Re: Windows XP recovery legal question

My 2 cents; if I buy a $250 computer from Comp USA (with printer) or a $299
Dell, both of which have XP Home installed, should I really expect to get an
XP CD (about $160)?
jll
"Stan Brown" <the_stan_brown@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.1eb4892521f1db4498a425@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sat, 22 Apr 2006 14:28:29 -0600 from Bruce Chambers
<bchambers@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:
Sorry to disagree, but I'd have to conclude that your getting "caught
flat-footed" 15 months ago by a practice that's been common for several
years means you're no more "sophisticated about these matters" than the
average newbie who wonders why he didn't get a CD.

Harumph. :-) I meant that I am more sophisticated than average about
computers in general and Windows in particular, not (at the time)
about licensing details.

I did ask about whether I would get a Windows disk, and was told I
would not, but at the time I didn't know that one was necessary to do
a repair install. I suppose I could have researched it, but at some
point one spends 100% of time in research and never gets on with an
actual decision.

Stan Brown wrote:
I can
therefore understand how a more naive user might not know to ask
about this in advance.

I do see your point, I have a hard time understanding how *any* adult
consumer, exposed to today's nearly continuous mass media barrage of
reports of corporate, religious, individual, and government malfeasance
can possibly remain so naive.

Information overload. People often don't know how to separate the
wheat from the chaff.

Additionally, I don't think one needs to be especially conversant with
computers to ask pertinent questions. It takes only a few minutes
product research to prepare oneself. To my way of thinking, *any*
consumer considering *any* purchase is ultimately responsible for
determining if said purchase meets his needs, and will continue to do so
for the foreseeable future (or however long the consumer anticipates
using said product).

The law disagrees with you on that point, at least in part. It
recognizes that a consumer may have to rely on a salesperson for help
in selecting a purchase, and makes a salesperson's promises a binding
part of the contract, if the consumer relies upon them in making a
selection. The law thus recognizes that it's not practical for every
consumer to do full research on every product. ("Implied warranty of
fitness for a particular purpose" is the buzzword.)

I no longer subscribe to /Consumer Reports/, but I wonder if even
that source has ever addressed the issue of the "missing" install CD.

And I simply cannot comprehend how one can call oneself an adult, make
a relatively major and expensive purchase without doing one scintilla of
market research, and then blame another for the natural consequences of
one's own lack of preparation.

As I said before, in general I agree with you. In articular, I think
that people who don't read contracts before signing have no cause to
complain about their terms after signing.

The problem is, in a technical field, how does an ordinary user know
to ask the questions s/he doesn't know enough to ask? You and I know
about Usenet and Web searches and what not, but many people do not.

Just today I read an article on misc.legal.moderated where a lawyer
said it would not be practical to have a license for software that
was tied to a specific computer because there would be no way for the
software to know what computer it was on! (Yes, I posted a follow-
up.)

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/


.

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