Get Paid Handsomely for Fighting Windows Preloaded on OEM Machines

Microsoft currently dominates that operating system market with Windows, as the ubiquitous platform has the lion's share with in excess of 93%. A large part of this percentage is intimately connected with the fact that Microsoft has partnered with the world's top original equipment manufacturers and system builders in order to preinstall the Windows operating system and sell it concomitantly with new machines.

In this context, there is little choice for customers in the matter, as they have to acquire both the hardware and the preinstalled software that comes along with it. Well, little choice might not exactly be the correct phrase. The fact of the matter is that Antoine Gutzwiller, from France did manage to find a workaround to the Windows installation he didn't want on his machine.

Gutzwiller went all out and sued Acer, the OEM from which he had bought a laptop in 2006. The French man not only did not want Windows XP installed on his laptop, but also a variety of additional software on the computer. The lawsuit lasted over a year, but in the end, Gutzwiller won, and he will now get paid handsomely. Gutzwiller initially paid just �599 for his Acer notebook. Now as a result of the Court's decision, the man is going to get back twice the amount he spent in the first place.

The French court granted Gutzwiller, the following financial retributions, for the "trauma" of having to put up with a preinstalled copy of Windows XP as well as with Acer's refusal to do anything about it: "- 311,85 � as refunding, the detail being the following; 135,20 � for Microsoft Windows XP Home (including 49,90 euros for the installation); 60,00 � for Microsoft Works; 40,99 � for PowerDVD; 38,66 � for Antivirus Norton; 37,00 � for NTI CD Maker; 500,00 � as damages for abusive resistance and expenses engaged in my action; 150,00 � in refunding of the irr�p�tibles expenses."