Windows piracy
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Sander_Marechal Aug 17, 2007 1:54 AM EDT |
It's a good article, though a very long read. I see the same thing all around me. I know very few people that run Windows at home who do not run a pirated version. As soon as their PC with pre-installed Windows breaks, they ask their neighbour/nephew/friend computer geek to fix it for them, who usually reinstalls from a CD he has lying around. This is especially true now that PC's don't ship with Windows installation CDs anymore. |
| pogson Aug 17, 2007 5:38 AM EDT |
TFA may explain the rate of growth of Linux on the home desktop, but most businesses play by M$'s rules because M$ accepts phone calls from disgruntled employees, including the ones that cloned machines or lost track of the licences. see http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html "Rocking on without Microsoft" They failed to pass an audit by the BSA and it cost them. They were so ticked they switched to Linux. |
| Sander_Marechal Aug 17, 2007 6:03 AM EDT |
Ah yes, Ernie Ball. That's quite a famous story :-) As to the growth of Desktop Linux in business: It's mostly inertia and MS-Office/Exchange lock-in. Anecdotal point: The company I work for now is in the process of dumping Exchange. When it's gone there is nothing holding us back from deploying Desktop Linux. In fact, we plan to roll a custom Ubuntu distro (basically a preconfigured Ubuntu with a few applications added, then re-burnt to CD). Employees here can then choose Windows XP or Linux (or MacOSX but they have to buy one themselves). The only thing (unofficially) banned here is Windows Vista. Personally I already use Linx here, but as a programmer I don't mind loosing the shared calendar functionality of Exchange. Most people here need shared calendars. When Exchange is gone we'll all be able to use standard CalDAV calendars, including me! |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 17, 2007 7:09 AM EDT |
I was working retail, in an office supply store. Sadly, not in the computer department, but I would wander past from time to time to see if anyone needed help. Well, one day a man was staring at the software wall so I walked up and said, "Can I help you find what you need?" He said he wanted to know why the "upgrade" version of XP (it was a few years ago) was $99, but this other seemingly identical version was $199? "The upgrade version is if you already have Windows on your computer. The other is the full version for a new machine." "I was given a computer with a blank hard disk." "Then you need to buy the full version." "But why do I have to spend more than $99?" "Well,..." I said, pointing to several other boxes on the shelves, "You can get everything in this box (XP Pro, $299), and this box (OfficeXP, ~$399), and this box (Photoshop, $??), in this box (RedHat) for $39." I held the RedHat box out to him. He sputtered, he popped, he stood perfectly still with his mouth open as the blood rose in his face until he was beet red. Then he reached up and violently grabbed the $199 XP Home box and _stormed!_ up to the cashier. ---------- Last week, I was at karate class, and one student's father started asking me questions in the "You work with computers, right?" vein. Turns out that, after installing yet another anti-virus program, their machine now won't run much at all. I said I would bring a couple disks the next day, and I did. KNOPPIX and PCLinuxOS, and TheOpenCD for Windows just in case they wanted to stay with Windows. After going through how a liveCD works, he asks, "How much does this Linux cost?" "Nothing." His eyebrows rose to very nearly his hairline in shock. "Really. The programmers mostly donate their time, or work for the commercial support companies who make money supporting the software. It's free for everyone, and it's open for people to learn from and improve." Sadly, he hasn't called or emailed, so I don't think he's even tried it. Linux: So good you can't even GIVE it away. |
| wjl Aug 17, 2007 11:54 AM EDT |
How true how true - both the OP's article, and the comments here. Maybe we should also consider the point that cracking commercial software is easy - even *I* was able to do that. And it *does* give a feeling of reward, and maybe if you'd use it and spread the word, it would give you the status of a superherohacker, at least amongst your friends. Now think about the opposite. You switched to free software. Nothing to crack here, everything is free. You may even see the beauty and value of that concept, and start spreading the word about it. But what happens? All of your so-called-friends turn away if you tell them "Sorry, I can't help with $ProprietaryPacket much, in fact noone can, because it's a black box". They turn elsewhere with their needs, and you start to become that strange-thinking freedom geek. Within the free software world, you also don't make that many new friends, because there you are a nobody, and once you looked at that code of $FreePacket, you start to understand why. It's because here it is where the real geniuses are. So you start telling people: "Oh, you are using $BigSearchEngine? Then you are using Linux and free software!", and you see some puzzled faces. But still, the people you are telling all this are USERS, and here the word fits: like drug addicts, they couldn't imagine switching to something else. People behind $BigSearchEngine or $BigCorporateWebsite must be geeks like you; your friends are only using these machines, and for totally different reasons than you do. In the end, not many people are interested in what you have to say, except maybe some other geeks with more or less the same experiences that you have. On some rare occasions, you meet some of them, and it's nice. But computing got different somehow. Linux and other free software: so good that noone needs you anymore. |
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