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1999-01-25
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MAIN SITES:
U.S. v. Microsoft 1995 Consent Decree
http://law.tqn.com/library/blconsent.htm
Settlement agreement between Microsoft and US DOJ (Department of Justice).
Bans Microsoft from signing OEMs to per-CPU licensing used previously,
as being a restraint of trade. Allows "per-model" software licensing
that apply in all cases that follow. For example, to get competitive
Windows 95 pricing, Toshiba would have had to agree that all units of
its Satellite Pro laptops must be sold with that OS.
Donna's Refund -- January 1997
http://www.niestu.com/advocacy/win95-refund.html
Earliest recorded Windows refund story, that of "Donna" and Canon Computer.
Geoffrey Bennett's Refund -- February 1998
http://www.netcraft.com.au/geoffrey/toshiba.html
Landmark six-month refund saga with Toshiba Australia, a year after Donna's.
Windows Refund Center -- founded Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1999.
http://www.LinuxMall.com/refund/
Microsoft Windows Refund for the Bay Area -- founded Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1999.
http://linuxmafia.com/refund/
Refund Frequently Asked Questions (Bay Area) -- founded Friday, Jan. 22, 1999.
http://linuxmafia.com/refund/faq/
Windows Refund Newsletter -- founded Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1999.
http://zork.net/refund/
Windows Refund Day Events, Orange County -- founded Thursday, Jan 21, 1999.
http://www.deirdre.org/rebellion.html
Katy Calbreath's EULA Conversation with Gateway -- Monday, Jan 25, 1999.
http://www.zork.net/~katy/eula.txt
THE BONE OF CONTENTION:
Microsoft's Windows 98 End-User License Agreement (EULA).
http://linuxmall.com/refund/eula/online032698.html
The Windows 98 EULA, annotated.
http://www.nl.linux.org/geldterug/license.html
PRESS COVERAGE:
JAN. 20, 1999 - WEDNESDAY:
InfoWorld Electric, Jeff Walsh
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?990120.wcrefund.htm
Describes Geoffrey Bennett story, refund campaign. Quotes an unnamed
Toshiba America rep. as saying refunds for their PCs and bundled OSes
are not separable, despite Bennett's experience.
Sm@rt Reseller / PC Week Online / Ziff-Davis Network News, Mary Jo Foley
http://www.zdnet.com/sr/stories/news/0,4538,2189833,00.html
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,386801,00.html, and
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2189833,00.html
First press sighting of the "loophole" characterisation later picked
up by other reporters: Following Microsoft's own refund instructions is
characterized as "exploiting a little-known loophole". Describes Bennett
story, founding of Windows Refund Center, consumer-group investigation.
Cites major OEM dissatisfaction with Microsoft licensing over many years.
Same story is carried on all three sites, except the ZDNN rendition has a
comment facility that's accumulated an amazing volume of public postings.
Wired News, Chris Oakes
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17442.html
Describes development of Windows Refund Center, inspired by Bennett's
account. Quotes corporate attorney Erwin Shustak as saying that both
Microsoft and OEMs have been dishonoring customers' clear contractual
rights, and expects eventual class-action lawsuits.
Ziff-Davis Network News / ZDnet UK, Lisa Bowman
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/filters/bursts/0,3422,2190412,00.html, and
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/1999/2/ns-6713.html
Concise but detailed piece outlining formation of San Francisco Bay
Area refund initiative.
JAN. 21, 1999 - THURSDAY:
Australian, Nicole Manktelow
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/masthead/theoz/state/4307354.htm
Account of Geoffrey Bennett's six-month refund saga.
CNET's news.com, Stephanie Miles
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31227,00.html
Describes refund campaign; calls the EULA clause a "loophole".
Computable Online (in Dutch)
http://www.computable.nl/artikels/buitlan9/i04jb9ge.htm
Brief account of Geoffrey Bennett's experience and the refund campaign.
ComputerWorld Sweden, H?σkan Ogelid (in "svensk")
http://nyheter.idg.se/display.pl?ID=990121-CS2
Briefly notes creation of the refund campaign.
Linux Today, Dave Whitinger
http://www.linuxtoday.com/stories/2466.html
Details Geoffrey Bennett's story, formation of Windows Refund Center
and Bay Area site, sundry press coverage, and measures being taken
to exclude (and prosecute) any software pirates who try to join.
LinuxWorld, Daniel P. Dern
http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-1999-01/lw-01-refund.html
Excellent roundup of entire story to date. Quotes unnamed Toshiba
America rep. as saying that refunds will not be available at all.
Notes that Windows-free machines are essentially unavailable from
major brands. Quotes consumer groups; mentions small, Linux-oriented
hardware vendors.
