Why J. <

Finally, they got down to business. Salinger insisted on having no dust jacket, only a bare cover with cloth of great durability -- buckram. They talked pica lengths, fonts and space between lines. They were going to do a press run somewhere in the low thousands. No advertising whatsoever. But for how much? Lathbury remembers that Salinger did not ask for an advance and that any money to be made would come from sales.

via washingtonpost.com

Here is a writer!
J. D. Salinger, wrangling with a potential editor over line spacing and book pricing.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

National Post: Our paper hates Women Studies.

If the reports are to be believed, Women’s Studies programs are disappearing at many Canadian universities. Forgive us for being skeptical. We would wave good-bye without shedding a tear, but we are pretty sure these angry, divisive and dubious programs are simply being renamed to make them appear less controversial.

via network.nationalpost.com

Man, what the hell is wrong with the National Post?

I would wave good-bye without shedding a tear to this angry, divisive, and dubious newspaper.

And this is signed by "NP Editor." Does this mean that it is now the official position of the paper to oppose kindergarten?

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Android or iPhone? Wrong Question « abovethecrowd.com

This is why the two products do not compete head to head. With its super aggressive model, Android will be the choice of the masses, and with its sleek design and non-compromising price point, Apple will rule the high end. Many have suggested that Apple is perfectly happy with its high-margin spot at the top of the food chain. They are doing exceptionally well with that position in the personal computer market – in fact, they are currently gaining share at an accelerating pace. So no need to worry about Apple, they are doing just fine (as their stock price suggests). They are just not currently executing a model to become the “Microsoft” of the smartphone market.

via abovethecrowd.com

My thoughts exactly.

This whole Apple/Google rift is being blown out of proportions.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Quote: 3 question normal people will ask when confronted with the new Chrome OS. -- @diveintomark

On the other hand, computer maintenance sucks gargantuan donkey balls, and normal people don’t care about root. If you accost a random person on the street and ask them if they need root on their operating system to install another browser, and they’ll have three questions for you: 1. What’s root? 2. What’s an operating system? 3. What’s a browser?

via diveintomark.org

I wonder how many people I know will know the answer to those three questions.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

San Francisco Bay Bridge built and shipped from China in 22 Days

via businessinsider.com

I didn't know that was possible.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

I can't take seriously, anyone who argues about the smell of books.

Attributes like convenience, portability, price, immediacy, and connectivity are more important to these customers than attributes like paper weight, coating, or smell

via toc.oreilly.com

Smell? Really? Smell?

I didn't think anyone was serious.

Dude, it's a book. You read it. Not take huff between the covers.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Maybe that's why #NYT is dying. "Is This Innovation Too Disruptive for My Firm?" - John Sviokla - HBR

if an innovation threatens the core business model, it is a non-starter. There is no way that the New York Times could have invented Craigslist — it would have been commercial suicide.

via blogs.hbr.org

This author apparent don't believe in the immortality of corporations...

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Why I think economists are morons. "Prostitution reflections forgone opportunities in the marriage market"

Abstract:     
Edlund and Korn [2002] (EK) proposed that prostitutes are well paid and that the wage premium reflects foregone marriage market opportunities. However, studies of street prostitution in the U.S. have revealed only modest wages and considerable risks of disease and violence, casting doubt on EK’s premise of an unexplained wage premium. In this paper, we present evidence from high-end prostitution, the so called escort market, a market that is, if not entirely safe, notably safer than street prostitution. Analyzing wage information on more than 40,000 escorts in the U.S. and Canada collected from a web site, we find strong support for EK. First, escorts in the sample earn high wages, on average $280/hour. Second, while looks decline monotonically with age, wages follow a hump-shaped pattern, with a peak in the 26-30 age bracket, which coincides with the most intensive marriage ages for women in the U.S. Third, the age-wage profile is significantly flatter, and prices are lower (5%), despite slightly better escort characteristics, in cities that rank high in terms of conferences, suggesting that servicing men in transit is associated with less stigma. Fourth, this hump in the age-wage profile is absent among escorts for whom the marriage market penalty is lower or absent: escorts who do not provide sex and transsexuals.

via papers.ssrn.com

One should also read Lena Edlund's earlier paper: "A theory of prostitution"
SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=295069
pdf: http://the-idea-shop.com/papers/prostitution.pdf

Some assumptions and implications in these papers:
1) Men will not marry women who are prostitutes. Corollary: Prostitutes are either single or married to losers who didn't mind their wives are prostitutes.
2) Women who are prostitutes would otherwise be compensated $280 (or some equivalent of this in consumption) if they had gotten married instead.
3) If these women were out being prostitutes, they would choose to get married.

