dear all, invited P K Roy (PKR) from cybermedia group (pcquest, dataquest, Voice&Data, etc) and Rahul Chopra from LinuxForYou, to consider covering this as a feature-story. received a prompt response from PKR, asking for more inputs, so provided those below. if there are any additional points you wish to share, reply to this thread, will compile and forward it to him.
meanwhile, am looking forward to rahul from LFY to step up to the plate as well. will also try to catch up with my colleagues at Express Computer. regards niyam ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: niyam bhushan Date: Fri, May 16, 2008 at 12:14 PM Subject: Re: Fwd: [ilugd] M$ Tax Refund Quest To: Prasanto K Roy, Rahul Chopra, Cc: Raj Mathur, Gora Mohanty, Andrew Lynn, Kishore Bhargava On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 5:37 PM, Prasanto K Roy wrote: > > Niyam: Thanks. What exactly is the story being discussed here? Cheers ~ PKR >[snip] the community is doggedly pursuing getting a refund from microsoft or lenovo for the oem-bundle of microsoft windows, on rejecting the EULA. sadly enough, it seems both the vendors are taking consumers on a joy-ride. there also seem to be no objective and verifiable facts and procedures on how to demand and get your refund. is the law of the land being upheld, are consumer rights being violated? the discussion is being held on linux-delhi's publicly-archived mailing list, and it's a matter of time before it gets picked up and discussed across other mailing lists in the sub-continent. this opens up a whole can of worms. impartial and investigative journalism could not only highlight this issue, but also restore faith in india's IT journalism. i suppose all that we need is a fairly-comprehensive article that addresses the issue: "How Can You Get Your Refund From Microsoft" a) what is the issue: non-acceptance of the EULA entitles you to a refund. b) precedent has been set up years ago in the rest of the world. c) indian community is demanding a refund over a purchase of a lenovo laptop. d) interview and story of the guys. e) legal takes on the issue, in the indian context. f) viewpoints from microsoft, lenovo, and other hardware and software vendors. g) viewpoints from the foss community, fsf, LUG spokespeople, lawrence liang, etc. h) howto: what is the procedure. i) what if a vendor does not comply, or tries to take you on a ride, or stalls for time. j) investigative journalism: the IT media goes incognito, and tries to purchase a computer and demand a refund. a full report. j) follow-up story: interview and coverage of a successful / unsuccessful refund by a consumer, perhaps the guy who tried getting the refund and who started this discussion. k) what not to do while demanding a refund. l) <placeholder for other aspects of this feature> will also post this email to the threaded discussion. regards niyam -- niyam bhushan _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Next Event: http://freed.in - February 22-24, 2008 Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
