Leave the XPers alone

[Shudder]

Lucidguy:
They may not be evil, but they are still in a stinky, outdated business. They are becoming more and more irrelevant to the marketplace. When a fully functional, stable, graphical operating system is available for free, it's pretty difficult to make a case for an equivalent product that costs hundreds of dollars per copy.

What's REALLY sad is that the people who do it for free.. that don't have paying customers, update the software much more often. Even if it works as good as a commercial product.

I'm not going to complain, but it's fascinating just how many people are willing to do things for free with almost no real motive behind it other than they want to make some cool software. It's beautiful.

 

[skace]

<< Microsoft may be restricting their computer somewhat, but as long as they can do what they like with it. Do they care? No. Should they? Not really. It's not like it's a big part of their lives. >>


Did I misread this, or did Noriaki basically agree with Lucid



<< I don't care what MS does to the internet, 98% of the internet is crap anyways >>


No offense, but the internet will be a part of your life for a long time Noriaki, better start caring or start living in a small cabin in the woods. And as for 98% being crap... what a load of BS. The internet has such a wealth of information its not even funny, maybe you can't find it but I sure as hell can. It will/has become the premier source of info, it will be used by everyone, and who controls it will play a factor later down the road. Maybe your statement would be more believable if I had heard you say it on the street... instead of reading it off the internet



<< You don't like a Ford truck becuase it doesn't provide you with what you want. What do you do? Bitch and whine that Ford isn't providing enough freedom in their designs? Or do you buy a Chev? >>


Kind of funny how you provided no substitute for windows, yet you provide a substitute for Ford. Thats because there isn't a true substitute for windows. When you want a car there are dozens of choices and they are all compatible with your local gas station, you don't need to port the fuel. Whether I buy a Chevy or a Ford, I can drive on the same streets, go to the same gas station, and park in the same parking lots - not the same story with Operating systems. For most people picking an OS isn't a very easy task, its not like you pick the color and the model and boom heres the keys. You gotta make sure it is all compatible with your hardware etc. That doesn't even get into the fact that almost every pre-made PC comes prebuilt with Windows just because people don't know any better. Getting down to it - the Ford/Chev statement was just a Bad analogy.

I don't agree with everything Lucid has to say, he obviously is ignoring what others respond or thinks he knows something but doesn't want to reveal his source. I also don't agree with what Noriaki/whoever has to say, only because it doesn't add up. Why is MS adding the activation, all this R&amp;D/support so they can catch a few thieves who are pirating programs in the 1000s? This feature won't even stop them, I mean really... Someone already said the enterprise version doesn't have the activation - guess which version will get leaked/cracked/abused. This feature will cause lots of customer frustration too and I doubt that is a good thing.

Bottom line is the only reason I use windows is due to ease of use/convenience. If they start adding features that make things less convenient for me - I will move to Linux. From a win2k standpoint there seems to be more inconveniences to winxp than advantages... who pays 300 dollars for inconveniences? (Note I didn't call them disadvantages due to most things you can turn off). I may end up getting Windows XP later on or I may not, but if the next OS in the series continues the inconvenience trend then Win2k or WinXP may be the last one I buy.

 

[BreakApart]

Yea, what skace said! lol...


I couldn't have said it any better...

 

[Jaraxal]

I second the above!

 

[lucidguy]

<< people are willing to do things for free with almost no real motive behind it other than they want to make some cool software. It's beautiful. >>



As much as we would like to think that all Open Source and Free Software programmers are selfless martyrs, there really is a great variety of reasons why people contribute to this cause.

First and foremost is the love for software and the desire to make cool software, and the desire to share one's cool creations with others. Programmers hate having to limit the reach of their creations by using limitations such as having a price on the software, etc. So they make their work available under the GPL, which guarantees that the work, and all derivatives thereof, will forever be Free and free.

Secondly, is the belief that everyone is entitled to a satisfying computing life regardless of his or her financial status. This is especially poignant in third world countries, where a copy of Adobe Photoshop may cost more than a man's annual salary. Everyone is entitled to a good, stable operating sytem, a good, functional office suite, art tools, programming tools, etc, etc, for free, so that they can use these tools to further themselves in life. It costs absolutely nothing to distribute these tools once they are made, and it makes such a great difference to so many underprivileged people, that this is a very worthy cause.

