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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Howe who wrote (62478)	11/1/2001 4:34:26 PM
From: Timetobuy	Respond to of 74651

I'm not talking about the long term (2-3 years). I'm talking about what they'll do in the short run. If they weren't willing to buy a legal copy for each machine, I doubt they'll pony up now just because there is a new OS out. If I knew of a company with illegal copies, I'd turn them in myself.

To: David Howe who wrote (62478)	11/1/2001 4:38:20 PM
From: Dave	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Dave, just this once, I agree with you. I don't really find anything wrong with Microsoft's product activation scheme. I'm considering a very similar scheme for a product I've developed, so that we can stop shipping expensive USB dongles with every copy we sell. And yes, there are lots and lots of companies who pirate Windows as well as other software. Probably the most common piracy method is to buy a single copy, or borrow one from a friend, and install it on every machine in the office. Now personally, I think that should be permitted as long as only one copy is running at any one time. But that's really up to whoever writes the license agreement. What I would be very wary about, especially with a company with as spotty an ethical record as Microsoft's, is unauthorized access to users' machines by the software. But I don't have a problem with the product activation requirements themselves. Dave