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If it wasn't "lease to own" I'd be ****ed.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

What happens when you have to reinstall?

Do you have to re-enter all the keys, or do you get one master key to show you own it?

I was feeling the same way. After all if you own the PC, it's all good.
Very good question The_Decryptor. Hopefully they give you the Retail key once everything is paid.

I'd imagine they'd give you a master key and several top-up keys, that way once it is completed the original key will act exactly like any other copy.

When did they say ultimate was for students? It seems more aimed at gamers and power users if you ask me. Also a student can still run a cheaper version if they want (not to mention the academic licensing scheme makes windows cheap as chips for students).

Windows isnt expensive at all for students. It cost me substantuially less than many of my text books for uni. about $110AU compared to several books that cost me $150AU or so.

Last edited by Smigit on 23 May 2006 - 02:13

You are right... because I have a pirated edition of windows and thats because I don't wanna pay a software that is overpriced with a lot of bugs in it :

thats a pretty weak excuse to justify theft...

if it's over priced and buggy, do i really need to ask? oh well: why use it?

Because they have a monopoly which requires you to use it for the sake of "compatability."

Most people aren't required to use it. I don't. Some people just like to complain. If you don't like it, stop using it and shut up!

(sorry, I guess I needed to vent)

"Because they have a monopoly which requires you to use it for the sake of "compatability."

Why? Between Open office and many other apps linux has many business needs covered and lets not forget Mac which can do close to as much as windows. The only people who cant use alternatives are those that require specialised programs for work (some cads and such) and since its a business machine theres a good chance the user doesnt own the system but the business does so there again is no reason for the copy to be pirated.

As for games, in what way are you "required" to play those. If you wana play games then yeah your sorta tied to Windows or alternatively buy a console. But yet again thats no real excuse to be stealing the OS. It really amuses me when people blame Microsoft as being the cause for them pirating software as if the user was forced into using the OS as their home OS. People wouldnt pay to use it even if it wasnt "buggy", I can guarantee you of that.

And yeah I use windows, I fail to see how it's as buggy as people make out. It has its limitations but limitations != bugs and its generally pretty stable and any issue is usually with something I installed not with Windows itself.

"Because they have a monopoly which requires you to use it for the sake of "compatability."

Agreed.

"If you don't like it, stop using it and shut up!"

This must be the first time I disagree with you. Tell me you're not turning to the Dark Side

I'm all for your "shup up" part, but you see, sometimes it is not up to us to choose. At uni/college, we are asked to do work at home, so we have to stick with <ProgramName> <VersionThis,NotThat>. There might be alternatives, but we cannot make use of them because, well, we need to be "compatible". I'm sure you're ready to burst saying "there's OpenOffice". Bad news. Just because we can get office application compatibility doesn't mean our problem is solved. In fact, we only use Office applications in order to open up our assignments and maybe write a report. Our work involves programming, databases, electronics simulation and statistics. That means we got to use other programs in the process.

I do like Linux. In fact most of the time that's what I use. But either I want to or not, I cannot get rid of Windows. I guess you get the point. So please,

In any case, I'm not saying piracy is okay. I'm just proving a point.

maybe not to people like you who can wipe thier *** with money but hey we're only talking about third world contries

Agreed. They really should drop their prices. That attracts more people to their software. Right now Windows & Office are way too expensive for 3rd world PC users to afford.

Yeah, buying MS software on your university campus is VERY cheap. I will be able to get legit copies of windows & office professional + Onenote for under £120 when I go to university. This approach has to extended to third world countries.

On a side note, what's happening with those $100 laptops that are being made for people in the developing countries?

£100-150 is a completely reasonable price for an OS... £170 for XP Home Retail and £225 for XP Pro Retail is just ridiculous and Vista will no doubt cost a lot more. I don't understand why OEM prices are reasonable (though £90 is still expensive in comparison to what the US pays) and yet retail prices rip you a new hole.

