Microsoft licensing

It gets worse, actually. Some of these "refurbishers" take in /all/ computers, including those which are non-pc and older PCs that cannot run modern versions of Microsoft Windows. Microsoft then requires as part of their "license" that they destroy/scrap all equipment which can't handle Windows 7 or newer (they won't allow them to reinstall older versions of Microsoft Windows on the PCs). I found out about this last year when I confronted one of these "nonprofit refurbishers". From what I gathered, their business model is a racket and they are actually making money from selling electronics scrap. In effect they are no different from a scrap dealer, except that they are tax exempt. ...and yes, they were destroying non-PC gear and older PCs alike. Anything from a C64 or Apple II, VAX, to IBM 5150s or even old P200s (I still use many P200/Socket 7 type systems, which is why I even began checking into what they were doing with these old computers). Basically, if it wasn't a late generation P4 or newer that could handle Windows 7, it was scrap.