On Feb 27, 6:21 am, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Is piracy good for Microsoft?
>
I've made the same argument: that piracy is good for MSFT. Recall
MSFT allowed users to keep a copy of WIndows at home, so long as they
have a licensed copy at the office, precisely for this reason. As
MSFT tries to raise revenue by moving towards a subscription model, it
will help Linux at the margin, for those people who want to stay
legal.
What do I mean by the last phrase? You can always get a pirate copy
of Windows (this machine I'm posting from has one); but you cannot get
updates/patches/fixes/service copies from MSFT. To the extent these
updates become critical, and so far they're not (I downloaded
ServicePack 2 for WIndows XP for free) you may need to send some money
MSFT's way. Right now, if that happens, I would send them $100 to
$200, no more, and I think most people would do that rather than go
through the hassle of a Linux installation.
But if MSFT tries to get more than say $200, then some (not I, but
some students and cheapskates) might switch to Linux. So LInux in a
way keeps mSFT from raising prices, and for this we MSFT lovers should
be thankful.
RL
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