A local company sells PCs with illegal copies of XP
Private_Snoball
Dover AFB, DE, USA
At least thats what the rumor mill has been churning out. Also their local radio promotions advertise a 299$ computer WITH Win XP PRO. I found the Pro part weird just by itself because who sells a crappy comp with pro anyway? Also I heard about 5-6 months ago about someone who got that message from MS about their copy being illegal after purchasing a comp from these guys.
My question is; should I turn them in? I went there back in my n00b days about 3-4 years ago and they were complete *******s to me, I kind of want to get revenge, but it seems like it might be too much? What do you guys think?
My question is; should I turn them in? I went there back in my n00b days about 3-4 years ago and they were complete *******s to me, I kind of want to get revenge, but it seems like it might be too much? What do you guys think?
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Win XP Pro OEM (in Australia) sells for about $220.00
So he is building a pc for say $80.00... (assuming Aus currency, but you get the picture...)
I suspect:
1. Dodgy/used/refurbished components.
2. Using the same copy of XP over and over.
3. A really generous individual who doesn't mind going out of pocket to see everyone gets a pc...
Now going on the assumption that #3 may be wrong...
I would suspect there is an unscrupulous individual that is preying on the ignorance of his customers to make a quick buck. In the process though, he is also adding to the number of those that end up never wanting to touch a keyboard again due to the burn factor (screw computers, I got burned). Never mind the ripping off of programmers angle. This menace is ripping you and me off by putting our society in a bad light. After all this person's victims will see us all as being of the same mold. I enjoy my time online, and enjoy the company I keep. But to his victims, would we all not be rip-offs, hackers and such?
Do us all a favor! MS will love you for it... And let us know how it goes!
That is a tuff question, on one hand I can see a point of view that turning him in might stop him from selling a junk computer to some other person, could also be for simple revenge as you out it.
But I can also see some opposites like, that guy that is getting the shaft is rarely a true lamb. Most of the time the guy is selling to people that either put educating themselves about what they are going to purchase way too low on the priority scale or are too cheap to pay full price. So I really don't have all that much sympathy for them.
Another point of view could be that the bad shop will eventually reap what they sow.
While I could see a strong urge for revenge myself (we're all human) if it was several years gone by like your situation is, and I was over it, I assume that in that situation, I would have over the years; fixed it myself or have another shop do it, whatever it was that I thought they screwed me out of just to get past the whole ugly mess and moving on with my life.
So, since I would have distanced myself from them, I probably would let it go and move on.
But that is just me.
Unless it causes me physical harm or extreme hardship I stay pretty low on the revenge meter...
"g"
"Done and done" means you turned them in. Will the M$ people let you know what turns out in the end? I want to know.
I think telling them out of revenge is not the way to go. But out of moral grounds because there could be people that don't know any better is a better reason for doing it.
HAHAHAHAHAHA....whatever works then, right?
MS said they'll contact me if they need info or w/e but the only way I'll actually know anything is if I get a reward *ching ching* or if they are taken out of business heh. Hopefully they'll get whats coming to them.
I predict the price of XP will go UP when Vista comes out. Once people see the DRM in Vista, they'll come back to XP in droves just to be able to use a widely-compatible OS that doesn't infringe on your fair use of IP products.
An OS is developed to stay in place for a good 4 to 5 years maybe longer. It takes a long time to get an industry to build programs that revolve around an OS and once they do make there programs you don't want to go off and change everything on them. You would lose the reason to keep your OS alive.
When Windows XP pro rolled out for $329.00 people were floored but after 2 years it dropped to $299.00 and than to $249.00. for box retail versions. you can now buy OEM versions for around $85 to $120.00 from software companies.
Microsoft is a giant, and they can roll out new OS's when they want because they have no real competition. Linux comes to mind in most peoples heads, but the average Joe blow who buys Dell PC's doesn't really care about Linux, making windows the per freed choice.
The requirement was later scratched because it was decided that the process was too much of a hassle for consumers.
Microsoft still has other methods of "getting legit," including a program where you can get a free copy of Windows if you reveal the source where you obtained the pirated copy.
Users running illegal copies of Windows XP are being offered discounted purchase prices.
Win2k will be supported for 7 years after the release year of the next OS from MS (xp in 2001). Win 98 is still supported until next year, then the patent runs out and MS won't renew it cause it's too costly to renew it and keep people developing patches for an OS that few use and nobody buys. In 2008 Win2k will likely be dropped by MS and you won't get official patches. Small groups continue to patch Win95 to this day for the 3 people still using it.
That's what I understand about volume licensing too. They are meant for a company that deals with many computers for themselves, not for resale. I'm sure that if you are a large oem like Dell you get a substantial discount since you are buying literally hundred of thousands of copies, but the average Mom & Pop store isn't going to see those kinds of discounts.