http://www.news.com/beyond-binary/8301-13860_3-9814213-56.html
Under a new program announced Friday, large companies
that sell refurbished PCs can get a brand spanking new
copy of Windows to put on the machines--provided they
pay Microsoft for the privilege.
The initiative, which provides refurbishers with a
special version of Windows XP, could help save more
machines from heading to the landfill. In many cases,
though, it means Microsoft will be getting paid twice
for putting Windows on the same PC.
That's because, to properly resell a refurbished
PC using its original copy of Windows, Microsoft
requires that resellers have either the "certificate
of authenticity" that came with the PC or its restore
disks--things that often get lost along the way.
Businesses can also try to get a duplicate copy
from the manufacturer, but that's a difficult and
time-consuming process that doesn't scale well for
the large refurbisher handling thousands of machines
a month.
Microsoft won't say how much it is charging for the
special versions of Windows XP, other than to say it
is somewhat less than a computer maker would pay to
put Windows on a new machine.
[end excerpt]
I could think of better things to put on older model PCs. :-)
The program is detailed at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/nov07/11-09mar.mspx
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Useless C/C++ Programming Idea #1123133:
void f(FILE * fptr, char *p) { fgets(p, sizeof(p), fptr); }
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
|
|