The part I don't get about is this: if Edlund, Engelberg, and Parsons (henceforth, EEP) are right about wage premium amongst escort represents forgone opportunities in the marriage market then one of the follow is true:

1) These women would have to marry millionaires who can compensate them in some ways equivalent to being paid $280/hour.
2) The combination of marriage and childbearing holds the same utility on the women's preference curve as being paid $280/hour.
3) If neither 1) nor 2) are true, then women who choose marriage in their mid-to-late twenties are probably making an irrational choice: they should probably be escorts till they are past 30 years old for travelling businessmen, and then lie to their future husband about their previous career choice.

There is also a funny bit in there about transsexual escorts. According to EEP's logic, they act as a control group. "Transsexuals provide a convenient comparison: while their jobs as escorts are very similar, their marriage prospects are not. According to the logic underpinning EK, if they married as husbands, they would be on the paying side, and if their gender role was that of the wife, they are clearly barren and therefore the basis for compensation would be moot."

Using the same methodology, they found that transsexual escorts make 10% - 22% less than cisgender escorts. Those "barren" transsexuals still seems to get paid a lot. EEP doesn't seem to explain why these "low skilled", "commoditized" workers still gets paid so much.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Richard Stallman is just something else... bejezus

via richard.stallman.usesthis.com

Whoaaa

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

What? Branding is quality journalism?

Two weeks ago the Internet Advertising Bureau and Bain & Company released a study called “Building Brands Online.” 

This report highlights the disconnect between what brand marketers are now asking for in terms of quality measurement on the Web—brand awareness, purchase intent, favorability—versus what online publishers have traditionally been providing them—click-thrus, unique visitors, ad impressions.
 So, ironically, what they now want is more of the ‘old media’ metrics they are used to getting from print and television.
 In other words, they are looking for intelligent, quality journalism.

via contentsutra.com

Maybe this was transcribed wrong... At least I hope.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Romance Novels and Rape Fantasies?

The relationships had also modernized: by the 1990s, it was rare to see a book which featured a man raping his future wife.

via en.wikipedia.org

I never knew about this.
Being ten at the time, I didn't know the culture was changing around me. I always accepted this fact.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

#Tumblr & #Posterous: Is there really any kick involve?

via pegontech.wordpress.com

Aside from learning about the meme that New York startup have better design, I cannot agree with the author.

I use both. I think they are different services. That doesn't mean that they don't compete, but it means that you can use both.

Tumblr = social network/mini-blog
Posterous = easiest way to push content into multiple sources via email (and also the rich text bookmarklet is great, if a little problematic.)

Personally, I think these two are eating up all the people that would've gone to Blogger (which I also have). They are both direct inheritors of the whole "push-button blog" idea.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Why the American Publisher will probably not make it. RE: Guillotine of Change

Although they demand, the questions remain: What entitles them to an ebook version of a book? What entitles them to a price threshold of $9.99? What entitles them to a DRM-free ebook? What entitles them to simultaneous release of an ebook and a hardcover?

via americaneditor.wordpress.com

This guy is a moron. And all the kudos I've been hearing about this article kind of crush me. If this is the publishing industry's best response, I don't think they will make it.

This guy argues that about why people deserves to buy DRM-free ebooks at $9.99. Then he weasels his way out by "acknowledging" that market forces will probably force ebooks down to $9.99 that consumers want to pay.

He finish off with a strawman argument that people who disagrees with him believes that they are "entitled" -- rights in the legal sense -- to $9.99 books. He claims his opponents believe they have more more valuable rights, more rights, or that publishers and author have no rights ...

Buddy, I don't think anybody is making that claim. His "opponents" (who aren't: most people who care about ebooks right now are usually book-loving Cassandra's.) argue for cheap, DRM-free books because literature will be better serve by them.

