nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> I say "almost" because I think that they should be much more strict than
>> they are.
>> Not just re-sellers, but every individual, in whatever walk of life, in
>> whatever country, who knowingly and illegally copies their products, or
>> uses an illegally-cpied product, ought to be prosecuted to the full extent
>> of the law.
>>
>> Whatever I can do to help in this respect, they only need to ask.
>
> You mean because if people in China had to pay for MS software, they'd
> switch to Linux?
Not just in China, my friend:-)
The average consumer's (home user's) ignorance of the situation is perhaps
difficult for comparative experts like you to understand.
To them, a computer "comes with Windows".
"Windows is free"
It's a bit like that with MS Office. If a friend has it, they can just copy
it.
I say "is". Perhaps I should say "was".
Lately around here (generally a very law-abiding community) WGA started to
bring home the truth of the situation. In part, that has been "helped" by
the fact that the local computer shop closed, and the owner can't be traced.
That happened at about the time that WGA was introduced - and many people
found that they had to pay a lot of money (£90 for XP) to carry on using
their computers, because the ones that the said owner had been selling all
had the same image!
Now there's quite an interest in "Free" software, and the locals even listen
to my explanation of the difference between gratis and libre! This has
certainly sparked an uptake of OO.o, since many were found to be using
illicit copies of MS Office. Interestingly (perhaps from talking to me and a
few more, and then by word of mouth?) I get the impression that many of the
locals (and virtually all of my own acquaintances) are now using Firefox and
Thunderbird as well.
There seems to be the rustlings of a Wind Of Change in fact.
I hear things (unsolicited) like "Microsoft is terrible - it's a vast monopoly
that thinks it can do as it wants, isn't it?"
The attitude is changing, I tell you.
People are waking up.
Only yesterday, I received an email from a very old friend, which
started, "This may come as a bit of a surprise to you. I'm writing in
Thunderbird as usual, but this copy of Thunderbird is running under
kubuntu...."
When Oo.o, Firefox and Thunderbird come, can Linux be far behind....?:-)
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