I have yet to see a Windows keygen. Cracks, yes, but no keygens.

i have a few keygens for windows

Probably the sort of keygen that has a database of about 50 and just picks a random one

actualy your wrong , the xp keygen actual scans the net for valid keys , dont ask me how but it does , you type in the amount of keys you want it to find and away it goes , please note i do own a legit copy of xp , i was just curious as to what the keygen did and how it worked

which means it doesn't generate them but takes them from databases, so not a keyGENerator i would think

I assume it'll do what preloaded MCE does; reinstall from a partition.

And I think the sort of user this is aimed at doesn't know what a format means.

It's obvious the overall cost would be higher. It's exactly like purchasing on HP. Instead of being e.g. £100 it will end up being e.g. £150. The extra £50 being the "credit charge" etc.

I can do anything in Linux that you can do in Windows, and yes, that means play games also. Quoted by SweetLou

Sure you could play all the games when you emulate Windows beneath your Linux Box. Your too funny.

It's called supply and demand, that is what determines the price of anything, not the company. Quoted by SweetLou

Since when did Windows become supply and demand? LOL.

Last edited by D-M on 23 May 2006 - 11:32

im sorry but you cant play all games on linux that you can play on windows , i tried playing call of duty 2 under linux and it just would not launch , it would install fine but not launch , yet with Ut 2004 it plays ok because it uses opengl as well as directx , until linux becomes 100% game playable i will continue to use windows xp for games , everything else is used on linux

Yes, Microsoft uses supply and demand to set the price. This is determined by the company and you and me. Microsoft wants to make the most profit, supply and demand determines this.

I don't emulate Windows in Linux to use Windows apps and games, though I don't use many Windows' apps.

Never tried call of duty, so I will agree with you that all games won't play on Linux, but enough do that it won't justify piracy because you need it. There are many other games out there that you can play.
The concept of stealing because you can't afford something is wrong. I can't afford a Mac, but they have some cool apps. That doesn't mean I should go out and steal a Mac. I will just have to use an alternative app or game. What I am saying is that you have alternatives, you don't "need" Windows.

Imagioen a graph created by proffesional market analysts, like those hired by MS.

With one graph showing expected number of units sold at reduced costs and what income this would give.

the other showign the same, but with current prices.


Where these graphs itnersect, that's where MS starts too loose more money because even if they sell more units at a reduced price, they don't sell enoughto make up for the reduced price, compared to what they.

this intersection is where the price is set it, it's as it is maximum profit.


so reduced price, does nto automtically mean increased income. especially not in coutrnies like these where peopel still wouldn't have enough money to afford it at a price that makes it commercially viable to sell it.

Hence this system comes in, just like you sell mobile phones with subidaries, you can buy windows for a small start price, and pay it down as you use it, instead of all at once.


This means more people can buy windows, and MS still makes money off the sold copies. and everyone's happy. Except the MS haters.

Thanks, I thought I was the only one who understood supply and demand.

the only thing you should do is buy windows xp

oh yea because cars never have problems either right? and spyware... well sorry microsoft cant hold your hand and stop you from installing bonzibuddy or w.e

and u just have to be joking, on crack, or an idiot.

Cierro: Do you eat with that same bad mouth? I'm just a retired Avionics Engineer and NOT joking. Why to most hackers attack Windows? (It's easy)

I'm talking specifically Operating Systems only. With Microsofts idea of "pay as you go" licensing what does that say about their price structure?

It says most people agree that its too expensive and with a PC requiring some sort of operating system Microsoft has its consumers by the short and curlies.

Most would agree that an Operating System should be somethign that all of us could purchase and it benefits Microsoft by its userbase upgrading to allow NEW software including their own on older PC's.

An OEM version of Windows XP Pro is about £100 here in the UK and a RETAIL version being almost 3 times that! Quite frankly anyone wishing to upgrade their PC's to XP Pro or Home shoudl feel a little upset by the price and abandoned by Microsoft by moving to the next OS platform. Why should anyone pay the huge prices for something a PC user critically needs?

Thats where piracy enters the equation. With piracy here in the UK being 25% of all programs installed on UK PC's and worth over £1 Billion pounds why wouldnt Microsoft see this as a nice chunk of change if they reduced there prices on OS's?