legit or copy?

[tiddlie]

The way I see all the buy windows vs download windows is this :

The o/s is an integeral part of the system, so microsoft have taken this to heart and increased the price to an unnessicery amount. If they wanted to keep the money rolling in, wouldnt it be a good idea to use a linux style frame of mind - give away the o/s and then charge for the programs?
Ultimitly microsoft is discontinuing its previous o/s' in an attempt to make more money by making people shell out for the latest o/s. Personally, i think this is wrong and everyone should still be supported, even if they are still using win 95.
I guess what im trying to say is i can see where microsoft are coming from, but i canalso see where the pirates are coming from, and the end user is just caught up in the war between the 2 with wpa e.t.c.
Wouldnt the solution to the problem be to drop the anti-piracy protection (which anyone with the internet can effectivly break in 10 mins anyways) and keep the paying customer happy?
Pirates are always going to be around, as are paying customers so isnt the problem finding a balance between the 2

congradulations if you made it this far (i tend to waffle alot)

Tom Lee

[Beefy]

:) Nice thought. However when you think about it, the majority of people out there that buy XP would be either businesses / corporations, or people that don't really understand all that well, and wouldn't know how to get past the WPA. It's these people that MS make their money from. The WPA was good, in theory, but there's just always a way around things like that, as we've seen.

With the linux style frame of mind you suggested, what is to stop people from copying the programs as well? Every computer needs an OS, so why not make sure they have to pay for that? Not everyone needs programs...

Balance is good, but hard to achieve.. Nice post though :thumb: