XP - The death of Microsoft? 8

[Sensibilium]

So, it appears that Microsoft no longer trusts it's customers. How can they believe that Product Activation is a good thing for protecting consumers from the evils of piracy?

Personally, I think this will be make or break for MS, will everyone be shelling out for their software, and then be forced to activate it over the internet? For a start, are all consumers of Windows and Office really connected to the internet? I think not.

What does the future for the company I work for hold?
Well, we will be only going as far as Windows 2000 and Office 2000. If MS don't realise their mistake then we will continue to use this system until something better comes along.

Linux anyone? Ahdkaw
"What would you expect from a bunch of monkeys?"

http://www.sensibilium.com

 

[gunthnp]

don't think the internet will change the third world, it won't you send "free" computer over there for the people it would just be like every thing else sent stolen and miss used not by the people but by there goverments. The information age is makeing (just like every other age just on a larger scale now)two very differnt groups the those with computer and those with out. but if I a farmer without a computer I can still sell my crop and to me thats what matters, but if I am a computer maker without food I have real problem. In the end the lower class will fight and win somewhat and things will kinda level out just like it always was been. So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

[pivan]

This is the most amazing thread !!

If you want something, get it....

Ahdkaw...the young Marxist in me absolutely agrees with you.
Take India, the new programming powerhouse, where only .5% of the population is on the internet. I believe the governments should start subsiding PC's and software for those that cannot afford them.

gunthnp...the realist in me absolutely agrees with you as well. You both are right on the mark. Although to be competitive in farming, quick access to information is key...like weather, commidity prices, etc. So any many ways , access to IT provides the competitive edge.

While I find the majority of the technology on the internet of the type that we could live without, having done so for the last 2-3,000 years, I find that as an educational tool its value is enormous and as the net matures it will be an indespensible tool for learning. It is for this that I am hoping the lower classes will fight for and win. I have always believed that it is up to us as individuals to redistribute the wealth.

All this goes back to my original point and belief. No matter what persuasion your conscience, software piracy (yes guys...I know, software piracy is illegal ) is here to stay and a common practice. I learned programming on a pirated copy of Turbo C and a string of other pirated compilers, servers, and applications. Sorry, but no way as a student with a family could I afford this stuff. As a result, I now find myself working for orgs. that can buy these products as a result of my recommendations.

Getting back to the original point of this thread...product activation, as a pain...its a cheap ploy by these companies to get demographic data...as Voyager1 sez "it's none of their business what my income range is and all that hoo-ha." We have paid money for it..its ours ...period.

Now..what do we do when we want to use are product that we bought and are the required to go through this Product Activation? We can't refuse, unless we want to return the product. Do we really just have to bite the bullet and do the Product Activation thing? It seems to me that we do.

Cheers,
Ivan



In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[mrsurrender]

Pivan just said:

> Do we really just have to bite the bullet and do the Product Activation thing? It seems to me that we do.

Maybe we do. But should we? Come on! You don't have to swallow everything! Go on with Win2000, Me, 98 whatever, if you need to use Windows technology (or try Linux etc. if applicable), but you can at least wait and see and DO NOT activate!

We are living in capitalism, right. But we also claim ourselves to be democratic people. Are we?

We shouldn't use illegal or immorally ways, but we can change something, simply by thinking and boycott. You don't have to swallow everything. That's what Ghandi didn't do, neither the east German people did. And they changed a lot - without war!


Never stop thinking!
Siegfried.

 

[gunthnp]

Those of us with half a mind would and will boycott XP as long as they can, but I at least make my money by knowing technolgy so sooner or later I will have to get the software and unless we change the way computer makers, home buyer and most of the western world thinks a boycott would not effect microsoft.

I will boycott XP because I like my RIGHT to privacy. Why did our forefathers fight countries over this right(because privacy and freedom go hand and hand if you take away one other is not far behind.)and we let it go to a company for some software.

P.S. I say lets have a good old fashion sit in up in redmond if one gets started let me know I want to be there. So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

[mrsurrender]

> P.S. I say lets have a good old fashion sit in up in redmond if one gets started let me know I want to be there.

*LOL* Well I would, if I could just jump over the big lake... Redmond is some 10 hours away from here... )

Never stop thinking!
Siegfried.

 

[monkeylizard]

ahdkaw...
Could you please explain your statement "The British invented the internet and the Americans rule over it."

I was under the understanding that the 'Net grew out of the U.S. government's DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) projects to link military research institutions together. Have I been mis-informed?

P.S. this is not an antagonistic post, I really DO want to know what you mean... Monkeylizard
-Isaiah 35-

 

[pivan]

Everyone knows that the internet was invented by the Russians at UCLA.

In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[gunthnp]

Are you try to say it was not Al Gore who invented the internet? So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

[gunthnp]

Are you trying to say it was not Al Gore who invented the internet? So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Sensibilium]

MonkeyLizard,
The internet was invented by Tim Berners-Lee, who is British. Now, whether he was in the US at the time I really don't know. But from what I remember of internet history it all started with ARPANET, so the US was most definitely involved during the birth (imagining Berners-Lee pushing one last time, and the American doctor saying, "Congratulations, it's a boy! And now it's ours! We don't consider you to be a fit parent&quot.

From that point on the internet was in the hands of the US.

Hmmm... I'm sure I was supposed to be talking about boycotting XP... Ahdkaw
"What would you expect from a bunch of monkeys?"

http://www.sensibilium.com

 

[mrsurrender]

Hi,

and as far as I know HTML and HTTP (?) was invented at CERN, which lies in Switzerland ;-))
But CERN is an international organization, so who knows who was involved into it all.

Anyway. At least we know that it was not MS who invented the internet, the Windows frame working OS, not even DOS. MS did catch up al lot of good ideas and made them well popular, yes. But inventing?...

Maybe inventing XP MS is trying to invent the total control... But Big Brother was already invented. By George Orwell.


Never stop thinking.
Siegfried.

 

[Voyager1]

And DNS came from Berkeley.

But who cares? The Internet belongs to everyone.

Oh, and by the way (message to US Congress), the Internet is not yours to tax...

- Bill

"You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

 

[gunthnp]

who cares?

I belive that is a under liying though on this forum and if you do care what are we (IT people) going to do about it, because to get angery and roll over does no good to any one.

Right now the internet might belong to every one but if MS get its way your work won't even belong to you but MS.(hailstrom)Don't get me wrong MS should make money thats what a company does but not at the cost of my Freedom and right to control what I do.

Oh and url's are American, but cren, ietf, and ieee have people everywhere. So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Voyager1]

George Orwell didn't invent Big Brother, he just pointed a finger and told us who B.B. actually was...

Big Brother has been around a long, long time.

But back to the subject. It really doesn't matter what we feel about product activation. If M$ wants to do it this way, they will. If we want to use their products, we'll have to play along.

It's the golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. - Bill

"You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

 

[pivan]

Bill is right...I hate to say it...but he is absolutely right.

We are pretty much a Unix shop, but our software still has to run on NT...so...I still have to work with Microsoft if I want to stay competitive in the marketplace.

Maybe a software developers manifesto directed to product activation would give Microsoft a brief (probably very brief) moment of pause.

Didn't Martin Luther and Karl Marx get started this way?

Cheers,
pivan In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[mrsurrender]

> Didn't Martin Luther and Karl Marx get started this way?

Didn't they in some way succeed?

I still don't believe that we have to swallow everything. But too many people think they have to, so they don't think any further. We are NOT living in the middle age anymore!

Maybe it's not the sit it (although it was a funny thought anyway), but there has always been examples given that we can change something, even if the opponent got the gold. I could tell you some (maybe little) things I experienced in that.

Hey man, we're no more living in the middle age where the mighty could do what they wanted to. But after the dictators people decided to let God money suppress them. Why let you guys money rule the world? Maybe because it is that deep anchored in your/our way of thinking, your/our lifestyle... I am living in capitalism, as I said before, but I still have the right to keep the influence of making money controlled by myself.

Is it money what you call freedom, the American dream (or whatever)? What if you lose money, but gain freedom of mind?

MS shouldn't be my God, neither our president, my boss or any dictator. They might have a great impact on my life, but they shouldn't rule it!

If MS do a good job/product, I will have the free will to decide if I will use it at the circumstances that usage will bring. It is still me who decides. (Altough it's not always that easy to live that free, but we should have a little courage to do in some way!)


Back to Luther and Marx. Both first thought. Luther thought that it wasn't ment to be by God what the catholic church dis and tought. He started to think different and he had the guts to do something real opponent! Marx first thought about society like a philosopher did. And when he came to the point that there must be more than having nice ideas in mind, he startes to get these thoughts into practice. And he started living for that. (No matter if it was right or wrong what he thought.)


Never stop thinking.
Siegfried.

 

[Sensibilium]

Will WindowsXP really be so much better than Windows2K that you will feel you have no choice to but buy it eventually? Possibly it is, but if enough people refuse to purchase it because of Product Activation (and all the other new schemes MS are coming up with right now, including the hiring of software in place of purchasing), then surely MS's projected sales will be seen as vastly overflated.

When projected sales don't meet their targets, most companies look into why it hasn't happened, and then maybe, just maybe, XP2 will have Activation removed and we can all buy that instead.

Boycott Product Activation! I will.
Ahdkaw
"What would you expect from a bunch of monkeys?"

http://www.sensibilium.com

 

[Voyager1]

Yes! We all have certain rights (some more than others), but if you truly disagree with something then it is certainly your right to boycott it. No problem there.

You (that's a generic "you&quot also have the right to not use the product.

Software companies (can't really fault only Microsoft) also have the right to not allow you to use their product if you refuse to adhere to their policies.

It always amazes me how people purchase an automobile and have no problem registering it with the state, yet won't register a software package. Granted, the state does not attempt to collect as much information as software companies do, but other than that the theory is the same.

I don't have a problem registering a software package I have legally purchased. The procedure keeps me and everyone else from making CD copies and giving it to all my friends. Pirated software, from my perspective, only serves to keep prices up - someone has to pay for all those copies the vendor doesn't sell.

So, boycott! I'll register/activate mine and will advise my clients to do the same. - Bill

"You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

 

[gunthnp]

what the state does with a car is very differnet then what micorsoft does:

1st a State a public org. is responable to the public as such.
2nd last time I went to the DMV they did not ask me how many people live in my house, my income and what I like to read.
3rd what the state uses the info for is agreed upon by the people who live live in that state. an other use is illeagl
4th microsoft does not answer to anyone but itself the data it collects is sold over and over again look at webtv hailstrom, now ulmate tv, and every thing the do.
So long and thanks for all the fish.

 

[mrsurrender]

( Voyager1: *swallow!* )

What makes the comparison a little different for me, is that I am not living in the USA. So I don't have ANY influence on the legal rights a state grants. I have no influence what MS is allowed to do with the information I give them.

And: I just registered a new car last week. What the state got to know was: my name, my address, the company who will take care about insurance, the type of car with technical details (not very private at all) and the ID number of the car. That's all. After that I got a licence plate number. I am quiet sure that it's hardly no different in the US.

Last but not least: The tax office knows almost everything about my money. Right. But they are not a commercial company, so I think that makes some difference! And I would never let any other country allow to look into their books, either! :-|


Never stop thinking.
Siegfried.