SubscribeI was trying to think of any situations where another type of industry or company does this sort of thing, and one I thought of was buying vs. leasing a car. While most still buy a car outright, which carries with it the freedom to do anything to it- it becomes your car- for some, the idea of leasing a car can prove to be a not-uneconomical choice despite the fact that the vehicle will come with limitations on its use such as mileage requirements, no alterations, damage, etc. If MS wants to do the same thing- allowing the lease of XP in addition to buying, for less money but with this rigorous registration process to prevent piracy- that would be different. But this nonsense is like having only one car dealership in town which allows you to buy the car at full price, but with all the post-purchase restrictions of leasing. Hey, if I'm gonna spend several hundred dollars on XP, I dang well don't want to be treated like some common thief!
BTW, SDB- I've notice that you seem to be a pretty arden MS booster yourself based on several posts I've seen; just a full disclosure question for ya: do you now or have you worked for MS or a partner company of MS?
posted by hincandenza at 12:42 AM on July 10, 2001
Holgate: While I agree- sort of- the point I was making is that the attempts to enforce it are unreasonable. A collection of software companies- not just MS- have been working to make these licenses completely unfavorable to the consumer, including the "If you open the package you agree to the license but you can't read the license till you open the package" craziness. This in the larger picture really tees me off. But realistically, while I've been technically 'licensing' all my previous copies of windows I could at least act as if I owned it. Now, this method of activation- or more disturbingly to the point, of deactivation- essentially puts the responsibility on me the user to prove to MS I'm not a thief even in legitimate use of the product. It's like the umbilical cord extending from my computer to Redmond never gets cut, and there's just something on a gut level that really angers me about that.
posted by hincandenza at 2:53 PM on July 10, 2001
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I'm not terribly interested in installing any OS that will actively get in the way of my use of my computer and my legally purchased software just because I swapped TV cards, etc. -- no matter how innocuous they make it sound.
Bottom line: it gets in my way and slows me down in the long run. I hope the idea sinks like weighted chain.
posted by Kikkoman at 11:54 PM on July 9, 2001