I wanna have legal OS, but I am student…so i really cant afford Vista.

using xp and i am happy…

Pick up your act Microsoft or may the pirates succeed! I used to hate using the old Mac OS (pre-X), but if OS X came to PC’s I would gladly buy it.

…and no, before you say it, Linux is no good for me. Have tried several variants and to me it just feels like a rejigged version of the old Mac OS’s that I despise.

Providing the Office at the same moment as the Vista makes matter even worse since many people have the feeling that they are double ripped off. It is reaching a critical mass here in Europe.

I cannot predict the future. And I do know that Microsoft will be here for a long time, but I do believe that this marketing strategy will become a bookcase sample of how to destroy a good working product and company fast without effort by becoming greedy.

Adding more fuel to the fire is the moment people start to realize what this DRM and copy protection means. Most people in Europe plainly hate DRM and anything that is connected to the movie and music industry because of the agressive campain against piracy. People must realize that the students from a few years ago are now starting their profession as IT, so they take with them the strong negative emotions against DRM!

The combination DRM+superhigh prices is deadly in the long therm. I see momentum beeing built up towards Linux. I do realize that it will still take years before people actually migrate to something else than Linux but all it nees is a critical mass.

The odd thing is that I was a big van of Vista. And I do believe that the developers did a great work, but now I realize that all Microsoft wants is to suck the users dry.

Oh, I also asked IT if they are plannig to migrate Vista. The answer was simply: NO WAY! Too expensive. More and more servers are now beeing replaced by Linux servers at the company.

Microsoft is so full of itself, it can’t see beyond its profit margin….

I Have run every version of Windows (often in ?eta) since 3.1 and have seen all the version before it. Once 95C came out, they had a somewhat stable and usefull multi-tasking/timesharing Operating System (not just a GUI). Once I got to Windows 2000, I stopped. I ran it from ?eta stage and full release all the way up until late Y2006 when I was somewhat forced to use WinXP SP2 so that I could use the newest versions of various MS products like MSN Messenger Live, IE7, etc.

I do like XP, but the hassel of cracking it annoying. Should you have a legal copy and then upgrade your computer, you may have problems because it will detect a significant hardware change and want you to pay for another liscense.

XP Pro is 200 US (250 CDN). That’s alot of money. Sure you can get XP HOME for just over 100, but you miss out of the few extra features of XP Home that most computer geeks would want for their expensive upgrade from Windows 2000.

MS-WIN-VISTA HOME Basic is around 230 US (260 CDN). So for more than XP Pro SP2, you get the newest version of Windows, but fully scaled down and w/o most of the interesting new features of VISTA.

MS-WIN-VISTA ULTIMATE is 400 US (500 CDN). This is the version that most computer GURUs will want because with it, you can take advantage of all the new features of VISTA. The problem here is that at 500 CDN, you can buy a modern gaming PC from your local retailer for that with an XP COA.

Say I haven’t upgraded my PC since 2002 and I’ve been saving for a new PC. I’m running Windows ME because it came with my PC at the time and 2000 was too expensive. The new computer I want is going to cost me 750 CDN (custom build) but then I want the newest version of Windows (VISTA) on there so I’m fully up-to-date and sure I’ll be compatible with all the newest apps and games for the future. OMG! Windows VISTA Home Basic (no frills) is 260$ CDN and doens’t even have the new features I read about. VISTA ULTIMATE is 500$ CDN, that’s 3/4 the price of my new PC!! I guess I’ll have to settle for MS-VISTA-HOME-PREMIUM which has most of the features I want and is only $300 CDN (40% of the price of my hardware).

This is NUTS. 500 for a PC and 250-500 for the operating system. In 1993, a 386 computer cost 2300$ CDN with a printer, monitor and DOS 5.0 / Win 3.1. DOS 5.0 was 35$ and Windows was around the same. Those prices don’t even factor into the price of the hardware and its a no-brainer to BUY legal copies of your OS with the new computer.

Now alot of ppl will buy a custom PC and pirate the OS because it costs so much. With XP its very difficult to pirate keeping all the functionality and it’s so expensive that when you think about buying a legal copy to avoid the annoying crack issues, you accept the annoyances and keep your pirated copy.