Their cries aren't calls for heads, or trumpeting of non-existing rights, but warnings.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Oh, America! I am puzzled by you! Article: Pack a Gun to Protect from Airline Theft - Lifehacker

Pack a Gun to Protect Valuables from Airline Theft or Loss

If you don't like your bags being out of your sight and it makes you uncomfortable to think that airline workers are rifling through your stuff, you can take advantage of the TSA's own security rules by—eek—packing a gun.

via lifehacker.com

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

The Perils of Progressivism: Whiggish Thoughts

Typical distortions thereby introduced are:

• Viewing the British parliamentary, constitutional monarchy as the apex of human political development;
• Assuming that the constitutional monarchy was in fact an ideal held throughout all ages of the past, despite the observed facts of British history and the several power struggles between monarchs and parliaments;
• Assuming that political figures in the past held current political beliefs (anachronism);
• Assuming that British history was a march of progress whose inevitable outcome was the constitutional monarchy; and
• Presenting political figures of the past as heroes, who advanced the cause of this political progress, or villains, who sought to hinder its inevitable triumph.

via en.wikipedia.org

I was thinking about this today.

I remember a professor in our history class always warning us about taking a Whig's Interpretation of History. He made us read Butterfield. (This whole thing kind of reinforce the idea that even the british empire is highly ideological, as oppose to being merely opportunistic.)

Look at the list above. Take out the word "British" and insert your own little ideological terms. Does it still work?

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Impact

Deborah Compeau’s research shows that people learn technology in different ways. Organizations need to do more to help them.

via ivey.uwo.ca

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

The Newspaper is properly fucked. From @david_a_eaves

The internet is has fucked with the magic of newspapers. And that's scary for anyone who grew up under the old model. Forget about the advertising (that's the part google messed with). What about the simple ego bash and job justification crisis of suddenly being able to see exactly how many readers looked at your piece and how long they chose to stay. And what about discovering that that number is nowhere near what you've been telling yourself for years.

The era of collectively lying magic is over. The average globe weekday circulation is 330,145, the Star's is 446,493 and the Post's 209,211. How many of those papers got read? Half? (the morning was too busy, kids had early practice, didn't have time for a coffee break today, no one grabbed it from the airport lounge or hotel room). Of the remaining papers, most readers skim the paper and maybe read one or two of their favourite columnists plus a news story or two that really catches there eye. In short I suspect most columnists maybe get read, in print, by 60K people. But we don't know, cause there are no good metrics.

via eaves.ca

This is "oh-so-true."
The adword revolution is that marketing finally have metrics to see the effectiveness of ads.

One can argue that the economic rent collected by newspapers has always been propped up by two factors: (1) Natural Monopolies/Duopolies form in every major city; (2) Asymmetric information flow between newspaper ad dept and advertisers.

Now with google, they're gone.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

#GoogleWave works for this guy exactly as #Google intended.

What has Google Wave done for me?

• My stress level is way lower
• Conversations are now organised in topics, and no longer flat
• Fights have become more constructive
• Working across multiple time zones is no longer a problem
• I can share screenshots, design documents with multiple and different people with ease
• I have a single control panel to manage all my conversation with everyone I am working with
• Before Google Wave, I felt like I was working very much and getting very little done. After google wave, I feel I am doing little work, but I am making more and more money every month
• I feel in control of my business - with my iPhone I can access the heart of my business anytime and anywhere

via maxklein.posterous.com

This is probably how google wave should work. But the poorly executed invite-only system completely killed off the network effect that would've made this useful for me.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

HR have no clue sometimes. #HR #FAIL #Geek

Although she's "not entirely plugged-in" to geek culture, Ottawa-based HR consultant Sharon Lambert said that when she hires for corporate clients she does try to find workers who will play nicely with the other staff members.

"Obviously someone has to have the solid technical skills, but especially when I'm hiring for enterprise clients I really (put a) gold star (by) candidates who are poised and polished. You don't have to be Mr. Country Club, but understanding corporate culture is important, and being able to sit in a meeting and be comfortable with the accountants and the product managers is a big advantage," Lambert said.

"If you present yourself like you live under a bridge, you will spend your career in the server room or the wiring closet and, honestly, that's a good fit for some people, but we will need fewer and fewer of them."

