[Fsf-friends] IBM says don't partition your disk!

[vsasi@vsnl.com]

Recently one of my colleagues purchased an IBM NetVista computer with 40
GB hard disk and pre-installed Windows XP. The machine came with the
hard disk in a single partition. He wanted to repartition the disk and
install Gnu/Linux also. Since the machine had just been delivered, he
told the suppliers that he wanted the disk to be partitioned. They
agreed, but the next day they called to say that partitioning the disk
will result in his losing the warranty. According to them, this
particular model was meant to be used as such and the purchaser has no
right to change the configuration. This had not been mentioned in their
quotation, and, according to them, nobody had asked for partitioning.
They also said some interesting things:

(a) that there was a hidden partition of 4 GB that contained the OS

(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.

My colleague has decided to reject the machine if they insist on denying
him the right to partition the disk.

Would any of you have any information on such practices? This seems to
be a serious matter that has to be taken up.

V. Sasi Kumar
Centre for Earth Science Studies
Thiruvananthapuram