In article <1240649.rExhaBcQRN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ChangeLog: Run Linux, lose warranty
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | When she called Compaq -- the unit comes with a one-year warranty
> | on the hardware -- they asked what operating system she was running.
> | When she told them Linux, they said, "Sorry, we do not honor our
> | hardware warranty when you run Linux." In order to get warranty
> | service, she was told, she would have to remove Linux and
> | reinstall the original OS.
> `----
>
> http://enterprise.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/03/23/1430204&from=rss
>
> The crazy world we live in...
The very part you quote shows that Linux does NOT void the warranty. If
the warranty were void, warranty service would not be available.
They simply require the machine to be restored to the original
configuration in order to provide such service. This is a common
requirement, both inside and outside the computer industry.
It does raise an interesting issue, though. If I were to make
modifications to, say, the fuel system of my car, and then need warranty
service, and the car manufacturer were to refuse as long as the mods
were in place, it would be annoying, but I could take the mods out and
go back to the factory system. Even if the car were completely dead, I
could remove the mod and reinstall the original equipment.
With a computer, however, installing (or reinstalling) an OS requires a
certain level of functioning of the computer. If the problem is that the
hard disk is locking up every few seconds, for example, it's going to be
damned hard to get the original OS back on it!
Personally, what I would recommend to people buying computers that don't
come with the OS they want, or who do want the original OS but also want
to install other OSes, would be to buy the computer with the smallest
hard disk the vendor offers. As soon as you get it, boot it up, go
through whatever initial set up it does, register it with the
manufacturer if needed, and stuff like that. Then take out the small
disk, put in a nice big disk of your own, and install whatever operating
systems you want.
That way, if the computer ever breaks, and you need to send it back, you
can just swap the disks first. The vendor will then receive a computer
with a pristine install, and you will have all your important data
safely at home, instead of sitting in some vendor's repair shop, where
it might be seen by people who shouldn't see it, or might be erased
during the course of the repair (even if there is nothing wrong with the
disk!). (Don't discount the "seen by people who shouldn't see it"
possibility. There have been occasions where repair shops have
accidently swapped disks in computers, so customers got back computers
with someone else's disk in it!)
--
--Tim Smith
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