[ale] $$$ back for unused OEM XP license

[Fulton Green]

On Sat, Jun 03, 2006 at 09:59:41AM -0400, Jerry Yu wrote:
> -------- not an anti-MS thread --- just don't want to waste dollars on
> unused license---------
> sometime our company buy retail boxens from Dell/HP. Most of them come
> with XP home or even MCE pre-installed. I wipe them clean & install
> CentOS on them. In Georgia, can we get some $$$ back for that 'unused'
> XP home or MCE license?
> similar situation, sometimes the XP home or MCE is replaced by XP pro
> with our own licensing pool.  does this replaced XP home entitle us to
> some refund $$$ ?

Assuming you're buying directly from Dell / HP (as opposed to buying a
branded PC in a retail store), they've already paid M$ for that license,
so they'd be the ones to hit up for a refund.  However, they would then
need to pass the buck to M$, which may have put in a "no refunds"
clause within that OEM's reselling agreement.  Adding a retail store
or third-party discount supplier (e.g., CDW) to the purchase chain
complicates matters a bit further.  Is the Windows version a custom-
tailored one for the reseller (inferring that they paid M$ directly for
the license), or are they just "passing the buck" from the mfgr.?

But I guess the real question is whether Georgia is one of those states
with a court ruling that gives consumers the right to refund of unsued
product licenses within such a bundle.  To the best of my knowledge,
the answer is "no". 

I could have sworn , though, that some of the PCs from at least Dell (and
poss.  HP) come either with some variant of Linux or are even OS-less.
At the very least, your IT equipment buyer needs to make the OEMs
and/or suppliers aware of your company's XP Pro licensing pool.

Otherwise, this would seem to make a good case for purchasing from the
local DiYs, where purchasing an M$ license (where you actually get a
usable "generic OEM" disc) is completely optional.