There are complaints in other mailing lists to wich I subscribe, that doing a dual boot on a system with XP will actually result in a duel between the partitions, with non-enslaving s/w being eXPpelled from the hard disk.
You may be able to install linux on a partition. But, next time you boot into XP, the 'install new hardware' program will run and the linux partition will be formatted and converted to winXP partition, of course, *with* your permission, which you gave by clicking the 'accept' button first your system was run.
vsasi@vsnl.com wrote:
(a) that there was a hidden partition of 4 GB that contained the OS
Huh? So the HDD is actually 44GB (or more)? Or is that the system would display HDD size to be 36GB, and it would require some hacking to identify the OS partition? (Just curious)
(b) that, if the disk was partitioned and the machine was connected to the Internet, then it would inform IBM about the change in configuration and the purchaser would lose the warranty.
You are wrong there. Info goes to M$. It goes whether you partition or not; every time you (1) access the net; (2) change your hardware configureaion.
It will not ask you before installing software upgrades.
You will not be informed that all info on the MP3, WMA files and other multi media / audio files on your system is being sent to some secret location.
Would any of you have any information on such practices? This seems to be a serious matter that has to be taken up.
In US, M$ has a division for dealing with requests for refund from customers who purchased systems with M$ pre-installed. Conditions apply, the condition is that you should not hit the 'accept' button (apparently) at first start up. In your case, the system vendor or his service technicians have already done it for your friend. So, forget refund, unless you want to fignt it in court with the hardware vendors.
Regards, Mahesh T Pai.