SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Free Software Foundation Europe(FSFE) (no connections to the Free Software Foundation(FSF), despite the name) has logged a win in Italy in court for the freedom to choose the operating system on new computers. Luca Bonissi won after two years of court battles. He won the first round in a kind of small claims court, but Lenovo responded by lawyering up and attacking. The court eventually rejected all of Lenovos argument, confirming that the right to reimbursment for pre-installed software is due. Further, an additional 20k EUR in damages were awarded to Bonissi.
In a historic judgment in Italy, in a case initiated by FSFE supporter Luca Bonissi, Lenovo was ordered to pay 20,000 euros in damages for abusive behaviour in denying to refund the price of a pre-installed Windows licence. In a motivating gesture for the Free Software cause, Luca donated 15,000 euros to the FSFE.
[...] It should go without saying that everyone should be able to freely choose the operating system to run on their personal computers. Free Software is about granting the liberty for people to freely run software they desire and, consequently, decline the software not respecting their freedom. But Microsoft and the vast majority of hardware manufacturers dishonour this principle by dictating which operating system their customers must use, forcing them to run Windows even when they simply do not want to.
See also the FSFE Windows Refund Guide and the Racketware Guide about how to avoid the Windows Tax.
Previously:
(2014) Windows Tax now Illegal in Italy
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @05:46PM (16 children)
I want to run Windows on my M1 Mac... gonna make Tim Cook pay me for pre-installing that MacOS crap.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @05:57PM (6 children)
Yup, that will be the maker's logical next step.
The long, 87 page, 4 point font, shrink wrap license you have to agree to before you purchase the computer will have clause number 784 added:
784) The purchaser hereby acknowledges that the hardware includes a pre-installed, and pre-paid, license for the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system and the purchaser hereby acknowledges:
1) that the hardware is sold as a package, hardware plus the pre-installed operating system combined
2) that the two components are inseperable
3) that the purchase price of the license to said software is included as part of the overall purchases price for the package
4) that under no conditions shall the purchaser be entitled to any refund, or other remuneration, for the hardware having been offered for sale in said package form including said bundled software license as part of the combined package
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 02 2021, @06:31PM
And, all that is necessary in response to that, is a court decision that the clause is unjust and unenforceable. Said decision to be backed up by every appeal court, all the way up to the Supreme Court of whichever nation suit is filed in.
Of course, that won't happen until an overwhelming number of "consumers" stand up as voters, and demand consumer rights that mean something.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 4, Informative) by citizenr on Tuesday March 02 2021, @06:38PM (3 children)
EULAs are a non legally binding toilet paper in EU.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday March 02 2021, @07:29PM (2 children)
It seems so unfair that you cannot be bound to a EULA in the box, with a binding clause on the outside of the package:
By opening this product box, you agree to all terms of the EULA which is included with the product in the box.
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @09:14PM (1 child)
That would still be illegal in the EU. The appropriate moment to establish a contract would be at the moment of sale, not thereafter. "Opening this product box" usually happens post-sale (most common exception is if you don't intend to pay for it, in which case you probably don't care about the EULA either).
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 02 2021, @10:52PM
All it takes is a small change to the Uniform Commercial Code to establish a contract with you the moment you see the box on the store shelf or online web page. This is how they first made click-through EULAs legal. The only problem is that nobody reads click through EULAs.
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Tuesday March 02 2021, @08:58PM
Or maybe they will change the offer: You buy a Windows license with a computer included (the same way you buy a phone contract with a phone included). Since the main sold item was a Windows license, you cannot give that back separately; you could give back the computer separately, but since the Windows license is bound to that computer, it won't do you any good.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Tuesday March 02 2021, @07:07PM (1 child)
They did mention during the court case that Tim Cook is a really big cazzo.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Tuesday March 02 2021, @10:42PM
I did not know what a cazzo was. I guess this UK company didn't either :
https://www.cazoo.co.uk/ [cazoo.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 02 2021, @07:31PM (1 child)
What if you want to run Linux on your M1 Mac instead of the included OS?
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Friday March 05 2021, @03:36AM
The problem is that you can't really pin down a number for a cost of a MacOS license like you can do for Windows. The reason is that Apple simply doesn't sell MacOS as a separate product. It comes bundled with a new Mac, of course. But as Apple provides updates for MacOS at no cost, in some ways MacOS can be considered "free" - it just happens to be tied to some very expensive hardware dongles.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @08:57PM (2 children)
I believe Apple would tell you you paid for an M1 Mac and the MacOS came with it free. So here's your refund, $0.
And BTW, your license agreement for buying the M1 Mac precludes you from attempting to install any other OS on it. That would be computer fraud, punishable by many many years in prison.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday March 02 2021, @09:16PM (1 child)
There is difference between buying and licensing. If I buy the hardware then it is mine to do as I please. On the other hand software is licensed (as in copyright), not sold.
So I am free to install, deinstall, destroy, reassemble, crash, burn and do whatever with my hardware. Because it is my property.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Tuesday March 02 2021, @10:11PM
I believe you can install other OSes on an M1 Mac, however Apple is not obliged to make that easy.
Agree with parent post too - Apple would happily refund you $0 for the OS.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @10:51PM (1 child)
The difference is that MS Windows license has always included the provision for a refund from hardware manufacturer if you disagree with the terms of the license. The problem is that nearly no manufacturers/retailers have ever honored this provision, and if they have, it has not been consistent.
I've attempted to get the refund on every laptop purchase I've made since 1993, and have been told to, "go pound sand" every time. I once tried to re-sell the license on ebay, but the listing was taken down.
I love that the EU isn't completely controlled by rich parasites in the interest of rich parasites/corporations like North America is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 03 2021, @02:10PM
"I love that the EU isn't completely controlled by rich parasites"
More like beholden to different masters. And only sometimes so.