{"id":321,"date":"2009-07-09T19:20:01","date_gmt":"2009-07-09T19:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/?page_id=321"},"modified":"2024-12-06T03:05:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T03:05:55","slug":"avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 &#8211; PC World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>This is the third article in a new series of case studies illustrating the difficulty one has purchasing a PC in the UK without being forced to pay a &#8220;Microsoft Tax&#8221;. We use Linux on all our PC&#8217;s and have done so for several years. Therefore we do not need, nor should we be forced to pay for any Microsoft software licenses. This week we report on a visit to our local PC World.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2>PC World&#8217;s Penguin rating<\/h2>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" border=\"1\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Marks out of five for PC World&#8217;s customer care.<br \/>\n(This is probably higher than it deserves. However all the staff we spoke to were friendly and helpful, even if they were completely ineffective and devoid of in-depth technical knowledge.)<\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-314 aligncenter\" title=\"Penguin points graphic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/www.garfnet.org_.uk_coppermine_albums_archive_misc_logo_tux-points-1.png\" alt=\"Penguin points graphic\" width=\"32\" height=\"38\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-314 aligncenter\" title=\"Penguin points graphic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/www.garfnet.org_.uk_coppermine_albums_archive_misc_logo_tux-points-1.png\" alt=\"Penguin points graphic\" width=\"32\" height=\"38\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-314 aligncenter\" title=\"Penguin points graphic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/www.garfnet.org_.uk_coppermine_albums_archive_misc_logo_tux-points-1.png\" alt=\"Penguin points graphic\" width=\"32\" height=\"38\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-315 aligncenter\" title=\"Penguin nil-points graphic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/www.garfnet.org_.uk_coppermine_albums_archive_misc_logo_tux-points-0.png\" alt=\"Penguin nil-points graphic\" width=\"32\" height=\"38\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-315 aligncenter\" title=\"Penguin nil-points graphic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/www.garfnet.org_.uk_coppermine_albums_archive_misc_logo_tux-points-0.png\" alt=\"Penguin nil-points graphic\" width=\"32\" height=\"38\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Overall rating<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" colspan=\"5\"><strong>3\/10 = better than some suppliers but still pretty hopeless!<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Events<\/h2>\n<p>TBH I don&#8217;t know whey I even bothered. UK supplier PC World has a reputation for paying its staff peanuts and hiring moderately amiable monkeys. Which is exactly what I found. Most did not know what Linux is. The few that had heard of it, just muttered something about PC World did not supporting it, and their computers probably would not run it.<\/p>\n<p>Well, that was that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the third article in a new series of case studies illustrating the difficulty one has purchasing a PC in the UK without being forced to pay a &#8220;Microsoft Tax&#8221;. We use Linux on all our PC&#8217;s and have done so for several years. Therefore we do not need, nor should we be forced&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,691,29,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal","category-linux","category-microsoft-windows-tax-scam","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 - PC World - GarfNet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 - PC World - GarfNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the third article in a new series of case studies illustrating the difficulty one has purchasing a PC in the UK without being forced to pay a &#8220;Microsoft Tax&#8221;. We use Linux on all our PC&#8217;s and have done so for several years. Therefore we do not need, nor should we be forced...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GarfNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-09T19:20:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-06T03:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"318\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Garf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Garf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Garf\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"headline\":\"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 &#8211; PC World\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-09T19:20:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-06T03:05:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":210,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Journal\",\"Linux\",\"Microsoft Windows Tax Scam\",\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 - PC World - GarfNet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-09T19:20:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-06T03:05:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/02\\\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg\",\"width\":240,\"height\":318},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/09\\\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 &#8211; PC World\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/\",\"name\":\"GarfNet\",\"description\":\"Penguin-powered and full of Unixy goodness, since 1995...\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\",\"name\":\"Garf\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"width\":2420,\"height\":1928,\"caption\":\"Garf\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/author\\\/garf-admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 - PC World - GarfNet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 - PC World - GarfNet","og_description":"This is the third article in a new series of case studies illustrating the difficulty one has purchasing a PC in the UK without being forced to pay a &#8220;Microsoft Tax&#8221;. We use Linux on all our PC&#8217;s and have done so for several years. Therefore we do not need, nor should we be forced...","og_url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/","og_site_name":"GarfNet","article_published_time":"2009-07-09T19:20:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-06T03:05:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":240,"height":318,"url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Garf","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Garf","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/"},"author":{"name":"Garf","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"headline":"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 &#8211; PC World","datePublished":"2009-07-09T19:20:01+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-06T03:05:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/"},"wordCount":210,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg","articleSection":["Journal","Linux","Microsoft Windows Tax Scam","Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/","name":"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 - PC World - GarfNet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg","datePublished":"2009-07-09T19:20:01+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-06T03:05:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/linux_vs_microsoft.jpg","width":240,"height":318},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2009\/07\/09\/avoiding-the-microsoft-tax-part-3-pc-world\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 3 &#8211; PC World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#website","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/","name":"GarfNet","description":"Penguin-powered and full of Unixy goodness, since 1995...","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635","name":"Garf","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","width":2420,"height":1928,"caption":"Garf"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png"},"url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/author\/garf-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26813,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions\/26813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}