If every copy was purchased legally and none stolen, maybe it would be $60.
China forced MS to lower the price in China and he did. I would gladly pay $60.
If every copy was $60 there would be less theft.
C'mon, you think raising the price is incenting the public to NOT pirate??? That is kinda like raising the value and cost of a car incents thieves not to steal them.
Sure, That's gonna work!
In the old days it was undestood clearly that once you bought a piece of software, you could legally install it into as many computers as you wished, so long as you did not run more than one installation at the same time.
That is no longer possible, since the operating system checks the hardware configuration to cerify if it is a "legal" copy.
My desktop crashed. The fix was a new motherboard. That required a new hard drive since new motherboards no longer have two IDE connectors. Also new memory was required... bottom line, the ghost image from my previous desktop was rejected.
I keep three computers "current" all the time now at home. My "main" Desktop; a backup in case the desktop crashes (and it always does a few days before bills are due) and a laptop.
I never have the need to run two at a time other than transferring critical files for backup.
Will I pay for three full legal copies of Windows XP Pro? Nope.
I paid $199 for an XP pro upgrade in 2001. I have had at least 10 different computers since then and change components all the time. I got fed up with having to call MS for a new product key (usually a 60 minute undertaking) every time I swapped out a component. I currently use an "undocumented" copy of XP that has all the updates on the same disk. I like XP, but if Vista requires me to call up and get a new key every time I change some hardware, I quit!