Lambert also noted that departments full of hard coders have been notoriously hard to manage, in part because they often had non-techie managers imposed on them from above. But, she said, an increase in technology graduates with a background and education that makes them management material is bound to normalize these departmental relations.

via itworldcanada.com

Sure, those guys may smell funny and have no social skills. But these are still the guys that makes the magic-stuff happen.

In the meantime, those poised candidates are polishing their gold star outside the server room, normalizing departmental relations.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Link: Al Gore - VP, Inventor of the Internet, Living saint of the environment --- now, master typographer

via typotheque.com

It does actually look better.
Al Gore, is there anything you can't do?

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Quote: Seth Godin - People are brainwashed into silence.

Lots of people have been brainwashed that they have nothing to say, or can't say it, or aren't allowed to say it.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

I sort of cherry-picked this quote from Seth Godin talking about marketing. But hell, I think it is related. Self-limiting beliefs.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

#Google. Sociopaths and proud of it. @FSJBlog

Even Microsoft had some tiny bit of shame. Google is a different beast altogether. They’re like nothing anyone has ever seen in our business. Not only are they not ashamed — they think they’re the good guys!

It boggles the mind. They’re pure sociopaths.

via fakesteve.net

Yep. That about sums it up.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Quote: The Awl - The people between X-ers and Millennials

This generation, our generation—and you know who you are—is at the dead center of a profound transition in the way we process information. This is not by any means an original observation, but I'm not sure that enough attention has been paid to those caught in the middle. For my parents and those who are older, it is too late. They will cling on to the old ways of thinking and knowing and will probably be relieved to die without having to make the switch, particularly since they can see where we're all headed and it has absolutely no appeal. For the kids who have grown up plugged in, they know no other way, so they are spared the difficulties of change. They look at the old folks, or even the slightly-older-than-they folks with a mixture of idle curiosity and derision.

But what about us? We were brought up reading for totality. Sure, we were taught to grab the vital bits and pieces as necessary, but there was more of an understanding that a complete text was its own reward, and either by osmosis or unconscious analysis, the necessary information would implant itself within us. These days we're trying to absorb everything new, everything that comes at us in endless waves, with a sorry combination of old tools and an unsettled and slightly faulty concept of the new ways in which words signify and convey. The most successful of this cohort will be those who are able to separate themselves from the lessons we were taught at the start and adopt the new methods while carefully maintaining previous understandings, but knowing when to avoid those understandings lest they interfere with the new process.

via theawl.com

I've complaining about feeling old for the last five years. I know I am not actually old. But I know that I am one of the last and first of a new age. A few years older, I'd be one of the people moaning about the death of books and newspapers. A few years younger, and I might not have actually even read a newspaper.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

The real deal about Gen Y: they're inherently conservative | Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist

Gen Y does not admit it, but their top priority is stability. This is a fundamentally conservative generation.

via blog.penelopetrunk.com

I remember in 2002 talking people in my graduating class about how the kids that came immediately after us were all kinda boring. They just didn't do anything really exciting. Heck, it didn't feel like that they even knew how to do anything exciting.

Yeah. Totally. There is a certain amount of snooze-factor for kids born in the 1980's.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

$30,000 a year to blog fulltime -- um, no thanks.

$30,000 USD still sounds big when you’re a new blogger – and in some ways it is. However there are different ways of thinking about that figure. Lets break it down in the way that I used to look at my target.

• $30,000 a year = $576.92 per week
• $30,000 a year = $82.19 a day
• $30,000 a year = $3.42 an hour

via problogger.net

This guy just wrote an article on how people can *ASPIRE* to make $30000 a year blogging.

His inspirational numbers are for someone to work 24 hours a day, for 365 days a year.

BTW, strictly speaking, he isn't wrong. Your blog, once written and properly monetized should make you money all day long, even when you sleep. But you will probably have to work really hard. Most full time bloggers I follow work weekends. Other seems to have fiendish schedules of from morning till 2AM and never-ending schedules.

The other problem is that $30000 is very little money. It's about $13-$15 an hour for most folks with a regular 9-5. This is all without having to take on venture risk, without variable income, and without stress. Also, you don't have to pimp your good name to sell "Really Big Commission Affiliate Products" like training courses or "yearly-memberships" to your blog.

