[Am-info] Wal-Mart [WAS: The Wallmart PC]

[ethical@1of1.net]

In a message dated 2002 March 01 (Friday), timestamp 03:42 PM, 
   on the topic [Am-info] The Wallmart PC,
   John Poltorak <jp@eyup.org> wrote:


"|Does anyone know if Microsoft has attempted to use any strong arm
"|tactics  to prevent Wallmart selling their 'naked' PC?

"|At one point Microsoft wanted people to 'turn in' any PC suppliers 
"|offering PC without Windows pre-installed. I can't believe they have
"| allowed Wallmart to get away with such scurrilous behaviour without
"| threatening them with some sort of legal action.

Microsoft never had any basis to bring a legal action against a
hardware vendor who (1) was not a Microsoft licensee, and (2) was not
selling (or aiding others to sell) illegally copied or grey market
Microsoft software.  Commonly the threat to hardware vendos was:  if
you sell 10,000 PCs with Microsoft installed, your per-processor
charge is X dollars, total Microsoft tax:  10,000x.  if you sell 9,999
PCs with Microsoft installed, and one PC bare or with another OS, your
per-processor charge is (X+Y), total Microsoft tax:  9,999(X+Y). 

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