

  (Source: Universal Studios)







Microsoft Reading, Berkshire


II. Comet Accuses Microsoft of Abusing Customers








Windows XP







III. Former Parent Says Comet Has "No Value" Anymore






Comet store











Windows Phone v. Android










Microsoft scandal
[Image Source: BusinessWire, left; DailyMail, others]



Comments     Threshold


RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By JasonMick (blog) on 1/4/2012 3:01:26 PM , Rating: 3
You can get recovery discs from the PC makers. They are the ones you bought the computer from if you are in a "need a recovery disc" situation. You are not a customer of MS, you are a customer of the OEM who happens to use an operating system by MS to power what they are selling you. MS does not supply recovery media to OEM users because they have no reason to. Blame the PC makers, not Microsoft. They license Windows, modify it to their OEM needs, and distribute it under an OEM license to the end user. They are the ones who should supply recovery means. They certainly can, they just don't to save money. The fact that comet was getting 100% profit from selling pirated discs, keys or no keys, means they are in the wrong.

I don't think this is entirely accurate. The situation is a bit confusing, given that most of the people reporting on it -- myself included -- don't live in Britain; and even the British publications are scant on details.

It sounds like they did NOT individually sell these discs, but merely handed them out with computers they built or computers they purchased from OEMs, that lacked recovery discs; or alternatively with valid licensed OS's that consumers purchased. The customer still needed the valid key that came with their system/OS purchase.

I think Microsoft is arguing that this became a selling point of their PCs/OS software and since it was bundled with them, accounts for some of the "millions" they made in PC/OS sales....

That's how I understand the situation.

I think the point here is, yes doing what Comet did without permission appears to be blatantly illegal, but the fact that Microsoft is essentially denying them the same privileges it's granting OEMs and customers is a bit odd, in that Comet appears to only have been trying to give a convenience, albeit a poorly legally thought out convenience.

I have yet to read a report that stated that Comet engaged in stand alone sales of recovery discs (say selling the recovery disc by itself for $10). If it did that, it was pretty stupid... but if it merely bundled them, it's still sort of stupid, but Microsoft would also be somewhat unreasonable in the latter case.

Now granted I'm a fan of the free market... I don't think the UK federal government/big brother should play nanny and force Microsoft to allow Comet to print recovery discs for bundled distribution. It's Microsoft's right to refuse.

But if that's indeed the scenario that's playing out, customers should take note and remember that kind of garbage when they're presented with a choice in the near future between say a tablet/laptop-minded Android variant (free) and a Windows operating system (paid). Of course convenience factors may trump such annoyance at Microsoft's policies, but if Microsoft accrues enough strikes with consumers, it could impact its sales, assuming valid alternatives eventually come along in the market (which would require a large app base -- like what Android and iOS currently have).

Current popular Linux distributions like Ubuntu and CentOS are great for scientific computing (which heavily uses distributed source code) or for basic net-top sort of use. But any sort of power use is simply not practical, given the lack of solid support for the best tools -- paid commercial apps like Photoshop (yes you can get CS5 to run on Ubuntu if you try really hard and use Knoppix but most customers don't want that much pain and annoyance; and yes there is GIMP, I've used GIMP, but GIMP is no Photoshop)... That's merely one example, but it's illustrative of why Microsoft for now is able to do whatever it wants and customers essentially have to put up with its poor decisions, should it make poor decisions.

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By Trisped on 1/4/2012 3:45:46 PM , Rating: 2
While things do not seem clear from the American perspective, Comet must have been doing more then just giving away recovery disks with the computers they sold. After all, you can get a recovery disk made from your new computer at Office Depot, Best Buy, Staples, and every other computer store in the US, though you might have to pay $10-$40 for the disk.

From your article it seems Comet was copying disks and distributing them rather then using the software installed on the computer (either built into windows 7 or added by the OEM) which is what is suppose to be done.

Having worked in PC sales I can say there are a lot of things which can go wrong with making copies of on recovery disk rather then using the built in utilities (disk does not have the correct license, software, drivers, etc.).

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By Samus on 1/4/2012 5:34:07 PM , Rating: 2
HP charges $40 for a recovery kit for any of their PC's.

It's cheaper to make the discs yourself, but more expensive to opt to buy a whole new license from Microsoft.

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By JasonMick (blog) on 1/4/2012 6:05:26 PM , Rating: 1


The issue, it would seem, is possibly that Microsoft gets a cut of that HP recovery kit's$40, but wasn't getting any similar cash kickbacks from Comet's bundled packages or perhaps individual sales.

That may be why Microsoft sued in this case... Just a hypotheses at this point, though.

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By sigmatau on 1/4/2012 8:57:10 PM , Rating: 3
I love the recovery partitions but,

A disc in hand is better than two recovery partitions in the bush.

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By Reclaimer77 on 1/5/12, Rating: -1
RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By kleinma on 1/4/2012 9:05:52 PM , Rating: 2
Samus, that is an interesting price figure. How far did you reach into your ass to pull it out?

I can get a set of recovery discs for a Win7x64 brand new DV7 series laptop from HP, shipped, for $16.00. That is IF I don't create a set of recovery discs when the machine is new and gives me the chance to, and need to actually order them. If your drive goes on you in warranty, and you didn't make recovery discs, they ship you a set for free with the replacement drive and overnight shipping. So you people can put your pitch forks and torches down, Comet did something illegal and against the license. They probably knew it wasn't legal too. They had to at least question the legality of it. They sure didn't bother to check with MS if it would be ok first, did they?

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By Aloonatic on 1/5/2012 8:08:34 AM , Rating: 2
It's great that you're happy to possibly have to pay twice for something.

Companies like MS really must love suckers like you :o)

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By kleinma on 1/5/2012 9:51:30 AM , Rating: 1
You are clearly another uneducated person who loves to rag on MS while typing on your overpriced macbook pro feeling good about yourself.

As stated several times already in the comments here, Microsoft does not make money on this. Microsoft does not dictate to HP, Dell, or anyone else how they should distribute recovery media, or at what price. Recovery media is not only a Windows install disc, it is a system image for a specific machine.

I did not say I am happy to pay for something twice, (nor would I ever have to). I was stating that someone saying "HP charges 40 dollars for recovery discs" is a total outright lie that they fabricated to try to make the situation look worse to people who read internet blog comments and accept them as fact.

RE: Hope things go Comet's way
By kleinma on 1/4/2012 8:56:56 PM , Rating: 2
Not for nothing Jason, but the quote from your own article does make it sound like they were in fact selling them.


