« Many universities and engineering schools provide their students with a free Microsoft Windows ® license through a partner program with Microsoft. Yet, when students buy a new computer, they also pay for another (OEM) Microsoft Windows ® license included in the computer price. Today, the French speaking Libre Software Users' Association (AFUL) launches a worldwide campaign "My University offers me my Microsoft Windows ® License" to encourage students to request a refund from good computer manufacturers (those who willingly offer such a refund). "By claiming their refund, the students will help restoring a healthy economic competition among operating systems", says AFUL. »
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stargrave
14 years 29 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago
Great idea
This is really great idea! I want to intend in it, but unfortunately I have got no computer/notebook that can be refunded with preinstalled software. But my instiute (Moscow Aviation) offers free Windows, Office and other it's products for free to students.
stargrave
14 years 29 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago
Great idea
This is really great idea! I want to intend in it, but unfortunately I have got no computer/notebook that can be refunded with preinstalled software. But my instiute (Moscow Aviation) offers free Windows, Office and other it's products for free to students.
stargrave
14 years 29 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago
Doubled comment
Oops, sorry for doubled comment. ISP is so unreliable...
lozz
14 years 29 weeks 4 days 32 min ago
Doubling
Yeah, once something like that happens there doesn't seem to be any way to get rid of it again.
lozz
14 years 29 weeks 4 days 19 min ago
Alternative ad
"My university is condemning me to a lifetime of unnecessary expense, mindless servitude, malware infections and blue screens of death, in order to partake of the generous bribes that M$ offers to universities that are willing to sell out their luckless students."
stargrave
14 years 29 weeks 3 days 20 hours ago
Reply about this campaign to their maillist
Dear Sir or Madam,
on your website you claim that you are the "French speaking Libre
Software Users' Association" and therefore, support the usage and
adoption of Free Software.
Today I received an identi.ca notice with a link to your "My University
offers me my Microsoft Windows ® license" Worldwide Campaign [1]. On
the campaign's website you encourage students to download Microsoft
Windows through MSDNAA and to return the OEM versions of Microsoft
Windows which the students own. You claim that this will send "send a
strong signal to computer manufacturers" and also suggest to install
GNU/Linux on the same computer.
Returning OEM versions of Microsoft Windows may convince hardware
manufacturers to offer computers without Microsoft Windows, but
encouraging students in the same breath to install a gratis copy of the
same proprietary operating system won't support Free Software at all.
Following Richard Stallman tabaco analogy [2], this means that you
ask students to return their tabaco to the shop in order to force
the shop to not offering tabaco and on the other to get free tabaco
samples from the tabaco company. This will of course not solve the
problems of smoking.
I think the title of your organisation is dishonest, because you
violate your own statutes. I suggest to either change your title
and statutes or to stop your campaign and to apologise to your
members.
If you really want to convince hardware manufacturers to offer
computers without an operating system or with a pre-installed
free operating system, I suggest to support the Windows Tax Refund
initiative [3] of the Free Software Foundation Europe.
Sincerely,
Matthias-Christian Ott
[1] http://www.racketware.info/msdnaa/call-on-students
[2] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html
[3] https://wiki.fsfe.org/WindowsTaxRefund