Refund on bundled Windows software 3979

In a message on Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:51:20 GMT, wrote :

As a general rule, the 'software' included with interface cards is included at no cost. It would be like trying to get a 'refund' for things like the 'instruction manual' that might come with an electric drill and you happen to be a professional carpenter and this is the 500th electric drill you have purchased.

'MS-Windows', 'MS-Office', etc. are *products* available separately from the computer and are NOT produced by the hardware vendor, who is effectively acting as a reseller of the software products. The 'MS-Windows', 'MS-Office', etc. software in fact has real 'value' (of a sorts) separately from the computer it might come bundled with. In the case of the driver disks tossed in with a video card, the software on it was produced (written by) the maker of the video card and has no value without the video card (anyone *else* who has a compatible video card also has a copy of the driver software, or at least such a driver software disk came with the card). Also, *all* (AFAIK) hardware device makers (of video cards, network cards, SCSI controllers, etc.) make the contents of the driver disk available as a *for free* download -- they don't even bother to ask for 'proof of purchase'. I can sit here and *repeatedly* click the download button, copy each copy to a fresh floppy disk, and thus have 10s or 100s of copies. Yes you can *ask* for a refund, but only for the real value of the software: $0.00. It is much like asking for a $0.02 refund when you go to a store and buy one small item (say a pack of gum) and tell the sales clerk that you don't need a bag.