[TriLUG] New Vista laptop needs Linux

[Hadrian Zbarcea]

Michael, I've had experiences similar to yours.  I think it depends a  
lot on who you get to talk to.  I think  employees tend to behave  
(predictably) irrationally when such odd requests pop up and act  
towards minimizing their personal risk and not increasing the business  
revenue.

http://www.predictablyirrational.com/

Hadrian


On Dec 17, 2008, at 9:42 AM, Michael Kimsal wrote:

> Not sure if that was directed specifically at me, since I mentioned  
> I've
> been booted out.  That was slightly overstated - I was told by  
> someone at
> BestBuy
> that if I kept asking I would be escorted out of the building.  I  
> don't
> shop there any more.
>
> In another case (circuit city) I asked if I could boot up from a  
> liveusb
> disk
> to see if my linux distro would work.  "No, I can't let you do  
> that."  "Why
> not?"
> "It's store policy."  "Why?  I just want to boot - I don't write to  
> the
> drive."
> "We might get viruses."  "But I'd really like to give you $600 for  
> this
> laptop if I can prove it works with the live usb drive.  I just want  
> to
> check."
> "No, this is store policy."
>
> I was not agitated, but was in a hurry in both cases
> (laptop had just broke and I was trying to get a new one in a hurry.
>
> Both of these stores were on Capital near Triangle Town Center.  If  
> anyone
> else has had better luck at those stores, let me know.
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 9:15 AM, <OlsonE at aosa.army.mil> wrote:
>
>> Ihmo, if you're going to use the "livecd", then you should be  
>> allowed.
>> But to wipe Windows off the machine without putting it back in its
>> original state ...I'd also tell you to leave my store. I've had no
>> issues booting LiveCDs at any of the local area places I've been
>> (BestBuy, BJ's, Circuit City ...etc).
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
>> Behalf Of Glenn Starling
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 3:15 PM
>> To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion
>> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] New Vista laptop needs Linux
>>
>> I have had good luck at several stores just asking the sales person
>> helping
>> me if I could "try" Ubuntu.  They said "yes" and watched me as I  
>> booted
>> the
>> live version.  I also indicated that it would not write anything to
>> their
>> hard disk.  I had already asked for their machine recommendation and
>> they
>> knew that I was going to put Linux on the machine if I bought it.
>>
>> Glenn
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Steve Litt" <slitt at troubleshooters.com>
>> To: "Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion" <trilug at trilug.org 
>> >
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:59 AM
>> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] New Vista laptop needs Linux
>> ...
>>> Now you know why I buy my laptops at Costco.
>>>
>>> By the way, most of the time I've been able to sneakily boot live
>> distros
>>> on
>>> display laptops at Costco.
>>>
>>
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>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Michael Kimsal
> http://michaelkimsal.com
> 919.827.4724 - Skype
> 919.455.8488 - Cell
> -- 
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