Mac Observer
http://www.macobserver.com/news/99/january/990121/windowsrefund.html
Describes Windows Refund Day Web site; mentions that manufacturers
such as Dell [compare Jan. 22 Wired article] are slowly offering no-OS
options at the direct-sales level, but almost never at the retail one.
Sm@rt Reseller / PC Week Online / Ziff-Davis Network News, Mary Jo Foley
http://www.zdnet.com/sr/stories/news/0,4538,2191329,00.html
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,386959,00.html
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2191274,00.html
Notes heavy response to Windows Refund Center site. Quotes Microsoft
legal affairs spokesman Adam Sohn as saying OEMs aren't coerced, denies
intent to stage "astroturf" counter-demonstration, deflects refund
question back to the OEMs. Curiously, unlike the earlier Mary Jo Foley
story, this one lacks the ZDNN rendition's customary public-comment
facility.
Sydney Morning Herald, Nathan Cochrane
http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/breaking/916904790.html
Account of the Bennett story. Quotes Australian consumer groups
labelling the refund delay "breathtaking", and the entire story
indicating a need for close scrutiny of Microsoft and OEMs' abridgement
of consumer rights.
Ziff-Davis AnchorDesk, Liz Enbysk
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_3012.html
Brief story intro, explaining Bennett's experience and the growing
Windows Refund movement emerging from it.
JAN. 22, 1999 - FRIDAY
Sydney Morning Herald, Nathan Cochrane
http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/990119/industry/industry11.html
Mentions that Microsoft quietly removed the refund clause from
Windows 98's EULA in Australia (where the 1995 consent decree,
the probable reason for its presence in the USA, has no effect).
Estimates that "millions" of users are aiming for refunds.
Quotes Microsoft Australia spokeswoman Helen Baric saying that
OEMs and customers are "free to choose any operating system they
want". Toshiba rep. Laurie White says Toshiba refuses to issue
any OS refunds, mentions that Microsoft would not be willing to
reimburse Toshiba for such refunds, and eventually refused further
comment on advice of corporate counsel.
Wired News, Chris Oakes
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17452.html
Quotes corporate attorney Erwin Shustak as saying that the
consumer class-action lawsuits that are likely to result from this
controversay will probably establish that Microsoft and OEMs
have conspired to make refunds impossible, and that the issue
is strongly relevant to the current DOJ lawsuit. Microsoft
legal affair spokesman Adam Sohn denies the relevance, says
the EULA clause merely provides that if customers don't accept
its terms, that "there is a recourse for that". (This seems
to mean Microsoft asserts that software-refund claims against OEMs
should be honored, as being that "recourse".) Dell Manager of
Corporate Public Relations T.R. Reid cites "quality assurance"
as its reason for refusing refund of software per the EULA
(to all appearances, a non-sequitur statement). Gateway claims
that if the purchaser turns on his new Gateway computer even once
(presumably even to boot from a replacement OS's installation disk,
not Windows), he thereby consents to the EULA.
JAN. 24, 1999 - SUNDAY:
New York Post, Joseph Gallivan
http://www.nypostonline.com/business/9176.htm
Describes Geoffrey Bennett's story at length, and setup of the
Windows Refund Center site.
JAN. 25, 1999 - MONDAY:
Information Week / CMPnet TechWeb, Rick Whiting
http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?IWK19990125S0016
Financial analyst guesses Microsoft won't pay up, predicts lawsuits.
Los Angeles Times, Jonathan Gaw
http://www.latimes.com/HOME/BUSINESS/CUTTING/t000007485.1.html
Cites Geoffrey Bennett story, quotes unnamed Toshiba America rep.
as saying that it will not accept returns of bundled software.
New York Times, Laurie J. Flynn
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/
25computer-briefs.html
Describes Bay Area Linux effort's reasons for going directly to
Microsoft; quotes Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla ducking the question
of whether they'll honor the EULA clause (claiming they've "received
no requests for refunds").
ADDENDA:
News clipping archive:
The Open Directory Project's Windows Refund category
http://directory.mozilla.org/Computers/Operating_Systems/Microsoft_Windows/
WinRefunds/
On-line discussions in:
LinuxWorld Magazine's refund newsgroup
news://forum.linuxworld.com/linuxworld.forums.articles.1999-01-refund
InfoWorld Electric "Wintel to Lintel" Web forum
http://forums.infoworld.com/threads/get.cgi?92882
Ziff-Davis Anchor Desk/Berst Alerts Web forum
http://f5.dejanews.com/frames/Jesses_Berst_Alerts.html