Online shopping giant
Amazon has admitted that it may have misled consumers into buying OEM versions of Windows XP with free upgrades to Vista, which they aren't entitled to.
Last week, IT PRO's sister publication PC Pro revealed how angry PC owners are turning on Microsoft after their upgrade vouchers for Windows Vista were
deemed ineligible. Customers who bought OEM versions of Windows XP, complete with an upgrade voucher for Vista, are being told they don't qualify for the upgrade unless the operating system was installed on a brand new machine by a system builder.
Microsoft claims the OEM versions should only be sold to system builders and not the general public, but online retailers such as Amazon have been making the OEM software freely available to consumers.
PC Pro reader Iain Whittington is one such Amazon customer, and was dismayed to find that he didn't qualify for the free Vista upgrade. When he complained to Amazon that the company's product pages failed to warn him of the restrictions on OEM software he received the following reply from customer services:
"It is true that the information displayed on our website is insufficient and we are currently working on including a warning on the listing for this item. Please do accept our apologies for this misunderstanding.'"........
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