Microsoft tries to put PC recycler in Jail

a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

I get what you are saying. I still dont agree.

The car is like: one day going to use your ignition on your perfectly good car you took care of, only to find it wont start now.

Whats worse is that the manufacturer made all mechanics refuse to service your car or go bankrupt themselves for doing their job.

Then you find out its all a ploy so you have to buy a new car from the manufacturer with a bunch of crap you didnt want.

So you steal YOUR CAR, hotwire it and use your property.

I should add that I pirate my own OS. One I bought.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

But overcharging the entire planet for it is.

But what determines what "overcharged" is? Should Apple be selling iPhones fro half the price because they have enough money already? Apple is approaching a trilion dolars in value. They put Microsoft to shame when it comes to monopolies and sucking the last nickle from their rabid fan base.

originally posted by: Gothmog
You do not own Microsoft Windows at any point of any ones. The same with most software produced in the known universe. You LEASE applications for 99 years . And the company retains the right at any time to revoke your lease

Feel better now ?

Incorrect. A Microsoft license is not for 99 years, or any commercial application for that matter. A license runs for the lifetime of that product. Applications may differ to OS's as far as licenses go but the rule is "generally" the same. You can still legally run XP if you possess a license but it is unsupported and will not be updated and most commercial applications will eventually only support newer windows versions. You are free to run older versions of any commercial product if you possess the license. Many business/consumer PCs have the MS license sticker on the case with the product key. After a while activation might be a problem because older products get deactivated but theoretically and legally speaking you can still use them.

No one can force an upgrade, legally speaking.

ETA You are partially correct. Buying a license does not let one "own" the product. It gives the right to use it indefinitely. Proprietary software is always licensed because only the software house owns it.

originally posted by: tadaman
a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

I get what you are saying. I still dont agree.

The car is likeone day going to use your ignition on your perfectly good car you took care of, only to find it wont start now.

Whats worse is that the manufacturer made all mechanics refuse to service your car or go bankrupt themselves for doing their job.

Then you find out its all a ploy so you have to buy a new car from the manufacturer with a bunch of crap you didnt want.

So you steal YOUR CAR, hotwire it and use your property.

I should add that I pirate my own OS. One I bought.

Okay, that makes sense. You always have the right to use your licensed copy of Windows. Beleive it or not, I know someone still using Windows ME.

a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

Beleive it or not, I know someone still using Windows ME.

LoL. Oh my.

I have a bud that has been using XP for all this time out of a sense of rebellion.

He instilled in me a sense of nostalgia for that version.

Any windows machine I use looks and feels like its running XP.

I am a little biased when it comes to MS. They havent been cool IMO.

LOL.

Have a good one man.
Sorry to praise the type of people bringing you down. Everyone really does deserve fair compensation for their work.

originally posted by: LightSpeedDriver

originally posted by: Gothmog
You do not own Microsoft Windows at any point of any ones. The same with most software produced in the known universe. You LEASE applications for 99 years . And the company retains the right at any time to revoke your lease

Feel better now ?

Incorrect. A Microsoft license is not for 99 years, or any commercial application for that matter. A license runs for the lifetime of that product. Applications may differ to OS's as far as licenses go but the rule is "generally" the same. You can still legally run XP if you possess a license but it is unsupported and will not be updated and most commercial applications will eventually only support newer windows versions. You are free to run older versions of any commercial product if you possess the license. Many business/consumer PCs have the MS license sticker on the case with the product key. After a while activation might be a problem because older products get deactivated but theoretically and legally speaking you can still use them.

No one can force an upgrade, legally speaking.

ETA You are partially correct. Buying a license does not let one "own" the product. It gives the right to use it indefinitely. Proprietary software is always licensed because only the software house owns it.

You must be one that never reads an agreement first before signing on the dotted line. Not very wise. Load up a Windows installation media and this time read the agreement .

a reply to: Gothmog

Incorrect again, nice fail though. I'm a sys-admin and know that of which I speak. A licence (license?) agreement never needs to be signed. It's called an EULA and is implied at installation time. Click the checkbox, then next.

