[GRLUG] Some Viruses Come Pre-Installed

[Godwin]

While on the "warranties" topic, I bought a Sony laptop about a year
ago.  Really cool, $1,400 bucks worth... The day I got it, I wiped
that thing they call Windows and installed Linux on it.  Never looked
back.  Less than a year later, after testing and troubleshooting, I
determined the DVD burner went out.   Sony's first sentence was
"...please insert the restore disk you were asked to create on 1st
boot up..."  I laughed and explained the troubleshooting which led to
my conclusion.  Well, "...you MUST send in the unit for repair...as
stated on the warranty..." blah, blah, blah.   Darn thing was made in
China and "return repair" was their only option.

To heck with it, says I.  I will not.  I do not run Windows, nor will
I have you install it on my drive.  I will not give you access to my
sensitive data, nor will I delete it.    Well, I *worked* my way to
some big wig, whose assistant initially claimed "...you may not speak
with my supervisor..."  Again I laughed and offered a few polite, yet
stern, words.  Within what seemed like days, but were actually only
minues later, they agreed to send me a replacement DVD burner
(provided they *secure* it with my cc) w/o sending in the laptop.

So, warranties, shmarranties.  They'll honor it - if you're
*ass*ertive enough...  ;-)

G-

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
<adamtaunowilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >  How would one find out if a computer manufacturer has applied for the sort
>  > > of waiver described in your post? Is there an online database/clearinghouse
>  > > for such things? (Applying for waivers of that sort seems like a very
>  > > Microsoftian thing to do. They certainly have the manpower and the money to
>  > > waste on it.)
>  > I don't think it effectively matters.  If they wanted to make a fuss
>  > about it, the commission's decision could be challenged on either
>  > clause.  We all know Windows isn't required to make a laptop function
>  > properly, and I think it's provable that allowing Microsoft a waiver
>  > is not in the public interest.
>  > IF they refused warranty repair because of Linux (which I've only read
>  > news articles about - later updated to mention that the laptop had
>  > indeed been repaired, accompanied by an apology)
>
>  I think that these make the news in part because it is so obviously
>  stupid.  I've twice had laptops repaired under warranty that never for a
>  minute ran Windows,  nobody said boo.   Both times it was for
>  motherboard replacement.   In both cases I "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda
>  bs=512" three times before shipping it [by removing the drive, etc...],
>  so obviously they never tried booting it from the installed HD or didn't
>  care that it didn't boot.   Almost certainly a real repair shop has
>  better diagnostic tools than does-it-boot.
>
>  Actually, they must be pretty used to this since anywhere concerned with
>  PCI/DSS and other standards/regulations doesn't send laptops out for
>  repair without scrubbing the drive in some manner.   So there isn't any
>  reason for them to know what OS you are or are not running.
>
>  --
>  Adam Tauno Williams, Network & Systems Administrator
>  Consultant - http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com
>  Developer - http://www.opengroupware.org
>
>
>
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