This is why I only use & support Free & Open Source Software in my personal life. This man is going to prison. Prison.
"A California man who built a sizable business out of recycling electronic waste is headed to federal prison for 15 months after a federal appeals court in Miami rejected his claim that the “restore disks” he made to extend the lives of computers had no financial value, instead ruling that he had infringed Microsoft’s products to the tune of $700,000."
@tinker Wow. I read that article, and I'm still kinda confused. So, as I understand it, this man was selling people a way to restore Windows on a computer, if they already had a license, right? He wasn't selling licenses at all?
Yeah, given the trouble I've had trying to restore Windows OEM licenses in the past when I've done reinstalls, I can see why they went after him. Microsoft probably makes good money each year selling new Windows licenses to people who (probably) don't need them.
@mdm - Yeah, it appears that MS was angry that he might be digging into sales of new computers and new licenses.
From the article, "Initially, federal prosecutors valued the disks at $299 each, the cost of a brand-new Windows operating system, and Lundgren’s indictment claimed he had cost Microsoft $8.3 million in lost sales."
They then lowered the cost of the "damage" to $25 per CD which is what they charged refurbishers, even though the software was still free on the MS site.