This guy isn't talking about passive income. He is saying that if you work hard full-time on your blog and, in the mean time, keep your day job, and if you find crazy ways to scam money from your readers -- especially your most passionate fans -- you *may* make about the same as a 19 years old assistant manager at McDonald's.

I don't know if everybody has gotten all daffy, or if my generation of tech-savvy writers are just a bunch of idiots.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

I will continue to hate agro-sentimentalists.

Any agro-economist will tell you that urban farming creates jobs. Even without local production, the food industry creates three dollars of job growth for every dollar spent on food—a larger multiplier effect than almost any other product or industry. Farm a city, and that figure jumps over five dollars. To a community with persistent two-digit unemployment, that number is manna. But that’s only one economic advantage of farming a city

via guernicamag.com

That just means that agriculture is labour-intensive.
There was a reason why the Industrial Revolution *LIFTED* people out of poverty.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Man stuff. Man stuff? What man stuff?

"It's a good turn-on for Jewish girls if you know how to do things—like fix cars or carry things—because chances are our dads didn't know how to do that growing up, which was annoying. Man things, not intellectual things. Because most Jewish girls—we're smart and we're driven, but we don't want to do things like put a couch together. I remember I got all this fancy stuff for my bat mitzvah, like a flat screen TV—all this stuff that my dad could have put together if he was good at anything except for his job. Instead they just sat there. I eventually had to get a boyfriend to come over and put it together."

via details.com

I wonder if some asian girl will one day say the same thing about their Asian fathers.

Hell, what is wrong with not being able to put a couch together?

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Cut This Story! - The Atlantic (January/February 2010)

One reason seekers of news are abandoning print newspapers for the Internet has nothing directly to do with technology. It’s that newspaper articles are too long. On the Internet, news articles get to the point. Newspaper writing, by contrast, is encrusted with conventions that don’t add to your understanding of the news.

via theatlantic.com

Sudden urge to go edit (green) something.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Dispatches from the Loony Left. They hate Obama now.

I say this for three reasons; the failure to push for meaningful healthcare reform in the face of the health care mandate, his failure to follow through on his promises to repeal don't ask don't tell; and his failure to understand that the people opposed to him are not dealing in good faith and as such he needs to do everything he can to minimize their impact rather than pretending he is working with adults who actually care about anything other than playing a petty game of political one upsmanship.

via wetasphalt.com

Geez. Cannot agree. Except reason number two.

Posted via web from Sammy's posterous

Apparently, #Gateway is all about screwing customers over.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gateway Support <gatewaysupport@mailwc.custhelp.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 4:22 AM
Subject: I declined the Windows EULA [Incident: 100104-002459]
To: ##***##&
Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support
center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it
within the next 7 days.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

To access your question from our support site, click the following
link or paste it into your web browser.
http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gateway_us.cfg/php/enduser/acct_login.php?p_userid=p&p_next_page=myq_upd.php&p_iid=877434&p_created=1262669711

Subject
---------------------------------------------------------------

I declined the Windows EULA

Discussion Thread
---------------------------------------------------------------
Response (Rajith_GWSI682) - 01/05/2010 01:22 AM
Dear razor_goto,
Thank you for contacting Gateway. I’ll be happy to assist you with this operating system issue.
As per the serial number the system is in warranty.
Please note that we do not provide refund for the operating system installed in the system.
If you wish to decline it you can do it. This operating system is bundled along with the hardware when you purchase the hardware.
The Service Request number for this issue is:1-5UBCOD
For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site http://support.gateway.com/
Have a great day!
Respectfully,
Gateway Online Technical Support

Customer (razor_goto) - 01/04/2010 09:35 PM
Hi, I read the EULA for windows and I declined it.
The EULA has this provision:
"By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the manufacturer or installer to determine their return policy for a refund or credit."
Can I have a refund for the Windows that was installed on my PC?
Auto-Response - 01/04/2010 09:35 PM
Title: Upgrade RAM in the computer
Link: http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gateway_us.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=360&p_created=1250861026
Title: Microsoft Office Asks For A Product Key
Link: http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gateway_us.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=261&p_created=1197925766
Title: Error Install Path Too Long
Link: http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gateway_us.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=33&p_created=1195666801
Title: Restoring Drivers and Applications using eRecovery
Link: http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gateway_us.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=42&p_created=1195667675
Title: Hardware And Software Not Shipped With The System
Link: http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gateway_us.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=200&p_created=1195677233

