Subj : Re: SSH on BBSes
To   : Spectre
From : Arelor
Date : Mon Apr 25 2022 18:40:39

  Re: Re: SSH on BBSes
  By: Spectre to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Apr 26 2022 08:32 am

 >  Ni> I didn't know shops would include a copy of Windows at their own cost.
 > 
 >  pF> They'd sell Windows as part of the cost, or sort of look at you and dro
 >  pF> in  a shrink-wrapped copy of DOS and shrug.
 > 
 > I'm not sure now off hand how it worked, but there was a time M$ got a
 > license fee for every PC going.  After this ran for some time, and people
 > were starting to use Linux as an alternative, there was a bit of a to do, an
 > a court case I think that stopped that and if you didn't want Windows you'd
 > get a "refund" on that license.
 > 
 > Spec
 > 
 > 
 > *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]

It was a mess.

Some people started recording themselves on camera actively clicking on the "I
don't accept" button at the end of the EULA upon turning on the computer for
the first time. Then they would ask for the license fee back since back in the
day the EULA had some clause about compensating the customer.

Microsoft killed the practice by removing the button, so the only available
button was "I Accept." How poetic (and representative of the software industry
practices).

The best way to evade the Microsoft tax is to build your computers from spare
parts or buy from a dealer which is not selling/reselling Windows licenses.
Typically this includes dealers which buy computers in bulk from bankrupt firms
and then sell them at a discount to end users. Now you may guess why my
computers came with stickers with logos of banks and defunct firms pasted all
over them.

I think people does not realize how tight Microsoft's grip was on the market
because they don't realize how much extra effort it used to be to purchase
general computing equipment without going through Microsoft.


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