Minnesota: Use your Microsoft Money

If you live in Minnesota, please check this out!

If you purchased Microsoft products (or a computer with Microsoft products installed) between May 18, 1994, and March 17, 2003 (inclusive) for use in Minnesota you may be eligible to receive vouchers for future software and/or hardware product purchases--even if you're not using them to buy Microsoft stuff.

Applying for your vouchers is a fairly simple process, though it may take a little of your time. You'll probably need to dig up the old disks and booklets to find your "Proof Of Purchase Identifying Numbers".

If you don't think it's worth the effort, please consider this:

IV.F. Transfer of Consumer Vouchers. A claimant may transfer up to $650 of the value of any Consumer Vouchers awarded to that claimant.

That's from the settlement agreement. Basically, it says that you can donate your vouchers to someone else--a local school, community organization, college student, family member, friend, or charity. The recipient is allowed to collect up to $10,000 in transferred vouchers, and those vouchers really could add up.

You can donate your vouchers to the Samba Team.

Several Team members still spend their own money to purchase the equipment and software licenses needed for further development and testing of Samba. Donated vouchers would be used to cover some of these costs. In order to test Samba against Microsoft products, for instance, we do need to run those Microsoft products. That means that some of the money we collect from donations or T-shirt sales must go toward buying licenses from Microsoft. By using donated vouchers, we would be using Microsoft's money to purchase those Microsoft licenses instead of using our own.

If you are interested in donating vouchers to the Samba Team, contact me at: crh@ubiqx.mn.org.

I am one of the Team members who does not receive financial support for my work on Samba. I am a Minnesota resident, and also a member of the jCIFS Team.

If Samba or jCIFS or my book are of value to you, this may be a chance for you to help me out. I am collecting vouchers, and will use them to help build a new test system and/or purchase products for other Samba and jCIFS Teamfolk to use.

If you are eligible for these vouchers, don't miss the opportunity. Use them for your own benefit, or donate them to a worthy cause.

Chris -)-----

For more information, see the Microsoft-Minnesota Class Action Settlement homepage:

http://www.microsoftminnesotasettlement.com/