Would Microsoft fail if they eliminated piracy? “network ext

[FedoraRefugee]

The fact remains a lie is never right.

So you say. But that is NOT a fact, from where I sit. That is what you believe.

True. I believe it is fact, you do not. Conceded.

[Midnighter]

When did we start talking about politicians?

[MALsPa]

Going back to the original post...

...why doesn’t Microsoft (a good example) stop piracy of Windows, once and for all?

It’s easier than you might think. A company that has amazing technological and financial resources at its command should actually find it quite a trivial matter to simply enforce over the Internet the policy of a unique copy of Windows being installed on just one computer. I believe it can certainly be done. Why then has it not happened?

The author believes that piracy of Windows can be stopped, but can it? I'm not so sure that it would really be all that simple.

[FedoraRefugee]

Going back to the original post...

...why doesn’t Microsoft (a good example) stop piracy of Windows, once and for all?

It’s easier than you might think. A company that has amazing technological and financial resources at its command should actually find it quite a trivial matter to simply enforce over the Internet the policy of a unique copy of Windows being installed on just one computer. I believe it can certainly be done. Why then has it not happened?

The author believes that piracy of Windows can be stopped, but can it? I'm not so sure that it would really be all that simple.

I think randomizer is correct in the other thread. Piracy will not be stopped. Microsoft can implement even more draconian "phone home" processes to try and prove validity of the OS every time the user goes online, but there will always be ways around this. It is a problem that will only grow bigger. Businesses are going to have to find a way to bypass the problem, change the way they do business to incorporate piracy. Make piracy a moot point. Maybe Microsoft needs to concentrate on computer manufacturer sales only then only support those systems. Each incident of the OS would be directly tied to that particular computer. Yes, this would suck for everyone involved, but piracy is going to end up forcing measures like this.

[deleted]

Maybe Microsoft needs to concentrate on computer manufacturer sales only then only support those systems. Each incident of the OS would be directly tied to that particular computer.

They did that a few years back. ...And got sued. This was about the time Dell was at it's peak and a little before Dell started offering Linux as one of the OS's for their PC's.
Additionally, there are some oem versions of Windows that only work on that particular computer. VMWare had to address that with their VMWare converter, that allowed someone to export their old pc image "as is" and let it be hosted in a rack.

-Hinto

[FedoraRefugee]

Maybe Microsoft needs to concentrate on computer manufacturer sales only then only support those systems. Each incident of the OS would be directly tied to that particular computer.

They did that a few years back. ...And got sued. This was about the time Dell was at it's peak and a little before Dell started offering Linux as one of the OS's for their PC's.
Additionally, there are some oem versions of Windows that only work on that particular computer. VMWare had to address that with their VMWare converter, that allowed someone to export their old pc image "as is" and let it be hosted in a rack.

-Hinto

Yeah, i remember. But if Apple can do it...

I do not seriously believe it is a possibility anyway, it really does not make sense. I was just using it as an example to show that businesses are going to have to come up with other solutions if they want to bypass this problem. We both know that the world will only get worse and there will be a time soon when we will lose this argument and it will become morally acceptable to pirate digital media. We are only a generation away right now. Personally, I do not think we will be around much longer than that anyway...

[deleted]

Yeah, i remember. But if Apple can do it...

and it almost killed them... Remember where there wasn't "an App for that" on the Mac? If I remember correctly MS actually gave them a cash infusion since they (MS) was afraid of being called a Monopoly.

Personally, I do not think we will be around much longer than that anyway...

But there will be a new world...
-Hinto

[MALsPa]

We both know that the world will only get worse and there will be a time soon when we will lose this argument and it will become morally acceptable to pirate digital media. We are only a generation away right now.

Many people already feel that "pirating" digital media is morally acceptable.

[FedoraRefugee]

But there will be a new world...
-Hinto

Yep!

Many people already feel that "pirating" digital media is morally acceptable.

Yep!

[Biker]

I do not seriously believe it is a possibility anyway, it really does not make sense. I was just using it as an example to show that businesses are going to have to come up with other solutions if they want to bypass this problem. We both know that the world will only get worse and there will be a time soon when we will lose this argument and it will become morally acceptable to pirate digital media. We are only a generation away right now. Personally, I do not think we will be around much longer than that anyway...

Doubtful. The courts world wide are taking a very dim view on this, and the penalties are getting stiffer. Even previously thought "safe havens" are not so safe any more as the courts in Sweden have shown this week.

[FedoraRefugee]

I do not seriously believe it is a possibility anyway, it really does not make sense. I was just using it as an example to show that businesses are going to have to come up with other solutions if they want to bypass this problem. We both know that the world will only get worse and there will be a time soon when we will lose this argument and it will become morally acceptable to pirate digital media. We are only a generation away right now. Personally, I do not think we will be around much longer than that anyway...

Doubtful. The courts world wide are taking a very dim view on this, and the penalties are getting stiffer. Even previously thought "safe havens" are not so safe any more as the courts in Sweden have shown this week.

Maybe. I hope. But I fear it will be a short lived victory. It is just a matter of time until the entitlement mindset becomes the majority.

[MALsPa]

So, the concluding statement is based on the assumption, or the false belief, that Microsoft has the ability to stop piracy of Windows products, which does not appear to be the case:

This is the real reason why Microsoft will never stop piracy. They know that if they do, then half the world will stop using Windows, and they figure that, if that happens, they’re doomed.

