[GRLUG] Some Viruses Come Pre-Installed

[Tim Schmidt]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 10:03 AM, john-thomas richards
<jtr at jrichards.org> wrote:
>  This is exactly the reason.  If I knew I could restore the original OS
>  before shipping back for a warranty repair/replacement, I would install
>  Linux.  I would hate to have a mainboard failure rejected by HP's
>  warranty department because I voided the warranty by installing Linux.

See § 2302. Rules governing contents of warranties in Title 15,
Chapter 50 of the US Code Collection, section (c)

Also known as the Magnuson-Moss Warranties Act
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act):

(c)  Prohibition on conditions for written or implied warranty; waiver
by Commission
No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or
implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using, in
connection with such product, any article or service (other than
article or service provided without charge under the terms of the
warranty) which is identified by brand, trade, or corporate name;
except that the prohibition of this subsection may be waived by the
Commission if—
(1) the warrantor satisfies the Commission that the warranted product
will function properly only if the article or service so identified is
used in connection with the warranted product, and
(2) the Commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest.
The Commission shall identify in the Federal Register, and permit
public comment on, all applications for waiver of the prohibition of
this subsection, and shall publish in the Federal Register its
disposition of any such application, including the reasons therefor.

That there means you can install whatever you damn please on your
laptop, and if it has a hardware problem, covered under warranty, they
have to fix it.  Windows be damned.

You're welcome.

--tim