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Microsoft rewards tattlers
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May 2, 2001: 1:45 p.m. ET
Memo: Turn in customers who try to buy a machine without Windows, win a prize
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Microsoft Corp. is rewarding computer makers who turn in customers who want to buy machines without the Windows operating system, a published report said Wednesday.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the offer was made last week by e-mail by a regional unit of the software company. It was sent to thousands of large and small companies that assemble personal computers.
"You may be eligible to win prizes! Here's how," states the message, which was posted earlier this week on a computer-news Web site called aaxnet.com. Prizes include a Fast Cook & Grill Combo and Travel Chair, as well as Microsoft computer games and a Fossil Big Tic watch, the paper said.
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 PRIZES INCLUDE:
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a Fast Cook & Grill combo
a travel Chair
Microsoft computer games
a Fossil Big Tic watch
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Microsoft confirmed the message, stating that it was simply a response to confusion among some corporate customers about their rights under licensing agreements with Microsoft.
The company has historically opposed sales of PCs without operating systems, sometimes called "naked" systems, as such sales can be associated with pirated copies of Windows.
However, analysts said some companies might buy PCs without Windows to try to save money, or if they want to install Linux or some other operating system themselves. Customers may feel that they are paying for Windows twice: once when they buy a PC with Windows preinstalled, and once when they sign a licensing agreement to buy software from Microsoft.
Matt Pilla, a Microsoft spokesman, denied the company double-charges for Windows, because the licensing agreements cover only upgrades to new versions of Windows, and not an original copy of the software. The contest is not an effort to simply stamp out the practice of selling naked PCs, he said.
Penalizing PC makers who sold computers without Windows was an issue in the antitrust case, which remains in the appeals stage, and also in an earlier case that was settled by the government in 1995, after the Redmond, Wash., company agreed to modify some licensing practices, the paper said.
Asked if Microsoft (MSFT: up $0.11 to $70.28, Research, Estimates) would continue the giveaways, Pilla said only: "This is a pilot program." 
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