__/ [ Jim ] on Tuesday 18 July 2006 16:45 \__
> dsteel0@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>>
>> B Gruff wrote:
>>
>>
>>> The impression that I get is that many complaints are coming from
>>> individuals. For example, I now know of five people in our own local
>>> community who have a problem due to having bought from a local supplier
>>> who has since sold out and left - it would appear that he was installing
>>> the same image on all the machines he sold!
>>
>> The OP was implying (as I read it), that MS were at fault for
>> introducing a "gauntlet" of anti-piracy measures, when in fact (as your
>> story shows), it is the fault of bad resellers, ignorant users, and
>> pirates.
>>
>> If we follow the COLA philosophy, it is the end-user's responsibility
>> to make sure that the software they are getting is genuine.
>>
>> DSt.
>
> erm... not quite. The onus is set by Microsoft and the BSA (in the UK). The
> BSA have no jurisdiction and no powers of arrest, yet with Microsoft behind
> them they seem to think they're the personal computer police. Just takes
> someone (like me) to tell them precisely where to get off. A recent
> conversation between myself, a Microsoft rep and someone from the BSA is
> summarised below:
>
> BSA: WE'VE COME TO AUDIT YOUR COMPUTER INFRASTRUCTURE
> ME: OH REALLY? AUDIT AWAY, YOU'LL FIND MY SOFTWARE COMPLETELY ABOVE BOARD,
> FULLY LEGITIMATE AND LICENSED.
> MS (after looking for Windows license stickers, apparently): WE'VE NOTICED
> YOU DON'T HAVE ANY WINDOWS LICENSES ON ANY OF YOUR COMPUTERS? CAN YOU TELL
> US WHY?
> ME: BECAUSE I DON'T USE WINDOWS. ON ANY MACHINE.
> BSA: BUT AREN'T COMPUTERS GENERALLY SUPPLIED WITH WINDOWS LICENSES?
> ME: NOT BY ME, THEY'RE NOT.
> BSA: SO YOU'RE TELLING US THAT YOU SUPPLY COMPUTERS WITHOUT PROPERLY
> LICENSED COPIES OF WINDOWS?
> ME: NO, I'M TELLING YOU THAT I SUPPLY COMPUTERS WITHOUT MICROSOFT WINDOWS
> ON THEM, PERIOD. I DON'T TRUST THE PRODUCT, AND I DON'T TRUST THE COMPANY
> THAT CALLS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF ITS USERS THIEVES. MY PRODUCT IS SUPPLIED
> WITH A SAFE AND SECURE OPERATING SYSTEM AND DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT BUILT BY
> USERS FOR USERS. IT IS CALLED LINUX. THIS AUDIT IS TERMINATED. LEAVE.
[standing ovations/]
Also see:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28222
also http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/08/software_piracy/
,----[ Quote ]
| BSA claims in a barrage of press releases today
| that piracy costs millions of jobs
| and billions of dollars and switching to GNU/Linux
| and open source will eliminate this problem by
| creating a sharing friendly world.
`----
And this:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/browse_frm/thread/343253bbb45c9c2d/0a0d85111caf3cd6?q=bsa&lnk=gst&rnum=3#0a0d85111caf3cd6
The BSA has proven to be just a bunch of incompetents in the past, claiming
that Firefox and OOo being free is an impossibility and must be against the
law. "No licensing?", they say... what a bunch of pillocks.
|
|
