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In those days Microsoft had a "curious" business strategy. They wanted Windows to be the dominant standard whilst trying to avoid monopoly litigation. So they

In those days Microsoft had a "curious" business strategy. They wanted Windows to be the dominant standard whilst trying to avoid monopoly litigation. So they'd charge everyone a license fee knowing that standard businesses would pay up, and those that wouldn't or couldn't were allowed to crack the software and use it. That portion of the market, the "piracy" sector wasn't in their view part of their market share numbers (they would say they weren't a monopoly). But having this in place meant it was harder for competitors to sub-divide the market into other Operating Systems and Enterprise productivity software. So it would end up as either Open Source or Windows. This is why they didn't reduce their prices for purchasing power parity purposes (to make it equally affordable in each market). The rich countries could drive their profits, and everyone else had a "free" ride just to shut the door on a competitor. Of course, the history of Microsoft and Anti-trust litigation is well documented. Things didn't entirely work out for them.

hellbannedguy 5y ago
Every computer I bought had a windies license fee tacked on wether I used their operating system, or not. To this day, I try not to give Microsoft any money. I have never really cared for Gates, nor his nonprofit that gives less than 1 percent back to the country that allowed him to flourish.
- realityking 5y ago
  > nor his nonprofit that gives less than 1 percent back to the country that allowed him to flourish. Do I understand you correctly, that your objection to the Gates foundation is, that they don‘t spend on projects in the US?
  - riversflow 5y ago
    Im gonna go out on a limb and say that, yes, that is their objection. Does that surprise you, or do you find it objectionable? Why? Im legitimately curious.
    - mullingitover 5y ago
      The Gates Foundation has done a lot to save lives and reduce suffering in developing countries. It's a bit tone-deaf to knock him on that point, and also pretty myopic. The US does not exist in a vacuum, and having third world countries develop faster because they're not getting hammered by easily preventable diseases actually can benefit the US. The people who are alive today (or maybe their descendants) might be buying products and services from the US down the road.
      - blindmute 5y ago
        Why would you choose to save lives and reduce suffering in a far off land when you could save lives and reduce suffering for your own country? That is what I have never understood about foreign aid charities.
        mullingitover 5y ago
        Simple: The US is the wealthiest country in the history of the world and we don't have a lot of low hanging fruit in terms of easily preventable/treatable diseases.
        ClumsyPilot 5y ago
        Range of possible reasons - Maybe because issues in poor nations are straightforward to solve: if you resolve the issue with clean water for a village, that improves lives of hundreds. Issues that plague 'The west' don't have a known solution. Maybe because of most issues in poorest nations is lack of funs / tech, which he can provide, but cause of suffering in western world is usually political or mismanagement, which he cannot 'provide' Maybe because for the same resources deployed the choice is between saving 100 kids from disease in Africa vs helping social mobility of 1 kids in US Maybe you do not believe that from Alaska to Hawaii is 5,000 miles of "we", but 500 miles South from Texas it's "they". Nation-centric worldview is a relatively new idea that only existed for a couple hundred years, even today many people associate by faith, by town/province, by ethnicity or other things over nationality
        jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
In those days? Right now it's even easier. You don't even have to crack it, just select "I'll do this later" when you have to fill in your license code.
- gambiting 5y ago
  €3 keys off eBay work perfectly fine and are legal since reselling OEM software has been explicitly ruled to be legal several times in EU courts now.
  - bobiny 5y ago
    I've read that these cheap OEM licenses could be cancelled after some time. Dunno if true or not. Could you give a link for EU courts' rulings?
    - mrweasel 5y ago
      I believe it’s this ruling in a case involving Oracle: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=124564&doclang=EN https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=12... The ruling was appeal and a 2016 ruling in a higher court just confirmed that you can in fact resell software licenses.
      - bobiny 5y ago
        But isn't it a different license like consumer vs business? I mean when OEMs are used for pre-built PCs or when it's activated by end user.
    - numpad0 5y ago
      I know of a case where payment got cancelled: eBay found the seller fraudulent and refunded either out of pocket or from insurance, probably the latter. That said, sometimes the licenses can indeed get cancelled. I’ve seen a really sketchy looking photocopied label that a guy “got” that didn’t work. Depends on the channel perhaps.
intricatedetail 5y ago
In the 90s and early 00s, the pirated software was like weed. If police didn't find anything on you, they'll get your computer and charge you with piracy. That time everyone had something, Windows or Norton Commander etc. I read about people having counted each file as a separate charge, to make them look like big fish. There were instances they counted expired trials too...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
userbinator 5y ago
It's interesting how Windows went from "worth pirating" to "don't want even if the upgrade is free" for me --- the user- hostile attitude MS has started to adopt has been a huge turn-off.

