Jeremy Jongepier wrote: Didn't MS announce some time ago that you now had to go through MS for the Windows refund - or have I got that turned around? -- David gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community

On 02/17/2011 10:53 AM, Jeremy Jongepier wrote: Dug up the conversation with HP. They told me they couldn't give me a refund because the license is indissolubly linked to the notebook (which is tying). They proposed I should contact Microsoft but added I would probably get the same answer. I didn't contact Microsoft, I think because they only have paid phone lines. So I didn't take it any further. When I bought my netbook I also contacted the manufacturer (Packard Bell). They told me I was indeed entitled for a refund but guess what, it would mean I would have to send my netbook to the support desk AT MY OWN EXPENSES (which would be about €20,-) and that the refund would be approx. €40,-. Of course I could've hold on to my principles and sent back my netbook but rumors were it would take weeks before I would get it back. So I didn't send it back and wiped Windows off myself which took me like 10 seconds with gparted. But I'll look up the article from the Dutch consumer group. they did some further investigating and came up with a list of the most important manufacturers and what their policy is towards refunding unaccepted Windows licenses. Best, Jeremy

Ciao Renato, Renato wrote: Yes. Did you see from the same site someone won a court case about this? http://avvertenze.aduc.it/rimborsowindows/articolo/rimborso+windows+storia+… But it looks like it won't be so easy. For my last laptop I ended up going to the nearest 'media-store' and getting a preinstalled vista laptop, trash vista and install linux. It would be nice to get os-less machines easily though. Lorenzo

On 02/18/2011 07:21 AM, Renato wrote: I thought it's only if you /boot/ the machine into preinstalled windows that means you accepted the licence. There's one guy in Australia who got a refund for returning Windows that came with his Toshiba laptop (back in 1998). The story: http://b4.vu/g/toshiba.html The proof: http://b4.vu/g/toshiba-cheque.jpg

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Jeremy Jongepier <jeremy(a)autostatic.com>wrote;wrote: thanks. In the meantime I've found this italian blog post which lists some places to get linux-laptops in italy: http://www.imaniacs.it/2009/05/01/come-risparmiare-sui-notebook-acquistando… I've also mailed Lenovo and they told me that in Italy personalization (ram,hd etc.) and no-os aren't an option. renato

I thought Lenovo was the IBM/Sino coproduction deal for their Thinkpads, finally sold off lock stock and barrel to the chinese? Perhaps a little wide of the mark, but then also a long way wide of Italy. Nick

On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 12:00:08AM +0100, Renato wrote: I dunno. As I get older, I find my memory is getting less and less reliable. It's almost like a hallucinagenic state at times, very freaky. However. I do have a distinct memory of turning over some 2001-2002-era IBM ThinkPads to open them up many times-- I owned two of them at the time, one for spare parts--, and seeing "Made in Italy" stamped on the bottom of them. My apologies if Alzheimer's has set it very early on me. -ken

2011/2/17 Ken Restivo <ken(a)restivo.org>rg>: Thinkpad were an IBM model, then they sold to LeNovo, that is Chinese. They probably were manufactured in China before anyway, and they still have a good quality. And that's why the other LeNovo models can be not so good, they come from a different site.