The New York Times
February 16, 1999
Protesters Seek Refunds on Windows
By AMY HARMON
As mass movements go, Windows Refund Day
might not have achieved the political profile of an anti-war protest or the
popular support of, say, saving the whales. But for a demonstration over
computer software, the turnout yesterday was not too shabby.
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Photo: Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Photo: Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Tim O'Mahoney of the Linux Users Group and
others favoring a free operating system marched yesterday near a Microsoft
office in Foster City, Calif. Many carried unopened Windows systems and asked
for refunds.
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More than 100 self-proclaimed
computer geeks showed up at Microsoft Corporation sales offices in several
cities to make a public display of rejecting the software maker's ubiquitous
Windows operating system and of demanding their money back.
Organized by advocates of Linux, a free
operating system, the first March on Microsoft focused on a clause in the
Windows license included with the software that comes installed on personal
computers. That clause states that users who do not agree to the terms of the
license can request a refund.
"People pay extra money for software
they don't need, they don't want and they're entitled to return," said Rick
Moen, a protest organizer in Foster City, Calif., where the largest crowd
gathered on the roof of a parking garage adjacent to the Microsoft sales office
there.
Microsoft officials who met the protesters
told them to take it up with the computer manufacturers who sold them their
PC's.
But several testimonials published on the
Internet in recent months recount the difficulties users have enountered in
obtaining a refund for Windows, which runs on more than 90 percent of all new
personal computers sold throughout the world. For instance, most new machines
are set up to boot Windows automatically when a user turns them on. And in a
classic Catch-22, that in itself apparently constitutes an implied acceptance of
the license, even though there is no way to get rid of the Windows operating
system without turning the computer on in the first place.
Spokesmen for Dell Computer and Micron
Computer, two of the major manufacturers, said their policy was to give refunds
within 30 days to customers who are not satisfied with their systems, but they
said that they did not give refunds for Windows alone.
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"The public doesn't have the
knowledge to understand what Microsoft is doing."
Jordan Coleman, president of
NetMonger
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"Not only do customers, with very rare exceptions, expect their computer to come with an operating system, but they, with very rare exceptions, expect that operating system to be Windows," said T. R. Reid, a Dell spokesman.
It is not as though the refund would pay
for a new monitor. The few who have reported success have apparently received
between $25 and $50. But protesters insisted that the point was not the money
but choice.
"It's not a lot of money," said
Mike Schiraldi, 20, who wore a faded Atari T-shirt and black Keds sneakers to
the small demonstration in midtown Manhattan Monday. "It's just the idea
that you're forced to buy Windows when there are better alternatives out
there."
Pardoxically, that perception supports a
central point the Microsoft defense team is trying to make in the copmany's
continuing antitrust battle with the Department of Justice. Company executives
have several times pointed to the growing popularity of Linux as proof that
contrary to the Justice Department's claims, Microsoft is not a monopoly.
That may be why the company deputized
several executives and public relations representatives to meet the
demonstrators with open arms. In New York and Foster City, attendees were handed
a letter that began, "Dear Valued Customer" and emphasized that
"fundamentally you, the consumer, have a choice of operating systems and
PC's."
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(October 8, 1998)
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But the protest
organizers also aimed to bring to the public's attention other of Microsoft
business practices. A 1995 consent decree between the Justice Department and
Microsoft prohibited the company from requiring computer manufacturers to pay
for Windows on every computer sold whether or not the operating system had been
installed.
But even without that requirement, critics
assert that the company continues to use its market clout to ensure that nearly
all new personal computers come with Windows pre-installed.
"The public doesn't have the
knowledge to understand what Microsoft is doing," said Jordan Coleman,
president of NetMonger, an Internet service provider on Long Island. "We
know there are technically superior choices. So for us, it's a cause."
In Foster City, protesters carried signs
reading "Pro-choice?" and "What part of 'refund' don't you
understand?" From amid the group one protester shouted, "Let my people
free." Protesters who tried to get to Microsoft's ninth-floor offices in
Foster City found the elevators blocked.
In New York, fewer than a dozen computer
users with an aversion to Microsoft products met a representative outside the
World Wide Plaza on Eighth Avenue before retreating to a hotel room across the
street to install free software on new computers in preparation for a refund
request. About a dozen protesters gathered at Microsoft offices in Irvine,
Calif.
Reports were sketchier from New Zealand,
the Netherlands and Japan, where demonstrations had also been planned.
Nobody got a refund.
But by one measure, the protest might have
been a success.
"I'm interested in the whole idea of
not having any one company control the operating system market," said Peter
Lehrer, a 39-year-old accountant who drove in from Leonia, N.J., to attend the
New York event. A Windows user, Lehrer is considering switching: "I just
wanted to see what this was all about."
