MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-02-06 |
| FROM | Adam Kosmin
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] WindowsRefund.net update
|
Hello gang,
I just wanted to take a moment to provide an update on the current
status of the campaign. Please forgive me if this is off topic but many
of you have shown me tremendous support and therefore, I feel obligated
to share this info.
A few months ago, you may have heard my rants that I would be taking
Toshiba back to court here in New York. At the time, I felt extremely
grateful to have found the support of a very well known lawyer who
believed in the campaign's mission. We spent some time discussing various
strategies and planning our next move. I was especially delighted to
have received financial support and planned to use it to offset some of
the expected court fees that would have had to be paid.
Sadly, I must report that this case will not be brought before New York
City's Civil Court since my lawyer has recently informed me that we are
inadequately funded. To my surprise, he predicts that we would need
roughly 50k in order to proceed. I don't think I need to tell anyone on
this list how disappointed I am so I won't get dramatic.
Despite the lost momentum, I still believe that the campaign is
warranted and can make a difference. I'd like to believe that my efforts
are in some way responsible for Steve Ouline's victory in California's
Small Claims Court where he was awarded a refund for his unused copy of
a Microsoft operating system. I'd also like to think that the campaign's
message may have inspired Mike Angelo's recent article about Dell's
support of Linux. Regardless, there have been many interesting moments
throughout the short life of WindowsRefund.net and I still think that
much change is needed. Therefore, I continue to look for ways to try and
influence change.
One thing I am working on now is a survey that I would like to
publish on the site where people can rate a particular vendor on their
ability and willingness to support the Linux community. If all goes
well, the data from this survey will be used to provide us with a bird's
eye view of this situation and will motivate these vendors to make
improvements in order to avoid being slotted in last place. Currently, I
am waiting for an update to the survey software over at pnesp.sf.net
which is needed before I can put it into production.
All in all, I am always interested in hearing ideas and even more
interested in receiving support from those interested in making progress
with this campaign. I still believe this is a numbers game. The more
people that take this issue into the court, the more articles that are
written, the more phone calls and letters that are written to vendors,
the better our chances are of seeing change. I hope that
WindowsRefund.net can provide a central place of collaboration for those
of us interested in influencing this change and welcome your
participation.
Thanks,
Adam Kosmin
WindowsRefund.net
--
"Yes, Your Honor. Now, where we are so far, in at least my
line of reasoning, is I want to walk the Court through enough of our
complaint to help the Court understand that IBM clearly did contribute a
lot of the Unix-related information into Linux. We just don't know what
it is."
-- Kevin McBride SCO vs. IBM 12/05/03
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