So why does the author believe that it should be so easy for Microsoft to stop it? I guess I'm missing something.

[eiver]

Did you all mixed topics or what? Why the morality discussion creeps into this topic from another one? The question in this topic completely eliminates any moral problems. You don't have discuss if piracy is moral. The question ASSUMES that piracy is GONE. There IS NO piracy.So lets stick to it, no matter how hard would it be to do it in the real world. The question you must answer is:

People cannot pirate windows. Would people still use Windows or do something else?

I say other systems would become more popular.

[FedoraRefugee]

Did you all mixed topics or what? Why the morality discussion creeps into this topic from another one? The question in this topic completely eliminates any moral problems. You don't have discuss if piracy is moral. The question ASSUMES that piracy is GONE. There IS NO piracy.So lets stick to it, no matter how hard would it be to do it in the real world. The question you must answer is:

People cannot pirate windows. Would people still use Windows or do something else?

I say other systems would become more popular.

Well there it is then! Thread over!

Damn, that was EASY!

[eiver]

Weeeeeee.

Is there no one here on this Linux forum to make a claim that Windows would still dominate the market because it is superior and cheap too?

[FedoraRefugee]

Weeeeeee.

Is there no one here on this Linux forum to make a claim that Windows would still dominate the market because it is superior and cheap too?

Actually, I do not believe piracy is that big a factor. Cut it all out and Windows still dominates...Easily...

However, if they lose their stranglehold on computer manufacturers then they will have MAJOR problems. They will not dominate forever, things change, something else will come along. Really, Windows has only had the top spot since the late nineties. Maybe as early as 91, 92, I would not argue that. But after Windows 95 anyway. Not really a long time in the big picture. They will fall eventually. Maybe the cloud will take a major chunk out of them. Maybe Linux will play a factor in this, but I seriously doubt it. I think it will be a new technology that will eventually do it for them.

[randomizer]

Here is my take on the topic. Note that it is opinion based largely on personal observation and is therefore by no means fact.

I agree with the article in that Windows needs market share in order to retain market share. In fact I believe that this is the most valuable asset that Microsoft has (more on that in a moment). While it is impossible to prevent piracy, if it were possible then people would move to another platform if they could not afford Windows. It's only logical that if you must buy something to use it and you can't afford it then you won't use it.

As I said before, I believe that market share is Microsoft's absolute top priority, not individual sales. Keeping market share - for all their software, not just Windows - ensures that 3rd party software will continue to be built for their platform (let's not forget corporate internal websites that only work on IE6). This in turn means more people will be stuck with Windows. So the cycle continues as I'm sure you can already see. Now to back up the first sentence in this paragraph I have only personal observations. As an IT student, Microsoft throws at least $30,000 worth of software at me for free, non-commercial use, with a non-expiring licence. I could go out and buy that software and give Microsoft my money but what would be the point? It is their goal to ensure that I know Microsoft software and only Microsoft software. This means that in the workforce I will keep whatever company I work for on the MS bandwagon, where the real money is made in volume licences and commercial support. This far outweighs the pitiful amount of money they would have got from me.

Microsoft thinks long-term gain, not short-term gain. I do think that this is largely because they assume that if I want to use a $12,000 copy of VS 2010 Ultimate that I will not be paying for it anyway, so why not make me feel "special" and give it away for free legally?

I think that most large software companies would hold a similar view in that while they will publicly denounce piracy, it is in their best interests to allow it to continue so that people will be indoctrinated with proprietary products.

[Biker]

Maybe the cloud will take a major chunk out of them.

Those that say cloud computing will eventually become the norm never worked on mainframes during the bad ol' days with dumb terminals. That's all cloud computing is. And what do you do when you can't connect to the cloud? THIS is why PCs became so prevalent. People were sick and tired of having to carve out and reserve processing time on the system in order to get their work done.

[MALsPa]

Maybe the cloud will take a major chunk out of them.

Those that say cloud computing will eventually become the norm never worked on mainframes during the bad ol' days with dumb terminals. That's all cloud computing is. And what do you do when you can't connect to the cloud? THIS is why PCs became so prevalent. People were sick and tired of having to carve out and reserve processing time on the system in order to get their work done.

I can't see cloud computing ever becoming the norm HERE! Just another tool that's available to me. I think that's where cloud computing today differs significantly from the days of mainframes and dumb terminals. We can use cloud computing or not use it, at our convenience.

[Chasester]

As an IT student,.....

explains enough for me.

Personally I did my share of pirating back in the days when I was trying to get the company I worked for - with no budget - as secure and as networked as possible. And I did - by pirating software. Over time I managed to wrangle funds and became 100% legal, but the point was - I was illegal then - and I knew it. Eventually as the network demands kept growing I got tired of M$ fee's and came up with a 3 year plan to convert to Linux totally. I left before implementation but that's a moot point. I didn't like the fee's so I went other - legal paths to still obtain what I needed too. This day and age you'd be not only a thief, but also one hellova lazy thief if you needed to steal software - oh excuse me, I mean if you didn't pay for for-pay software.

With a little imagination and some old fashion brain power you can get what you need for free and be legal.