Have fun!

originally posted by: LightSpeedDriver
a reply to: Gothmog

Incorrect again, nice fail though. I'm a sys-admin and know that of which I speak. A licence (license?) agreement never needs to be signed. It's called an EULA and is implied at installation time. Click the checkbox, then next.

Have fun!

And to click the I agree box and continuing you "sign" the agreement
Maybe , if I get to participate for the Debate Forum , you will be my first challenge. In ANYTHING Sys-Admin related.
I shall look forward to it.
BTW - I am the one Sys-Admins call when they have no clue....

So he hatched a plan to copy and sell to refurbishers PCs with Microsoft restore discs

Therein lies the offense.
Find for the plaintiff
Old dude should have became familiar with this one little word - laws.
And he probably would have gotten away with it too , if not for those pesky refurbishers he tried to sell to
Both the original computer manufacturer and Microsoft have a case against this guy now.
And , damn , that is one more fine just for one. Much less multiple...

originally posted by: Willtell

I don’t know, something seems very wrong here.

Yeah, maybe it's not about the money ...

I used to love the show Leverage. In one episode, they went after a guy who had a cyber-security company. He was a computer geek in high school and built a billion dollar company from the ground up. And where did he keep his most private files? On a old IBM PC that took 5-1/4 floppies. How many people in the NSA know how to crack custom security on something like that?

I know I still have a lot of important files that can only be opened by a program that was written for Windows 3.1. I have to keep an old computer functional just to use that program to open those files. The best I could do was get XP to run the program, and even that was glitchy. Vista or later won't do it.

How many update notices do you get from Adobe? How often do you ever see any real change in the program?

I know I'm a crazy conspiracy theorist, but I firmly believe Microsoft and the NSA work hand in hand to make sure that the government has maximum access to people's information. Newer technology, more cooperation, better access.

If I had data I wanted to really keep secret, I'd buy an old Commodore 128D. I bet my life that I could encrypt data on that no one alive could break.

Disclaimer: I made that brag after a double shot of tequila.

originally posted by: LogicalGraphitti

originally posted by: tadaman
a reply to: Willtell

This is why the last microsoft software product I paid hundreds of dollars for was Vista.

I have and will always use pirated software. PROUDLY.

If they dont like us doing that, then they need to stop trying to control the competition and actually let a real alternative flourish.

Proudly you say? What do you do for a living? My career includes mor than 20 years as a developer. Writing code isn't a pastime, it's a profession. Thankfully, there weren't many people stealing my code so it's all good.

Whatever you do for living, I hope someone takes advantage of your efforts and you don't get a paycheck.

I work as a developer and I'm sure somewhere along the lines something I've worked on has been pirated.

Don't care. I've always made my salary. Literally no money out of my pocket.


Outside of work 90% of the code I've written is available to the community as open source.

A lot of us don't do this for the money.

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: LightSpeedDriver
a reply to: Gothmog

Incorrect again, nice fail though. I'm a sys-admin and know that of which I speak. A licence (license?) agreement never needs to be signed. It's called an EULA and is implied at installation time. Click the checkbox, then next.

Have fun!

And to click the I agree box and continuing you "sign" the agreement
Maybe , if I get to participate for the Debate Forum , you will be my first challenge. In ANYTHING Sys-Admin related.
I shall look forward to it.
BTW - I am the one Sys-Admins call when they have no clue....

I look forward to it. I was often the only sys-admin in a large company. I almost got fired for refusing to install illegally licensed products but due to my MS certification I could do nothing else. I welcome debate, facts and details.

You never click "sign", you click "agree". Amirite...?

Good thing the auto industry doesn't operate like this. Only you are licensed to operate it . Sell it and the new owner has to purchase the program again to make it run.

originally posted by: LogicalGraphitti

originally posted by: tadaman
a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

I know I am scum.

I could make much more money if I told my customers one price, then after they got my services I told them " no Im not doing that for you anymore, but you could buy more of my newer services if you still need them."

The analogy is kind of my like my old car. It's paid for, runs reliably but it isn't worth much. If I want something new and modern, I need to buy a new one. I can't expect the manufacturer to give me a new one .

Also if I make it my purpose to drive out competition and innovation so people are stuck with me, I would make even more money!