Third is the belief that Free Software and Open Source software increases efficiency, code reuse, turnaround time, stability and collaboration. When everyone has access to the source code, everyone can chip in what little support they can contribute, and each and every little bit makes a difference. Even a code audit or a bug report makes a difference when a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand people like you take ten minutes out of their day to make an Open Source program better. And the GPL guarantees that what is Free today will be Free ten years from now, and all the contrubitions and improvements that have been made to the program will also be Free.

Fourth is bragging rights and resume building. A well-written Open Source program spreads much faster than an equally well-written commercial program, because there is no financial barrier to entry and use. Anyone who acquires a well-written Open Source program can also study the source code and admire your genius, possibly even offer you a job! Every Open Source project you release into the wild is like a very long, very detailed resume that showcases your skills. It adds to your employability and imbues you with a very positive reputation in the Information Technology community.

These are some of the more important reasons that I can think of off the top of my head as to why so many people are so dedicated to the Open Source and the Free Software movements. There are doubtless other reasons. But the fact remains that this development philosophy and technique is so superior to the traditional in-house proprietary software development techniques, that in the short term, proprietary software vendors must either adapt to the changing times, or they will surely die.

 

[Noriaki]

<< Bottom line is the only reason I use windows is due to ease of use/convenience. If they start adding features that make things less convenient for me - I will move to Linux. >>

That was pretty much my point. Granted I overstated things a bit, and perhaps you are right, it's a bad anology.

For your average end user Linux isn't really an alternative. But they don't care. But the point is they aren't inconvienced by XP. They don't even have to activate it themselves. When they buy their Dell XP will come preloaded.

To the more savvy people we'll move to Linux if we feel inconvienced by XP. As I said, that's what I intend to do.

MS is putting out actviation to stop casual piracy, not the Warez groups.
Like when Joe-User buys a copy of Windows, and also upgrades, Jane-User and Jim-User's computer. That's 2 illegal copies of Windows right there.

That's what MS is trying to stop. Not the warez groups. I too question how much of piracy really fits into this &quot;Casual&quot; category. But it's Microsoft's software...if they think stopping Casual piracy will be a benefit to them...well as I said it's their product.

Personally I think that GPL's licensing fees are much much more reasonable, and in that I completely agree with Lucid (I use the term &quot;fee&quot; loosely, in this case it's not a monetary fee, but the requirement that you open your code if you wish to distribute it, that requirement is a &quot;fee&quot; of sorts, and IMO a very fair one).
But regardless of what I think, this is a capitalist society, so if Microsoft can produce &amp; sell something at a given price that's their perogative. I think it's unfair and maybe even gouging. But hey, welcome to capitalism. Microsoft's money has to come from someone (well some can come from investments), somewhere along the line for every rich person, someone has to pay. But the average company (or even person) is too greedy to care who that &quot;someone&quot; is.

Ok...now I'm going to stop talking about that. I don't think I need to start a political rant.

 

[skace]

Yea I agree with you Noriaki. I just think the Casual Piracy scene isn't very large compared the costs that probably went into this feature. Most people who don't know how to warez online will probably buy their computer preloaded with XP, like you mentioned. The only casual warez is usually from people who know where to get other warez but seek to take the easy road out.

Example: Yea I could go warez a copy of windows 2K for my cousins PC, but I've got the retail CD on my shelf - might as well use that.

There is probably a very small group of people who know how to casually load operating systems but don't know where to get cracked/ripped software. Targeting that group is plain silly and my guess is that Microsoft knows better.

 

[bevancoleman]

I would be interested to know if the activation feature pays off, because if it dosn't cost MS less that the increase sales then we are going to cop the difference in the purchase price. Sort of ironic, we will be paying MS to add a feature we hate.

 

[stratusfear]

Lucid, somebody must be paying you to write this crap because I can't even imagine someone wasting all their time writing short novels for fun.

OR.. do you just have nothing better to do?