A virus stole my Windows Activation Key!

[stormer]

Fine. Call it a license. I paid for the damn thing.

Have you ever rented shelter? Say a house/apartment/room?

Well, you don't own the home you rent. For software, it is exactly the same, except the rent is not monthly/weekly but a one-time-only payment to allow you to use the software. Use the software for 1 day or 1000 days, the cost is the same, which is the initial licensing cost.

Once I have paid for it the company should not be concerned with what I do with it, whether I like to stick it up my a88 or create the next improvement to Windows.

Actually they are not concerned with what you do with the software at all. Stick it up your a88 for all they care.

Coming back to the home rental analogy, if your agreement specifically dis-allows sub-letting the premises, then the owner has the right to check it out if there are valid signs of sub-letting happening.

I have to admit that I have never had any problems with Microsoft licensing over the years, and I even live in a country that is listed by BSA as having "70% of the software used is pirated"

---
I don't think a monopoly breeds innovation. But we made MS who they are now. If you feel so strongly against MS, then use an alternative. Get everyone you know to do so too. I freely admit that I can't use an alternative and so will not be taking this path. That is not MS's fault nor BillyG's.

Slam MS for buggy software, lousy programming, expensive licensing fees, incredibly lousy security, non-stop updates, whatever. But not for being the OS on the computers out there.

 

[Chris Haynes]

I probably would, but where would I back up all the data to?

Last week I copied all of my digital photos onto DVDs... it took two. I also did a backup onto an external hard drive of the rest of the computer.

 

[Chris Haynes]

Last week I copied all of my digital photos onto DVDs... it took two. I also did a backup onto an external hard drive of the rest of the computer.

Which I am reloading right now (desktop)! The updates to the video editing software caused a format that normally wrote 140 minutes onto a DVD to go down to a mere 100 minutes.

Edit to add: Did anyone mention that you should do a backup before any major software changes?

 

[Solus]

Say what??? $10 an hour???

Holy crap, I did some moonlighting about 20 years ago by working night shifts at the main mail processing plant in Ottawa, and was paid $18 an hour. I can only imagine what they'd pay now, but I'm guessing it's $25 or more.

RayG

Hmm, well it's a just a part-time job so I suppose that's why it's a lower wage. I don't have enough time because of school to have a full time job. I'm sure full-time workers are paid much more.

 

[Solus]

Solus, if the prospect of losing your data got your shorts in a bunch as noted in the OP, then you MUST begin the practice of doing regular backups. As Skibum noted, use your CD/DVD drive. If you want motivation, just start a thread entitled "Data I Have Lost Because I Was Too Stupid and/or Lazy to do a Backup" and watch the posts roll by.

Sadly I'm a bit broke right now and another hard drive would cost me 100$ minimum. Though this got me thinking maybe I should backup my important data (porn) on a DVD disc. I really don't have anything THAT important just music files and a many games I've downloaded over the years.


Anyway let’s forget the legal minutia of licenses and what it means to own software. The main problem is mircosoft has a monopoly on computer operating systems. If there was some competition there would be much better OSs available, and I and not have to make a phone call in order to use a program I paid for.

I wonder, when was the last time the government actually broke up a monopoly? Standard Oil is the only thing that comes to mind

 

[Skibum]

The main problem is mircosoft has a monopoly on computer operating systems.

While I don't know much about it, theres alway LINUX.

If there was some competition there would be much better OSs available, and I and not have to make a phone call in order to use a program I paid for.

Many people I know that use LINUX swear by it and say its better than windows, I'm used to windows and don't have problems with it so I haven't tried LINUX yet.

 

[Solus]

While I don't know much about it, theres alway LINUX.


Many people I know that use LINUX swear by it and say its better than windows, I'm used to windows and don't have problems with it so I haven't tried LINUX yet.

Right, Linux of course Mircosoft doesn't have a monopoly because there is Linux. Linux users make up about 1% of computer users operating systems, I don't think that counts for much. Let's be realistic and at least admit mircosoft has a monopoly as it stands.

 

[voidx]

How long did it take you to make that call to Microsoft? And how often will you ever be required to do it? Very rarely.

Microsoft has every right to protect their software licensing. Their a company, protecting their interests. And their hardly the only ones that do it.

And lets not go into updates. Any serious, business level OS has updates. I run sites that have several Red Hat Enterprise workstations. I get as many emails regarding Errata updates for the Linux boxes as I do Security bulletins from Microsoft.

In my opinion, anyone running around trying to argue about what the BEST OS is, has a rather narrow view on the uses of any particular OS. There is no best OS. They all have pro's and con's, and they all excel in different scenario's. Is Linux a good product, of course it is, is it better / superior to Windows in all respects, of course not.

I find many people base their opinion of an OS based upon their personal home use, hence so many people singing the praises of Linux etc. But where the real focus and income for many of these companies comes from is the corporate / business uses for these OS's. Like it or hate it, Windows tends to have more of a business focus to it, and many people don't know about or understand, or can appreciate the network and management tools available on the Microsoft side of the pond. Are they perfect? Again no of course not, but they are very visible to business users.

In a perfect world, people should truly understand all the aspects of an OS and its uses before running around exclaiming A is better than B, or this OS sucks because it made me do x or y.

My 2 cents.