Yes, that's just being competitive. It doesn't mean you have put your rivals out of business but if you can't compete, you die. That's the law of the jungle.

I might not be liked very much but who cares right?

It depends what you're in business for. Do you want to earn good money or are you trying to be nice to your competition?

I do buy from and donate to developers and honest companies. Microsoft? I will never stop pirating their OS. I have paid thousands of dollars at one point for business computers for MS to one day try to FORCE me to upgrade and spend more.

That wasnt part of the deal. So deals off

Back to the car analogy, do you really expect to pay once and get free new cars forever? Odd that you feel Microsoft is dishonest. What makes them so?

What is it that makes the car no longer valuable? Age?

If such logic was true, old muscle cars and classics in general would not be worth anything either.

The value is in the material that makes up the car and the man hours spent making it and getting the material. This is what makes MSRP sticker. That and number of them mass produced..etc.

Why should the automakers not be tasked with recycling an old auto so that you may pay a discount on the new product? It's not changed any in value since it left the lot. It's price is subject to this really funny thing people call the "economy" which is nothing more than a religion in itself. We make up these silly ideas that somehow age of a something means no longer valuable in a lot of cases.

In fact, ill wager there is more valuable metal on a classic muscle car than the total value of metal on a vehicle made today.

I am a fan of make it..you must recycle the material too.

a reply to: Gothmog

No he just dislikes wrong informations, like you gave. I was going to post the same but he was faster. You don´t really excell with knowlege in that post of yours.

Where do you got that number, made it up?

originally posted by: Tempter

originally posted by: Pilgrum
a reply to: Willtell

The solution appears to be reformatting the HDD to wipe all traces of anything MS and installing an open source OS like Linux which can be legally obtained for the price of a magazine or downloaded for free.

I've been in IT for 17 years and am primarily a Windows user. Yes, I'm a developer (cloud developer) and even though my Linux A game is enterprise-quality, I still prefer to run Windows on almost any PC.

Except one.

Can you guess which device I don't run Windows on (besides phone)?

My laptop. On my main squeeze I run Linux Mint.

My main gaming PC, Windows.

Linux STILL sucks from a usability perapective. I hope it dies from a new, better mutli-device OS with a unified app store.

Oh wait, like Android.

When the Note 9 comes out with DEX2 I'm ALL over that.

Not sure that you are serious. Linux has become easy to use. Even my non-tech parents use it. I see you use Linux Mint, haven't tried that one. But I do currently using Ubuntu Mate, that is based on Linux Mint. It's very easy to use. And it's fast. Windows is slow and unusable.

Not sure if you know what you are talking about, android is linux (closed linux).

Anyway, this guy actually will go to jail for a year and a half

shouldn't this be in civil court,... clearly they are picking on the little guy , you don't see anyone go to jail when one major corporation violates another corporations copyright, only damages ,,, but that might require exposing the reprehensible reason why they were damaged...

originally posted by: TimHeller
Wow! crazy scary, so what am i going to do when they come for my windows 7 desktop! profits at all costs ffs

Get a virtual machine manager like VirtualBox. It allows you to create a "virtual PC" running on a real PC, but with the OS of your choice. You create a virtual system with a chosen amount of memory and disk space, CPU's and number of screens, along with options for 3D and 2D acceleration. It can boot direct from an ISO file on the local disk or from a real optical drive. Then you have the ability to run and install the OS that you need to use (Windows XP, Windows 7/8/9/10, Linux) within the OS of your choice. The virtual file system is actually a single file within the host PC of anywhere between 8 to 32 gigabytes. So you can even use an old external USB drive to store a Windows OS rather than have it on the main system. That's open some interesting options for home security. Do your home banking/email from within one VM, and gaming/web surfing from another.

One of my last employers required that everyone using a web browser had to do so within a VM. This way, any malicious scripts could only damage the VM and not the real PC. Spyware can come in as web browser plugins.

The only downside I've seen so far is that the latest version of Windows 10 (Creators edition) won't run on VirtualBox, but the earlier versions of Windows 10 do.

a reply to: AttitudeProblem

DMCA. Its a crime to take money from "The Creators"

It's crap like this that makes me glad I never paid Microsoft for windows.