Microsoft is now 0 for 3 in trying to get me to try Vista. My recent Intel motherboard / Core 2 Duo processor purchase included a copy of Vista when Vista shipped. Surprisingly, Microsoft supplied Intel with both a 32 bit and 64 bit version to send out, each with unique keys.
It’s sat on my desk since it arrived in the mail a month ago, unopened. I have a friend who I think wants a copy. I looked at ebaying it, but I was surprised how low OEM copies really sell for, so so it sits here.
Today I bought a new laptop, a Toshiba Satellite A135-S4467, with Vista Home Premium on it. I didn’t even boot it up. Plugged in the battery, a Foresight disc, reformatted the hard drive, installed Foresight and blew away the Vista partition without so much as even looking at what Microsoft is offering these days.
I then used Google a bit to search for tips and tricks to get my Microsoft refund from the OEM. I found some good sites, one in particular on Linux.com, that details what to say to a customer service rep and when to hold firm. The site makes it clear to be able to quote from the EULA, so after a bit of searching, I found Toshiba’s Master End User License Agreement.
They got me. I think Toshiba has figured out how to avoid that scenario, as the first paragraph, in glorious all capital letters, makes it clear you’re better off returning the whole thing than trying to get a refund:
…TAIS DOES NOT ACCEPT THE THE RETURN OF PRO-RATA REFUNDS ON INDIVIDUAL PC COMPONENTS OR BUNDLE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING THE OPERATING SYSTEM… IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE TERMS OF THIS EULA, DO NOT INSTALL, COPY OR USE THE SOFTWARE. IF YOU WISH TO RETURN A COMPLETE HARDWARE PRODUCT STEYM, CONTACT…
Darn. Later on, in Limitation of Liability, again in all capital letters (what l33t hacker writes EULAs?!):
TAIS ENTIRE LIABILITY AND YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY UNDER THIS EULA SHALL NOT EXCEED U.S. $10.00….
Now, I’m not a lawyer, but I think even if I sweet talked them into giving me money for this wonderful thing called Vista, I’m entitled to $10.00. Oh boy! A new CD! Wait, the RIAA makes us pay more than $10.00 for those too. Oh boy! A free lunch!
Leave a comment if you know a good work around or have some advice for me to try. If Spam Karma 2 kicks in and moderates the comment, please use the feedback form to let me know.
My thoughts and notes on installing Foresight on the laptop will be coming soon, too.
Epiphany is the default web browser for GNOME, and now as of Foresight 1.1, Foresight Linux.
What is Epiphany? Epiphany is the browser for the GNOME desktop, with it’s goal to be simple and easy to use. Powered by the Gecko engine, like Firefox, Epiphany offers extensions, customizable user interface, and smart bookmarks.
Luis Villa recently published a link of things, in his opinion, Epiphany did superior to Firefox. (No, I’m not trying to start a flamewar, just food for thought on why you might want to try Epiphany!)
Over at Thilo’s blog, he covers why we’ve made the switch at Foresight Linux and some benefits of using Epiphany. He also is asking the community what they would like to see in Epiphany on Foresight, from plugins and extensions, and what’s included in the default Epiphany install on Foresight.
Try Epiphany today – I was pleasantly surprised by it.
GNOME 2.18 has been released! Congratulations to all the developers and contributors in getting this out the door, on time as usual.
GNOME 2.18 contains a number of bug fixes, updates to your favorite programs such as Tomboy and Evince, and even two new games!
If you want to check out GNOME 2.18, all the Live Media has been updated to the latest release as well, learn more here on the GNOME wiki if you’d like to download a VMWare image or LiveCD.
With the new GNOME 2.18 release, Foresight has also released an update to 1.1. We’ll have the website updated and announcement out tomorrow, but if you want a sneak peak, get it here (2 CDs, DVD) and install the first Linux distribution to have GNOME 2.18 available, and other goodies too like Banshee 0.12.0 or F-Spot.