Plain and simple, the existence of piracy is not due to the lack of legislation but due to market failure. I find that many people are more than happy to pay for good service and good products -- even if there are cheaper/free alternatives.
I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
231–240 of 268 posts
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#232This is not how to show them, nor is it a way to justify piracy.
Unless you really can't live without the next version of Windows, don't use it at all. Keep with the current version for as long as you can (I'm still on XP on the only Windows machine I have) or switch to an alternative (this may be the route I take when I next rebuild).
I'll be rebuilding that desktop machine at some point this year and what-ever OS goes on the new build I hope will not need reinstalling for a few years (so I'll have to upgrade from XP as it drops out of security update support early in 2014). I'm trying to decide to go for Windows 7, or just go completely Linux - currently the Linux option is winning in my mind.
Pretty much the only reason I still run Windows on this home desktop is games. I use OpenOffice for my own documents, and when I need access to MS Office, Visual Studio, and so forth from here I simply VPN+RDC into my machine at the office these days. The rub is that lately I've not been playing that much (I've not had time) and there aren't any games in the near future that I could name as being something I'm waiting for (I'm done waiting for HL?EP3 - if they release it before I leave Windows-land then I'll pre-order, if not then they'll only get a sale out of me if it runs on Linux fine), with PC gaming apparently going in the "beg and jump through hoops or we won't let you play" direction (http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/01/17/1838237/ubisoft-has...) I can see myself simply refusing to buy any new games from the major publishers even if I do keep Windows, and most of the games I have played much of recently could probably be implemented in browsers soon enough (if not already) at which point the choice of underlying OS becomes irrelevant.
So my position is: if I buy Windows 7 in the next six months it may well be the last Windows license I personally purchase. If I don't, then XP will have been (unless you count the Windows 7 Starter license that came with my netbook but currently remains unused). Either way I won't pirate it: it is a buy or don't decision. Heck, if I decide to not keep up-to-date games wise (and decide that I'm not likely to be bothered by losing access to the games I've bought previously) then I'll not only save £80 for the Windows license but I could save a chunk getting a less flashy GFX card too (I'm only upgrading that in this build to get a card with 3 or more outputs that can be used concurrently).
Pirating will just tells them that you want their platform but don't want to pay, using something else tells them that you can live without them and if they want you not to live without them then there are things they need to change.
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> When does the act of stealing occur? If I download a torrent and then delete it without watching/playing/listening, did I steal it? Yes, welcome to adulthood.
No. Adulthood has nothing to do with the fact that everyone is using a word that doesn't accurately describe the action taken. Just because it's not stealing doesn't mean it's not illegal. You can't call anything that's illegal "stealing". It's piracy, which is illegal, but a different act than stealing. People who started calling piracy stealing are the same people that cannot accurately understand what is actually…
I love that you have a problem with people calling copyright infringement "stealing", but no qualms at all about calling it "piracy" instead, which is an entirely different affair.
Certainly the last time I downloaded a TV program I did using BitTorrent, rather than boarding the content producer's boat and taking it with force.
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would you need to do this? No internet connection?
No, because the automated online system erroneously rejects the activation.
Never once had the same problem as you. Actually this is the first I hear of anyone using the offline activation methods. Yeah 54 digit codes suck. But 54 digits ain't 100 digits. And it would not justify, for me, going pirate. Unless you're sitting there installing stuff all day long every day.
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#235This is not how to show them, nor is it a way to justify piracy. Unless you really can't live without the next version of Windows, don't use it at all. Keep with the current version for as long as you can (I'm still on XP on the only Windows machine I have) or switch to an alternative (this may be the route I take when I next rebuild). I'll be rebuilding that desktop machine at some point this year and what-ever OS g…
He is protesting against the overly difficult DRM in an otherwise desirable product. It's easy to skip all the annoying parts, with so few if any downsides.
It's the Windows version of the DVD flow diagram[1] that explains why a pirated movie file is much better than the DVD. I rip all DVDs I come into contact with, and borrow friends DVDs just to rip them. Even if I had time to watch them without ripping I wouldn't want to.
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quite a lot windows-only software works with Wine, .net stuff runs on Mono and there is still ReactOS -- open source OS written from scratch, binary compatible with Windows.
I have found the more important and irreplaceable the software is, the less it works with Wine... What I mean by this is, while Notepad.exe may run flawlessly, SolidWorks doesn't.
Please address your issues here:
http://www.reactos.org/compat/?show=entry&id=428
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
it's called "identity theft" when someone does it to your identity though :P Your SSN and details are all intellectual property too!
That's another good example of language engineering. If a crook fools a bank into giving them money, the bank is the victim of the theft. It should be one of the banks primary responsibilities to authenticate the parties to whom they give out money. But if the crook is good enough, it's fair to say the bank is the victim. But instead they say "you are a victim of identity theft" in order to make you the victim.
Obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9ptA3Ya9E
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no idea whether it's technically legal, actually. But I'm working off two premises: 1. The author doesn't care about legality, since he's finally resorting to piracy anyway. 2. The author would like to compensate MS for the use of a Windows license. If those are true, then buying a copy but actually using a pirate copy does what the author wants.
Eh, the author wants to pay MS money for the product, but also to be able to use the product without jumping through a bunch of stupid pointless frustrating hoops. MS insists these hoops are needed. The author, after years of giving MS money and jumping through hoops decides to stop giving them money, and stop jumping through the hoops. The author is trying to tell MS, in the post and with the lost sale, that the ant…
The author says:
>"if I have to go through the hassle of pirating it to get a working copy, I will not be paying for it"
Yet his whole argument up to then has been how much easier 'pirating' the OS is. In short he just doesn't want to pay.
If it were about ease of use he'd send them the money somehow.
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> When does the act of stealing occur? If I download a torrent and then delete it without watching/playing/listening, did I steal it? Yes, welcome to adulthood.
If I write random bits to a file and it turns out to be a Star Wars movie, did I steal it?
I was thinking the same thing ! I would actually go one step further. How can anyone OWN information (music,movies,software,etc) which is really binary which is really one big ass number (in base 2).
How can you OWN a number ? It doesnt make any sense to me, and I'm a software developer that makes products.
Its like saying, "I own the file represented by 23445353568893534534565767525454546422223346445646" and you have to pay me use that number. Sounds pretty dumb when you really break down this entire intellectual property issue
Re: I'm Pirating the Next Version of Windows
#240These are great points and a good portion of piraters do so for these exact reasons. There are always going to be people who steal content/apps instead of paying for them but I am sure more than a few people pirate purely because it is a better user experience than what is currently offered. TV shows are a great example. I cut my cable about a year ago and haven't looked back since. I refuse to pay a premium for chan…
Minor niggle, but please stop misusing "steal". We need to get that meme killed.
You cant be blind to this, Piracy is different from stealing, but it is analogous and so the meme.
When you physically steal something from a store, the store faces a loss of value and that is why it is illegal.
Information is not valued in the same way as other goods and sometimes the value is lost when a copy is made even though the original is not damaged in any way. Its like the secret treasure map which has the value of the treasure if its a secret and has zero value once its made public and the treasure is long gone.