The greener — and darker — sides of MS’s refurbisher program

Microsoft has launched the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) program through which companies that sell refurbished PCs can easily load licensed versions of Windows XP and necessary drivers onto their wares. You can read the details right here.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the MAR program. On the plus side, it may encourage more environmentally concerned, pennywise, and/or cautious-minded companies and home users to consider purchasing refurbished PCs. Let’s break that down.

I say environmentally minded because every year, as recently reported by Leon Erlanger, the e-waste problem is big and growing. To paraphrase some of his report:

According to IDC, in 2006 alone, 30.7 million commercial PCs, or 70 percent of the total commercial installed base, were retired. Yet IDC estimates that only 33 percent of U.S. companies, mostly large enterprises, have made use of the asset disposal industry. In the European Union the number is closer to 40 percent. That’s unfortunate, because the increasing number of retired PCs that end up in landfills results in more toxic pollution. PCs and monitors, especially old ones, contain a multitude of hazardous substances.

That’s not good news. But what is good news is the fact that the market for refurbished systems is growing. Up to 28 million refurbished PCs will be sold this year, making up 10 percent of the global PC market, according to Microsoft said Hani Shakeel, senior product manager of the genuine Windows product marketing team.

I say that that refurbished PCs in general should appeal to the penny-wise because they simply cost less than new ones. It’s entirely likely that two-year-old computers will suit the needs of the average home user or employees at an SMB, so if you go the refurbished route, you can save some cash.

Finally, there’s the cautious-minded aspect to the MAR program, which I know is a controversial topic. Like it or not, if you want support from Microsoft, including access to necessary patches and updates, you need to be running a legitimately licensed version of Windows.

Through MAR, companies and end-users who buy systems from a participating reseller will know the machines are fully functional and ready to work out of the box, loaded with a version of XP that Microsoft will recognize and support. That provides some peace of mind — and saves time that would be spent loading Windows onto the machines at the office. Those benefits could encourage more people to consider refurbished PCs as an alternative to new ones.

Now here’s what might bother you about MAR, and it certainly gives me pause. Suppose a company sells 50 PCs to, say, TechTurn, one of the two refurbishers currently participating in MAR. The systems are in pristine condition, and all are running licensed versions of Windows XP Pro. However, the company’s IT admin didn’t keep the original OS CDs to demonstrate that each version of XP was legit, which is pretty common.

So TechTurn does a full wipe of the systems, down to the bare metal. Then, as a result, thanks to Microsoft’s end-user license agreement, TechTurn has to pay for new Windows licenses for each one of those systems. Albeit, the licenses are discounted ones; still, that’s an expense that presumably gets passed on to the buyer. So ultimately, Microsoft is reaping the benefits of selling a second Windows license for a PC that was already running one fair and square — because the admin or user didn’t save the original installation CDs. That part’s not quite fair, now is it?

The thing is — and this is me speculating — Microsoft should have ways of probing systems to ensure they’re running legitimate versions of XP. Why not supply refurbishers with the tools to do just that before wiping them? Systems that are could then be reloaded after they’re wiped with the same licensed version of XP they ran pre-wipe. The refurbisher could even burn a copy of the necessary backup CD, for a neglible fee, and package it with the system.

What do you think about the MAR program?