You *KNOW* linux has hit the big time...

[James McIntosh]

At 06:47 PM 2004/08/11 -0400, Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org> wrote:

(snip)

>> O E M (Original Equipment Manufacturer) software includes all
>> essential components of Microsoft Retail products excluding support
>> from Microsoft.  Retail version comes in a fancy box, O E M does
>> not. You will receive installation CDs only (no original retail
>> packing).  Although O E M software does not come with a box or a
>> manual, it is the typical and actual software, no trial or demo
>> versions.

(snip) 

> (snip) I don't think
>you'll actually get anything delivered; the spammers/scammers will go to
>town on suckers' credit cards.

They are selling software which is O.E.M., that is, for sale only as a
promotional bonus with a computer system. Selling it in isolation is a
violation of their business agreements with the various software publishing
or distribution companies.

The various software publishing or distribution companies can shut down
their Web sites soon after the software publishing or distribution company
learns of the existence of the Web site.

I have no reason to believe that the Web site would fraudulently overcharge
prices to your credit card.

They may, in fact, be shut down before they are able to charge your card.
They may be shut down after they charge your card, but before they are able
to deliver anything - in which case, you can get the charges reversed by
your credit card company, eventually, possibly after several months and
many telephone calls to the credit card company.

The software is supported only by the vendor (not the software publisher or
distributor), and, in these cases, you will get absolutely no guarantee
whatsoever of support from anybody in the world. You would have to rely on
technical books in book stores, your co-workers, your friends, your user
groups, your courses in various schools, and even hours/days/weeks of
hair-pulling trial-and-error experimenting. The low prices correspond to
the lowered expenses of support. These packages probably do not qualify for
upgrades. They are essentially 'orphaned' by the software
publishers/distributors.

When you see 'free' software in a sales promotion from M.D.G. computers,
for example, remember that the software publisher/distributor does not
support it: - they refer you back to M.D.G. How much will M.D.G. do to
support something that they gave away free, something which has shown no
evidence of putting even a cent into their cash register ? Similarly, in
this case, Microsoft (etc.) do not support the software. If M.D.G. were to
provide the bonus software without selling a computer system, then they
would be in violation just as much as the owners of that Web site.


Jim McIntosh   <jemcinto-cpI+UMyWUv+w5LPnMra/2Q at public.gmane.org>
---

--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml