Posted on 11/22/2006 12:03:43 PM PST by ShadowAce
Its as it is today to activate, you can pick up the phone.
You people make me laugh! I must have 100 apps on my workstattion and 90 of them are not available on Linux. AND NO, I DON'T WANT SOME GOOFY FREEWARE. Linux will continue to be a joke on the desktop until at many of the major application run on it.
One of the things that I think is most interesting about this license, is that it apparently denies the right of people to use the software in a non-networked environment. I think MS is going to get nailed by that eventually.
LOL! You're probably not the only one to think so. I'm of the opinion that their programmers have to spend their time on what their bosses tell them to do. When that task is "write a good program to do x, y, and z" I think it works out. Unfortunately, and I think Vista is a good example of this, their bosses have spent too much time on flashy goodies like Aero Glass, as well as DRM, and not enough time on things like WinFS that would have made a really excellent next-gen OS.
I can almost understand Microsoft's desire to go that route. If I sell a machine to a customer, my customer gets a fully constructed and functional unit, steel, electrics, pneumatics, controls, and all. If the customer wanted to copy the machine, he'd have to take it apart, measure and fabricate all the parts, copy all the electrics and pneumatics, etc. My protection against intellectual property theft is mainly that it would be more expensive to make a copy than to buy a second machine. But the cost to copy a piece of software is almost nothing, so I can understand Microsoft's desire to ensure that they don't spend massive amounts of money developing a piece of software that no one ever pays them for. I'm not saying I agree with all their DRM or EULA terms; just that I can understand them wanting to do something about the problem.
Here's a final story you probably won't believe: I had some trouble getting the software I mentioned purchasing earlier to run properly - it worked fine on any given PC, but it would not talk over my network. I called Microsoft, and spoke to a total of three techs for a total of about four hours over several days. As it turned out, the problem was a little setting that a competing product (that I'd since uninstalled) had left embedded in the registry, preventing the Microsoft product from listening for connections on the correct port. The Microsoft techs - at least the last of whom was actually based in the U.S. and was thoroughly knowledgable about the software - spent that time, found, diagnosed, and fixed the problem, even though it was caused by a competitor's product, and got me running, and didn't charge me a dime for the support. So even with Microsoft there can be happy endings :-p
Do you know that for certainty? They could very well check from time to time if the internet was reachable and then phone home, else do nothing. I think people are making all kind of wild assumptions based on hot air.
You probably passed my son going in exactly the opposite direction! Too many Kubuntu driver problems. Started with Suse, left and now he's back. But he is convinced Suse has gone to the dark side now that they are working with Microsoft.
I understand reasonable priorities along the lines you mentioned.
I still think MS goes overboard at customer expense.
The last year or so I've had techs be very helpful--of course at considerable additional expense on my part. Most were knowledgeable. 2-3 were very frustrating.
Over the years of using MS products, techs have been probably 70% frustrating to infuriating as much as the software. But I didn't blame them. It was MS policies I blamed.
SOME of those seems to have improved. But they still have a long way to go.
And I'm more than ready to leave them in the dust though I can't because of the school's software.
Really!? I have always had problems with Linux drivers (mostly sound, video and winmodem -- my fault on the latter) until now. Kubuntu 6.10 installed seamlessly (except it didn't recognise my 2nd-hand monitor, but then nothing else does either). I was okay, not delerious, with Suse (installation was a nightmare) -- but my Kubuntu installation could have been completed by a novice.
I was willing to put up with SuSe installation, and package system, until they went over. Ubuntu's package system is FAR better, and even includes the huge timewaster of years before, Lincity.
We shall see won't we? There are many environments that will not allow for networked PCs. If they can't upgrade, or the software completely craters because it can't phone home, this is going to make for some interesting negative PR for MS.
That's like the old joke: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
The licensee is saying he doesn't want to use the code unless the developer accepts product liability, but when the developer grants him his wish (not to use the software), he says the developer is holding him as an economic hostage!
Hey, this ain't a pissin' contest, enjoy your self-abuse all you like. I have access to over 5000 pieces of software that have been verified to run on my version of linux and they're free for the download.
I have a full office suite that is every bit as capable as MS Office, I have photo software as capable as photoshop, I have multimedia software.
I can run MS Office itself if there is a compatibility issue with someone using the inferior MS product that thinks it's the only viable solution on the planet.
I can run multiple programs on multiple desktops and have multiple logins doing the same, all independent of one another, and the system doesn't need to be rebooted every other day.
There are virtually no viruses or malware threats to my system and due to the fact that I don't run as an administrator like you do, even if someone did write a virus, it couldn't gain control of my entire system core like it would on your windows machine.
So laugh all you want.
Wow. You can run an entire o/s in a virtual machine. I'm impressed.
What's funny is that with the number of Linux distros out and about the hate and fury directed toward MS is starting to get diluted and distributed amongst the various distros.
I'll just pull out the popcorn and enjoy.
Nowadays many big businesses like MS have realized they no longer want to SELL you something which you then OWN because you might ONLY pay ONCE for it that way...instead they want to ONLY 'rent' or license' or 'subscribe' you to things that you pay for over and over and over and...
The ideal future for Corporations is one in which no real person ever actually personally 'owns' anything; rather we are ONLY able to 'rent' EVERYTHING - for a time - which we can only afford by continuously working exchanging our timed labour for their timed services paid for IN PERPETUITY with continuing use-payments, not owned products paid for with a one-time purchase price.
*cues Lennon*
Imagine NO POSSESSIONS, because corps won't let you 'buy'...
hmmmm maybe that ought to be the OTHER Lenin - cause the future that Big Business seems to want for us sounds more to me like a chimera of bad aspects of communism and wage slavery...
Kinda Un-American isnt it???
That's be all good and well if I didn't have a thousand dollars worth of software that won't run on Linux."
Isn't $800.00 of it obsolete?
The huge point you're missing is that the Linux GPL freeware stuff doesn't play togather@!@@
Most apps know how to integrate with MS Office. How many FREEWARE apps integrate with Star Office? Virtually zero. It's a joke.
Faxing software, scanning software, programs that want to print, email, they all play TOGETHER@!
I'll suffer along here with my FOSS OS and it's lousy software thank you.
..which is probably why you're trying to make such claims. My applications work very well together on my Linux laptop. But, since you've forgotten all this I guess you weren't aware of the sophistication of today's Linux systems.
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