Microsoft is trying to kill two birds with one stone: protect its intellectual Windows property and help the green cause.
The software giant rolled out a program called Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) that will let PC refurbishers and other businesses that resell used PCs install legitimate copies of Windows on reset computers.
The idea is to offer businesses or consumers looking to buy refurbished PCs genuine licensed Windows. Currently Microsoft has a program for education and non-profit groups to refurbish old PCs with Windows called Community MAR.
Microsoft says the secondary market for PCs is huge. In a study it did with Gartner in 2004 they found was 150 million PCs entered the secondary market, and of those, approximately 20 million were refurbished and resold. Today that this number is closer to 28 million PCs, making refurbished PCs over 10% of the worldwide PC market, Microsoft said.
With MAR Microsoft is offering a new license that is only available through the MAR program: Windows XP Home for Refurbished PCs and Windows XP Professional for Refurbished PCs. As long as the PCs that are being refurbished have a Certificate of Authenticity (COA), they can be easily licensed. Refurbishers typically reinstall the software that originally came preloaded on a PC — which legally requires they possess the computer’s original Certificate of Authenticity (COA). Because these proof-of-purchases can be hard to find, many refurbished PCs don’t ship with an operating system preinstalled. For Microsoft, that’s a bad thing. For one it leaves Windows revenues on the table but it also opens the path for Linux or other systems to be installed on the PC.But licensing is only one aspect of the program, the other is decidedly green.
One of the big concerns in the secondary market is with the proper disposal or recycling of PCs, rather than having them end up in landfills. The refurbishers with whom Microsoft said are launching the MAR program have strict environmental processes to address these concerns, Microsoft said.
