[olug] funny, true but funny

[Carl Lundstedt]

On Thu, 2009-11-19 at 11:39 -0600, T. J. Brumfield wrote:
> The license is an OEM license, heavily discounted. Microsoft sold the
> OEM license to HP, Dell or whomever. They resold it to you as part of
> the bundle. Plenty of retailers tell you that you must buy a bundle,
> and don't allow you to return individual components. If I purchase a
> piece of furniture from Ikea, and assemble it with my own screws, can
> I demand Ikea return the cost of screws?
> 
Understandably no, but I'd expect that Ikea would have no problem with
me using said screws to build a birdhouse in shop class or selling them
to my brother-in-law to use to build his Shopko purchased furniture.
How well does that OEM license transfer?  (Ownership is a nebulous thing
here and that's my problem with OEM.)

I fully appreciate and understand both sides of the OEM argument.  I
think the situation is still a little consumer hostile and it's not
getting better (and I don't pretend to have the answer on how to make it
better).  

Carl Lundstedt
UNL