Here is advice for software manufacturers on how to reduce the number of illegal software downloads:

MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE!

Wow...

I know... Revolutionary idea.

I'm sure the big wigs sitting in a boardroom somewhere might be real confused on the matter. "Uh, you mean, we make it available for purchase?"

"Dan, can you run this by the guys in distribution and see what kind of effect it might have?"



Dear lord.

So some backstory for you guys since most people reading so far will be thinking, "Uh oh, Boncho got into the holiday eggnog. Can't someone that lives with him find a durable lock for the liquor cabinets?!"

I am a Mac user. I made the switch this year because I was tired of the blue screen of death, tired of putting 6-10 hours into a sales data presentation only to see "program is not responding" and suddenly, excel or word or whatever I was using disappears off the screen and non of the backups actually backed up my work.

There is one finance program I really want to use but it isn't offered for Mac. So I need windows. I still have a laptop with windows, but I get frustrated using it. I have a minibook with Windows, but I get frustrated using it.

My solution was to purchase parallels, run Windows in my Mac environment. Easy enough right? I purchased parallels, then came time to purchase Windows. Well, now that Win 8 is being launched, the store (even though has a Win 7 box) say they will not sell Windows 7. They will sell Windows 8, but so far it's only an upgrade version.

I just want to buy a copy of Windows full version. 7 or 8 or 129. I don't care what edition it is, I only need it for one program!

So they tell me they can't sell me a copy of 7, and all the 8 versions are just upgrades. I search the online store for MSoft, and I can't find anywhere to buy a serial for Windows 7. And all I can see is a Win8 upgrade being sold on it.

Talk about frustrating.

The store I went to recommended me drive half way across town to another store to see if they still had 7 copies. I considered buying a small netbook, one of the few they still had with Windows 7 on it. Then, just taking the serials and reloading Win7 on my Parallel copy.

To be honest, the netbook with Win7 was almost the same cost as the standalone version of Win 7. Here is another sad note. I could actually buy a computer, for almost the same cost of the program. I didn't because it wasn't a full version of Windows, and they said it might be hard to find that version online for download.

This is really pathetic. Say I had done that, there are millions of unfortunate kids around the globe who need computers. Whether it be to help them learn, help them function, help them stay connected to family, etc. And here I am ready to throw a perfectly good computer in the garbage, just to get the OS codes with the system.

Are you serious?!

How is it in 2013, one of the largest software developers, one that has had a near monopoly on OS's over the past 20 years, make it so impossible to actually buy their product with money... There are so many other pieces of software I have purchased in the last year. Simply buy using my credit card, downloading it, and voila! I have it, and they have the MSRP in their bank account.

Someone on here might have a simple solution for me. And if you do it's much appreciated. But here is my qualm, I asked at least a half dozen people a solution for this, and they were stumped. Some who work for computer retail chains, some regular folk as well.

The main thing though, is it shouldn't be this hard!

Dear god, we have apps for nearly everything. I just want to buy a ______ piece of software, to run one application, and it's been over a week with no solution!

Ironically, if I asked someone who is involved with pirating software, they probably could have offered me a same-day solution. This is very, very sad.

I understand your problem.
Fortunately you are one of he few people who do not actively use 'pirated' copies.

And regarding your problem,I would say dump Windows,OS X and try Linux(Ubuntu).It is opensource and has got millions of apps of every kind.

Ebay has about a thousand of them for sale...pricing all over the boards.

Des

ebay.

You can buy old copies of lots of stuff with active licenses.

Failing that (like if you want multiple copys) get in touch with a private IT provider that do whole sales to business, they often hold A LOT of old licenses for older software, as company's are usually very slow to upgrade to windows as fast (because they often run bespoke softwares that are extremely expensive and only run on specific windows platforms, call center software for example). Unlike the consumer market, which are forced to buy from laptop/desktop sellers, who have contracts with Microsoft to always have the latest versions preinstalled.

Most of these IT providing company's dont like to deal with anyone not in a business, but often will make exceptions to up their stats on a slow day

So I need windows. I still have a laptop with windows, but I get frustrated using it. I have a minibook with Windows, but I get frustrated using it.