Bottom line is, as others have said…

Apple MAC OS X Tiger – 149.99 CND @ the apple store online (canadian)
- You don’t have to enter in a serial code and there is no authorization to use this OS
- You can re-sell your copy and that use can use the OS hassle-free
- Plenty of online support http://www.apple.com, or online forums
- You -could- give a burned copy ot a friend hassle free, but you should buy it
and every Apple Computer comes with MAC OS X DVD or CD

Ubuntu Linux OS – FREE + FREE Shipping Online
- You can give a burned copy to a friend and its hassle free

Windows XP Pro SP2 – 249.99 CDN @ your local retailer
- You have to authenticate often
- There is a serial code and
- should you upgrade too much, XP may decide you need a new COA
- The CD/DVD often does NOT come with your new PC, but simply a COA sticker with your serial code and the software pre-loaded. If you wanted to reload fresh, you would have to pirate a copy of XP and use that disc with your LEGAL COA. * or you could ask MS for a replacement Disc at a HIGH COST

Windows Vista Home Premium – 299.99 CDN @ your local retailer
- Same problems as XP Pro but now it will be much more difficult to pirate and changing computer hardware will probably piss Vista off as well.
- I don’t know if the DVD will come with your NEW PC or if you’ll just get a sticker, who knows.

The point is, Microsoft is punishing the home user who would buy a legal copy of Vista with it’s high price point. There will always be people able to crack Windows, but it’s going to get more difficult.

Microsoft obviously is sending a message, although, not the one they probably intended to send. That message to me is – “Seriously consider buying a MAC and happily run MAC OS X” or “Seriously consider trying a distribution of Linux. It’s free and there is more support for it than Windows anyways”

Microsoft may single-handedly push more users away from PCs and give Apple a higher share of the hardware and software market. If not just that, they may give Apple the opportunity to run it’s MAC OS X on PCs which would be AWESOME! Linux will also become more popular.

I was going to go buy VISTA but 250-500$ would get me alot of nice hardware. I’ll stick with my Windows 2000 and Windows XP PCs and my Apple Mac computer running OS X Tiger.

So VISTA may actually be GOOD for the PC/MAC industry in that way that it will make people seriously consider other platforms (APPLE MAC OS X or LINUX on PC/MAC).

Y2007 will give us the answers. I’m sure we’ll see stats by mid-summer showing people migrating to other OS’s and platforms. I would also not be surprised if Apple DOES in fact offer it’s MAC OS X for us on PC platforms. I’m sure they’re not far off from it now with the new Intel Based MAC’s.

Take care everyone and hopefully some of you will seriously consider another platform.

Maybe not a perfect analogy here… but similar to how Sony’s delayed and very expensive PS3 was trumped by the half as much priced but fully innovative Nintendo Wii. Will OS X be the new Wii for the PC industry? Imagine the ripples this would cause.

- Paul

It?s even less of an improvement compared to what Windows XP was to Windows 2000.

That’s not saying much. most of the differences between those two were usability and cosmetics – Turn off all of XP’s dancing baloney and you have a UI that looks just like 2000. Even the version numbers – 2000 is Windows 5.0, XP is 5.1 – suggest only a minor difference.

And MS wants me to pay full whack for that? No thanks.

@Pedro

LOOK i disagree with you completely. Microsoft has been the motor of the word economy since the computer was created ? and is among oracle and IBM the most innovative company ever!!!!in 100 years will be speaking about Microsoft and how much Bill Gates has done for us!!.

What a load of bollocks. MS got where they are today by slick marketing, intimidation, acquisition, luck() and, on occasion, outright theft. MS’s reluctance to embrace standards is legendary, and their unwillingness to share the market with anyone else is axiomatic.

I use MS operating systems at home (98, 2000) and at work (XP), they work well enough, but I have no illusions that MS’s hands are not clean – and they are NOT innovators.

It may be news to you, but Europe is not America; they can do what they like. If MS does not like it, they can take their business elsewhere.

Take care of what YOU say – and check your facts before saying it.

Eat that, Troll.

@Cell9

“You can knock out 99% of the casual piracy just fine with what they?re doing now with XP.”

You can also lose 99% of your customers by pissing them off, thus . I have five computers in my house – none of them run XP, as I am philosophically opposed to WPA, DRM, WGA and all of those other TLAs that we know and love. Windows 2000 is the last MS OS that I own, and I am actively testing Ubuntu Linux, with which I am very impressed.

FWIW, I _do_ have a beta of Vista Ultimate running on one of my systems. Verdict: Not impressed. Nothing to see here, folks, move along, move along…

They have 90% of the worlds PC’s under their thumb, they could come up with far more creative revenue streams that won’t leave customers feeling like they spent the night in a jail cell with a serial rapist. But hey, what do I know.

The Europeans are playing a very very dirty game with Micorsoft and they buy Windows because there is nothing better and blame Microsoft for all the good things they have done.

I think the world should take a look at why the Europeans are using ilegal methods through courts that want to make profit of unfair laws against amarican companies. THIS IS IN MY EYES VERY DIRTY and of course increases the prices for the operating systems.

Take care of what you say