Question Reference #100104-002459
---------------------------------------------------------------

     Category Level 1: Others
         Date Created: 01/04/2010 09:35 PM

         Last Updated: 01/05/2010 01:22 AM
               Status: Solved

     Operating System: Windows XP
        Serial Number: LUW*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#
Model
---------------------------------------------------------------
lt31

[---001:002651:47598---]

Posted via email from Sammy's posterous

On not getting a refund (so far) for Windows XP from #Gateway (owned by #Acer)

I got a new laptop on boxing day. I decided that I didn't want to use XP and declined the EULA. Now, the EULA specifically stated that:

"By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the manufacturer or installer to determine their return policy for a refund or credit."

So I went on the Gateway website, registered my computer, and went on a chat session with a customer rep.

This is what happened.

 

GWSI1160 joined the incident.

GWSI1160 says:

Welcome to Gateway Chat. My name and badge number are GWSI1160. I am looking at your account and the information you submitted. I will begin troubleshooting with you in just a moment.

razorgoto says:

ok

GWSI1160 says:

Hello, razorgoto.

razorgoto says:

hi

GWSI1160 says:

Thank you for staying online.I really appreciate your patience.

razorgoto says:

No problem

GWSI1160 says:

I have verified that the gateway product is registered and is covered under warranty

GWSI1160 says:

May I know the exact issue?

razorgoto says:

yes, i read the end-user agreement for the windows software that came with my computer

razorgoto says:

I don't agree with it

razorgoto says:

it says that I have the right to not accept

razorgoto says:

in which case, I should contact gateway for refund on windows

GWSI1160 says:

You need to select I agree to continue the installation of windows.

razorgoto says:

but I don't agree

razorgoto says:

I read the eula and I don't agree with the agreement

GWSI1160 says:

If you select dont agree, it will not proceed with the installation.

razorgoto says:

It didn't

razorgoto says:

it didn't install

razorgoto says:

I understand that it doesn't install unless I agree

razorgoto says:

But I don't agree with the EULA

GWSI1160 says:

We dont have information on the EULA agreement. We only provide the basic support. For more information contact answers by gateway who are expects in dealing with all type of issues and agreement.

GWSI1160 says:

For further assistance the best option is calling Answers by Gateway. Our representatives have advanced industry knowledge of all major brands and their merchandise, so they are able to provide you with expertise when answering questions about those products.

GWSI1160 says:

Please contact Answers by Gateway department which is a paid support for getting better assistance in resolving this issue. The phone number for Answers by Gateway is 800 237 6483. Please Note: The per minute charge for the number will begin 1 minute after you dial the number regardless of whether an agent has answered the call.

razorgoto says:

wait

razorgoto says:

I am not asking for technical assistance

razorgoto says:

I am asking for a refund on windows

GWSI1160 says:

Microsoft is responsible for the EULA. as the windows is their product. Gateway will not refund on windows.

razorgoto says:

That is not what is written in the EULA

razorgoto says:

EULA specifies that I contact the OEM.

razorgoto says:

This is from the EULA that I refused.

razorgoto says:

"By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the manufacturer or installer to determine their return policy for a refund or credit."

GWSI1160 says:

We dont have the information on that.contact answers by gateway who also deal with licence agreement.

razorgoto says:

wait a minute, you're telling me that I have to pay to call a technical support line just to get a refund on a product?

razorgoto says:

Can you escalate my incident to another desk?

GWSI1160 says:

We do not have that option. To contact next level contact gateway free phone support @ 866-539-3901.

<At this point the GWSI1160 pretended that we got disconnected and ended the session.>

Undeterred, I sent an email to the Gateway Technical support. 

Subject: I declined the Windows EULA

Hi, I read the EULA for windows and I declined it.

The EULA has this provision:

"By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the manufacturer or installer to determine their return policy for a refund or credit."

Can I have a refund for the Windows that was installed on my PC?

Going to wait to see what happens next.

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