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| A knowledge and experience repository on how to reclaim your "Windows Tax" | ## page was renamed from Windows-Tax_Refund <<TableOfContents>> |
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| The only way to counteract that "Windows Tax" on PCs and laptops is to ask for a refund, but details on this process are not easy to find, and there is no central repository to allow people gather and share their information with the process. | The only way to counteract that "Windows Tax" on PCs and laptops is to ask for a refund, but details on this process are not easy to find, and there is no central repository to allow people gather and share their information with the process. Changing that is the purpose of this page. |
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| Changing that is the purpose of this section in our Fellowship page. | = General information = * To prevent trouble with refund, there are some tipps how to buy hardware without Microsoft Tax at [[Hardware_vendors|the hardware vendor's page]]. * Read the details about the Microsoft license you want to get refunded on [[http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms|Microsoft's software license terms page]]. * [[http://www.racketware.info/index|racketware]] also collected refund cases * Racketware launched a new campaign aimint at students whose university has a deal with Microsoft: [[http://www.racketware.info/msdnaa/call-on-students|My University offers me my Microsoft Windows ® license Worldwide Campaign]] * Serge Wroclawski's article [[http://www.linux.com/articles/59381|"How to get a Windows tax refund"]] from January 2007 |
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| Please feel free to add your own experience or links to information about attempts by others! | = Information for specific countries = Below, there is a list of countries (in alphabetical order) from which we either received interesting news or reports about people trying to get reimbursement. If you want to add a report, please provide date, kind of Microsoft License, company you bought it from and other interesting information. You can also attach your correspondence to your report. |
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| * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Belgium|Belgium]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/CzechRepublic|Czech Republic]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Denmark|Denmark]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/France|France]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Germany|Germany]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Ireland|Ireland]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Italy|Italy]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Portugal|Portugal]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Russia|Russian Federation]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Spain|Spain]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/Switzerland|Switzerland]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/UnitedKingdom|United Kingdom]] * [[WindowsTaxRefund/OutsideEurope|Countries outside of Europe]] |
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| * Fabian Thommen ordered a Dell without XP from the very beginning (no refund necessary) http://rca.snm-hgkz.ch/blog/windows-refunds/ * Detaxe.org doing work on the refund in France: The [[http://www.aful.org/ | AFUL]] (Association francophone des utilisateurs de Linux) put into action a [[http://www.detaxe.org/ | working group on the refund issue]]. See also [[http://www.detaxe.org/spip.php?rubrique34 | specific experiences with refund]] and a [[http://forum.framasoft.org/viewtopic.php?t=20785 | detailed refund procedure]]. There's also some info about [[http://jlerhun.free.fr/detaxe/index.html | refund in France concerning laptops purchased through Lidl]]. * Serge Wroclawski gives a counterpoint for any excuses the vendor might have http://community.linux.com/community/07/01/03/227237.shtml?tid=12 * Dave Mitchell (UK) gets refund from Dell UK: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/110706-dell-windows.html * Strategy for getting a refund in the US (by Steve Qualline, Linuxjournal, 2003) http://linuxjournal.com/article/7040 * Refunding Windows-Tax in Belgium: [[Windows-Tax_Refund/Belgium | Experiences of people seeking their Windows-Tax-Refund in Belgium]] * Belgian attempt to get reimbursed for a Toshiba: http://wiki.open-minds.org/vente_liee:historique_remboursement_bundle_logiciel_portege_r500 * CZ: Lenovo fails to silence GNU/Linux user on Windows refund: http://osor.eu/news/cz-lenovo-fails-to-silence-gnu-linux-user-on-windows-refund * Article about refund strategy: http://www.linux.com/articles/59381 |
= Unsorted Information = Here we collect information and links that currently do not fit anywhere else. Please think twice about alternative locations before posting something here. |
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| = Germany = We are currently gathering information. Please add information here or write an e-mail to germany@fsfeurope.org. == Lenovo == * Michael Voigt reports a successful refund in Germany. The refund is 30€ and this forum entry describes [[http://www.heise.de/newsticker/foren/S-So-gehts-bei-lenovo/forum-124511/msg-13584630/read/ | how to handle the IBM/Lenovo refund]] procedure (german only). * Matthias Kirschner got 30 EUR with the same form as discribed in Michael Voigt's refund for a Microsoft Vista License * Hanno Böck failed with a Microsoft Vista refund http://hboeck.de/archives/658-Lenovo,-Linux-and-Windows-refunding.html with the same form as Matthias and Michael == Dell == * Marcus Dapp (CH) [[http://www.thealternative.ch/tiki-index.php?page=Software-Refund-en | got refund from Dell Germany]]. |
* [[http://pacoriviere.googlepages.com/TornarElUindous.html|Site gathering interesting info]] (in catalan) |
The "Windows Tax" has artificially increased hardware prices for users of GNU/Linux by a mandatory payment to Microsoft even though no Microsoft software is being used on these machines. The reason: Almost any computer and laptop is bundled with a Microsoft Windows licence. Most vendors will not sell computers without it because apparently their terms with Microsoft do not allow it.
The only way to counteract that "Windows Tax" on PCs and laptops is to ask for a refund, but details on this process are not easy to find, and there is no central repository to allow people gather and share their information with the process. Changing that is the purpose of this page.
General information
To prevent trouble with refund, there are some tipps how to buy hardware without Microsoft Tax at the hardware vendor's page.
Read the details about the Microsoft license you want to get refunded on Microsoft's software license terms page.
racketware also collected refund cases
Racketware launched a new campaign aimint at students whose university has a deal with Microsoft: My University offers me my Microsoft Windows ® license Worldwide Campaign
Serge Wroclawski's article "How to get a Windows tax refund" from January 2007
Information for specific countries
Below, there is a list of countries (in alphabetical order) from which we either received interesting news or reports about people trying to get reimbursement. If you want to add a report, please provide date, kind of Microsoft License, company you bought it from and other interesting information. You can also attach your correspondence to your report.
Unsorted Information
Here we collect information and links that currently do not fit anywhere else. Please think twice about alternative locations before posting something here.
Site gathering interesting info (in catalan)