From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Jun 29 1:13: 2 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [206.29.169.15]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 36CF437B405 for ; Fri, 29 Jun 2001 01:12:59 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from tedm.placo.com (nat-rtr.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [206.29.168.154]) by mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (8.11.1/8.11.1) with SMTP id f5T8Cql16072; Fri, 29 Jun 2001 01:12:56 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" To: "Duke Normandin" <01031149@3web.net>, "Freebsd Questions" Subject: RE: [Fwd: [Fwd: Office XP & Windows XP activation woes]] Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 01:12:52 -0700 Message-ID: <001001c10073$4af20aa0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2173.0 In-Reply-To: <20010628145350.B127333@mandy.rockingd.calgary.ab.ca> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3155.0 Importance: Normal Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG They will get the bugs with the activation worked out, but what this is really all about is planned sunsetting of the software. Today you can run your copy of Office 98 indefinitely - but can you imagine what they would say if you tried reactivating a 7 year old copy of Windows XP because you moved to new hardware? Something like "Sorry we don't provide activation codes for that version any more it's too old" I'm actually welcoming this because as your pointing out it will merely accellerate the move away from Microsoft software. The only bad part is that it will provide an opening for other Windows software ISV's to come out with competitive versions of Windows software, and instead of one big problem we will have one big problem and a bunch of smaller ones. In some ways I am sympathetic to Microsoft's predicament. One of the big reasons they are a monopoly is because the lack of product serialization has meant that the majority of smaller companies simply illegally load multiple copies of their software, instead of buying copies. As a result this enforces the monopoly position because "everyone" uses the applications - yet Microsoft has not been compensated because these freeloaders have no intention of paying for the software. It's bad enough to be declared a monopoly because you are one, but at least you got the money - it's worse when you get declared a monopoly and the users that put you into the position never paid you. :-) Ted Mittelstaedt tedm@toybox.placo.com Author of: The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide Book website: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com >-----Original Message----- >From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG >[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Duke Normandin >Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 1:54 PM >To: Freebsd Questions >Subject: [Fwd: [Fwd: Office XP & Windows XP activation woes]] > > >I just thought that we all could do a bit of gloating AND count our >blessings in belonging to the (Free)BSD community, after reading the >attached which was forwarded to me by a Windows software developer - soon >to be a Unix user/developer. Thank you BSD core developers, hackers, >gurus, committers, et al!! >-- >-duke >Calgary, Alberta, Canada > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message