
gwbas1c wrote: post #76

Seems like it makes a lot more sense to buy a computer without Windows preinstalled. > Device manufacturers and vendors should not impose an operating system or software on consumers This is not a reasonable expectation. Hardware needs software to work, and software runs on an operating system. You can't expect every vendor in the work of every kind of product you can buy to offer you a slightly different version tha…

The key word here is "impose". I can imagine a world where at time of purchase you would select which OS (if any) you would want pre-installed on the machine. Even a checkbox for Yes/No Windows would be an improvement.

And then people go to Best Buy and see there's a model on the shelf that looks to be the exact same but its $60 cheaper, so they buy that and then realize they have no idea what to do with it so I guess this brand of laptop just sucks, Macs don't have that problem I guess I'll just buy those instead.

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#115

Post by CodesInChaos »

blaze33 wrote: post #75

In 2011 I got a 143€ reimbursement from Dell for an E6420 laptop that I had bought for 910€. Maybe I got lucky but I called the customer service, told the lady I did not agree with the Windows license terms, fully ready to argue my case and she just went "oh, ok, let me just edit a new invoice and wire you the money for Windows plus the Antivirus plus etc.". Which was extra nice because I had no idea I was in fact ch…

> Which was extra nice because I had no idea I was in fact charged for the bloatware, but I still got ~50€ for it on top of the OS license price.

I actually expected those to pay for being pre-installed, offsetting or possibly even exceeding the cost of the Windows license.

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#116

Post by davsti4 »

AnodicElegy wrote: post #108

I switched two of my PCs over to Linux Mint last week. The automatic driver support is shockingly good compared to when I last installed Linux on a PC (almost 20 years ago). It even found a driver for the random no-name USB wireless receiver I bought on Amazon, whereas I had to install that driver manually on Windows. Part of my motivation was that one of the machines was still on Windows 7, but more than anything it…

I switched my primary PC over in 1999, my secondary over in 2001, and haven't looked back since.

You're in a better place today than back then as finding software solutions to common problems is much easier now.

For other OS needs, just virtualize. I started off using VMware Workstation, after a decade (or so) transitioned to Virtualbox, and now today, virt-manager (qemu, kvm through libvirt).

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#117

Post by vel0city »

fwipsy wrote: post #66
kqp wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume that? I’m genuinely asking. I’m aware of big companies generally paying lower rates for things, but I believe that’s usually driven by the increased leverage a big buyer has, while Asus has absolutely no leverage, if they switch to Linux today they’ll be out of business tomorrow. It certainly costs MS less to deal with one professional org than a million flaky individuals, but price is determined by…

You can get a new Windows 11 laptop on Amazon for ~$200. If they're paying retail cost ($140) for the license, over half that is going to Microsoft. I think most people would much rather buy the equivalent Chromebook for $70. In fact, the equivalent Chromebook costs about the same.

Retail licenses are transferrable, OEM/OEI licenses aren't and are tied to that specific hardware.

Win 11 Pro OEI, $149

https://www.microcenter.com/product/643566/microsoft-windows...

Win 11 Pro Retail/FPP, $199

https://www.microcenter.com/product/669901/microsoft-windows...

I'm certain OEMs are getting volume discounts, and Microcenter is adding their own margin as well.

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#118

Post by toyg »

wellthisisgreat wrote: post #61
Tallain wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched to Mint and never looked back. It's one of the easiest transitions IMO, and if you really miss Windows, you can bring the aesthetic with you: https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/Chicago95

I’m really curious how many people run this kind of skin unironically. Unironically here means they’d actively seek out to make their desktop OS look… 30 years old? No shade at all, just curios. I def have all kinds of warm feelings towards the moment I first installed W ‘95 but wow I can’t imagine having that UX as my daily OS today.

If I were to transition my 70yo mum from Windows to Linux, the first thing I'd do would be to add such a skin. Yes, there will be differences, but the value of re-injecting some familiarity with the fundamentals cannot be underestimated. She already hates anything post-XP and would probably be delighted to go back.

Re: Get your Windows license refund

#119

Post by jijijijij »

deadbunny wrote: post #82
gwbas1c wrote: post #76

Seems like it makes a lot more sense to buy a computer without Windows preinstalled. > Device manufacturers and vendors should not impose an operating system or software on consumers This is not a reasonable expectation. Hardware needs software to work, and software runs on an operating system. You can't expect every vendor in the work of every kind of product you can buy to offer you a slightly different version tha…

this has only been somewhat possoble for laptops within the last decade even then you're limited to a narrower selection of models.

Also these models are usually expensive. Cheap/low-end models don't have this option ever. Depending on the financial situation, the "just buy the alternative" may not be possible. Some people here need to touch grass, this campaign is probably not particularly concerned with their configured 2k+ dev machines.
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