Microsoft has had enough

It looks like Microsoft has finally had enough of losing sales to pirated copies of Windows. They are putting in mechanisms to require anyone wanting to run the Windows Update to verify they have a legit copy. I say it’s about time.

Love them or hate them, Microsoft really brought PC’s into the home. The Windows operating system made it so easy for a person to use a computer, and all the PC clones made it so cheap, that everyone and their sister could buy one and use it. They use strong arm tactics to overtake competition and sometimes result in stretching the rules. Personally, I think it is fine. It’s called business and the point of business is to make money. As long as they are not totally crushing the rules, I think they should continue to do business like that.

I know, I know, a lot of people are all “Microsoft is a monopoly and they shut down the little guy!”. So what. It’s called a free market. If someone can come up with something that is better and dethrone the king, let them because there is nothing to stop them. You want to talk about “monopolizing” a market? Think about Apple. How many people are allowed to build Mac clones? I’ll give you a hint, it’s less than 1. There used to be Mac clones on the market but Apple shut them down. The only place to get Mac hardware is from Apple so they set the price (which is too high IMO).

Microsoft has problems. Buggy software, security issues, etc. I see nothing wrong with them wanting to keep their Windows code a closed source application nor do I see anything wrong with them wanting to force users to verify they paid for their copy of Windows. That’s their business, their lifeline. Open source isn’t as secure as the open source crowd want to think. Look back at all the kernel releases and see how many times “fixed root access” occurs. Linux is safe because who wants to attack an OS that less than 5% of the market uses? Windows is the big target so it’s easy to go after. Linux is a good OS but the ads for it need to stop putting “More secure than Windows” at the top of the list. Once it becomes a true player on the OS market, I can see it coming under a lot more virus attacks because then it will be worth actually attacking so the writers can say “Yeah, I did that” for bragging rights.

03.Feb.05 Technology

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2 Responses to “Microsoft has had enough”

bayp | February 3rd, 2005 at 2:35 pm
I agree. I also think that it is about time that they started doing this. My views on software piracy have changed pretty substantially since I actually started writing software. Not that anyone could ever pirate the software that my company works on (because we oursource the computers that run it as well) but I understand the amount of work that goes into writing a program — or set of programs for that matter.

I’ll be honest. I’ve had a pirated copies of Windows since Windows 1.0. That stopped when XP came out, though. Every PC that I own that runs XP has a totally legit copy of Windows XP. Honestly, it’s a lot less hassle. And I have someone to call and yell at if something breaks. =)

I do agree with you that Apple hardware is expensive, though it does hold its value better as well. I was curious the other day so I went and poked around eBay. A PC system (Dell for instance) built around the year 2000 sells for between $30 and $60. A Mac built in the same time frame sells for $250 – $350. I know it doesn’t necessarily justify the price, but it does feel better to know that your computer isn’t totally worthless after 4 years.
bayp | February 3rd, 2005 at 2:36 pm
I just re-read my post. I meant we outsource the computers TO them. We own the computers.