Am I missing something? You'd rather spend money buying software you already have, but won't use because its on a Windows machine?
Do you not consider that to be just as wasteful as wanting to throw the machines out?
I don't get it. I probably won't get it.
I just don't see why you're cutting your nose off to spite your face. You've already got what you need...

I agree with previous poster. Linux is the way to go.

Ubuntu is good but my favourite at the mo is Linux Mint. Based on ubuntu but seems to run better for me.

Originally posted by Lulzaroonie

So I need windows. I still have a laptop with windows, but I get frustrated using it. I have a minibook with Windows, but I get frustrated using it.

Am I missing something? You'd rather spend money buying software you already have, but won't use because its on a Windows machine?
Do you not consider that to be just as wasteful as wanting to throw the machines out?
I don't get it. I probably won't get it.
I just don't see why you're cutting your nose off to spite your face. You've already got what you need...

The serials on both windows laptops are rubbed off. Unless you can get the serials by looking them up in the system.

Can you do that?

I am not using either of the laptops, they are slow as hell.

Originally posted by svmpua
I understand your problem.
Fortunately you are one of he few people who do not actively use 'pirated' copies.

And regarding your problem,I would say dump Windows,OS X and try Linux(Ubuntu).It is opensource and has got millions of apps of every kind.

The one application I want to use, only works on windows as far as I know. You can run it with linux using Wine, but it is considered unstable. Given that it is for financial transactions, this isn't wise.

I think a lot of you responding are completely missing the fact that it should not be this hard to buy a copy of software. I don't even need the software, nor do I need the packaging. I need the serial only.

Why the hell MSoft does not sell serials is completely lost on me. Absolutely no packaging, distribution costs. All they have to do is give me a serial number, and I give them x amount of dollars.

Why is this hard to understand?

Heya Boncho. I have bit of advice... First though, I feel your pain and you're not alone. Your OP pretty well sums up my whole thinking for moving off Windows and giving it the proper place it's earned for a long time. My trash can. It'll take a whole semester ...but Linux.. Ahh.. open source.. like fresh air in a coal mine.

Having said my peace on that... Don't go to stores ..I mean formal retail outlets. MS orders them by the calendar day, when an old version will NOT be sold anymore and when the next one is all they will allow across their counters. The stores you talked to may have had a couple pallets of Win 7 sitting in the back...but they'd risk far far more than a single software sale is worth to cross the mighty Microsoft.

Find a Computer tech shop in your town. One of those places that does the stuff Best Buy's Geek Squad does ..but that's 100% ALL they do. The ones here in my town are just store fronts in strip malls and we have 3 of them for a fairly small city. That is where one finds the old timers who remember what an 8088 was without pulling up Wiki to look. lol.. They also tend to be human beings and I can tell you...without naming names for giants to squash them flat ....The best one here in town still has sealed OEM Windows XP full version disks with the virgin codes all nice and sitting there to buy, let alone Win 7. At least they did when I was in there a short while back for something.

Well, I won't give you a link to buy Win 7, since that's taken care of now. But I must say, I see these posts about people having all these problems with "Windoze", and honestly, it just blows my mind. I have little, if any, problems with Windows. And trust me, I use it daily. I have put it through its paces on many occasions doing things with it you aren't supposed to be able to do. Windows works for me. It always has. I hated Vista, but it worked. Didn't care a lot for XP either, but it worked. What am I doing wrong?

Possibly, the difference between myself and those that have problems could be a combination of things. The big thing though, is I never go cheap on my hardware. I always buy more power and resources than I need to get the job done. Want Windows, or any other OS to run stellar? Feed them. Give them the resources they need to do the job you want them to do. And part of that is also keeping a clean, and well maintained system.

On the other hand, and on topic: They want you to have a hard time buying older versions of Windows. MS has always been this way. They want you to move when they tell you to. Which is a load of crap. And I'm glad consumers are fighting back this time around. Though not hard enough.

Good luck boncho. A good rant.

Explanation: Uhmmm?

I may just be jerking your chain ... but windows has NEVER been for sale ... ONLY LEASE!

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