hellbannedguy 5y ago

Every computer I bought had a windies license fee tacked on wether I used their operating system, or not. To this day, I try not to give Microsoft any money. I have never really cared for Gates, nor his nonprofit that gives less than 1 percent back to the country that allowed him to flourish.

realityking 5y ago
> nor his nonprofit that gives less than 1 percent back to the country that allowed him to flourish. Do I understand you correctly, that your objection to the Gates foundation is, that they don‘t spend on projects in the US?
- riversflow 5y ago
  Im gonna go out on a limb and say that, yes, that is their objection. Does that surprise you, or do you find it objectionable? Why? Im legitimately curious.
  - mullingitover 5y ago
    The Gates Foundation has done a lot to save lives and reduce suffering in developing countries. It's a bit tone-deaf to knock him on that point, and also pretty myopic. The US does not exist in a vacuum, and having third world countries develop faster because they're not getting hammered by easily preventable diseases actually can benefit the US. The people who are alive today (or maybe their descendants) might be buying products and services from the US down the road.
    - blindmute 5y ago
      Why would you choose to save lives and reduce suffering in a far off land when you could save lives and reduce suffering for your own country? That is what I have never understood about foreign aid charities.
      - mullingitover 5y ago
        Simple: The US is the wealthiest country in the history of the world and we don't have a lot of low hanging fruit in terms of easily preventable/treatable diseases.
      - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
        Range of possible reasons - Maybe because issues in poor nations are straightforward to solve: if you resolve the issue with clean water for a village, that improves lives of hundreds. Issues that plague 'The west' don't have a known solution. Maybe because of most issues in poorest nations is lack of funs / tech, which he can provide, but cause of suffering in western world is usually political or mismanagement, which he cannot 'provide' Maybe because for the same resources deployed the choice is between saving 100 kids from disease in Africa vs helping social mobility of 1 kids in US Maybe you do not believe that from Alaska to Hawaii is 5,000 miles of "we", but 500 miles South from Texas it's "they". Nation-centric worldview is a relatively new idea that only existed for a couple hundred years, even today many people associate by faith, by town/province, by ethnicity or other things over nationality
      - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago

CorrectHorseBat 5y ago

In those days? Right now it's even easier. You don't even have to crack it, just select "I'll do this later" when you have to fill in your license code.

gambiting 5y ago
€3 keys off eBay work perfectly fine and are legal since reselling OEM software has been explicitly ruled to be legal several times in EU courts now.
- bobiny 5y ago
  I've read that these cheap OEM licenses could be cancelled after some time. Dunno if true or not. Could you give a link for EU courts' rulings?
  - mrweasel 5y ago
    I believe it’s this ruling in a case involving Oracle: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=124564&doclang=EN https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=12... The ruling was appeal and a 2016 ruling in a higher court just confirmed that you can in fact resell software licenses.
    - bobiny 5y ago
      But isn't it a different license like consumer vs business? I mean when OEMs are used for pre-built PCs or when it's activated by end user.
  - numpad0 5y ago
    I know of a case where payment got cancelled: eBay found the seller fraudulent and refunded either out of pocket or from insurance, probably the latter. That said, sometimes the licenses can indeed get cancelled. I’ve seen a really sketchy looking photocopied label that a guy “got” that didn’t work. Depends on the channel perhaps.

intricatedetail 5y ago

In the 90s and early 00s, the pirated software was like weed. If police didn't find anything on you, they'll get your computer and charge you with piracy. That time everyone had something, Windows or Norton Commander etc. I read about people having counted each file as a separate charge, to make them look like big fish. There were instances they counted expired trials too...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

userbinator 5y ago

It's interesting how Windows went from "worth pirating" to "don't want even if the upgrade is free" for me --- the user- hostile attitude MS has started to adopt has been a huge turn-off.