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Microsoft breakup ruling overturned

Initially I strongly opposed antitrust action against Microsoft.

Now I am changing my mind.

Seemingly Microsft has notified a number of corporate users that they should audit their machines for unlicensed software and turn the results over to Microsoft. This is a truly astonishing request.

Secondly, Office XP has the ability to disable itself if your system configuration changes "substantially". Whatever "substantially" means. Software that may disable itself under a vague set of rules fails to meet any reasonable defintion of "reliable".

This article describes one writer's experience. He was flying along at 34,000 feet on a week long trip to PC Expo. An error message popped up on his laptop saying that his system had changed substantially and Office XP was going to be rendered unusable. At the time he wrote this article, the writer had no real idea what system changes he had made that would produce such results.
The Article

I do not condone software theft. However I believe that Microsft's anti-piracy efforts are getting more and more extreme and have already passed into the relm of the unreasonable.

I would like to think that this sort of thinking did not spring from Bill Gates.

But in the meantime, Microsoft has switched from being ocassionally obnoxious to being thoroughly arrogant.
 
I don't get it...if broken up, they'll still be Microsoft...with the possibility to make even more money!

leave them be!
 

A previous effort at anti-piracy that failed:

I had forgotten this til just now. Several years ago some software would destroy the contents of your hard drive if it thought it was a pirated copy. If memory serves me correctly, the legal types retained by some of the victims smacked the offending software companies up the side of their heads pretty thoroughly over this and the concept disappeared.
 
I personally wanted to see the little bastards! split into smaller separate companies. My making them smaller with less power to wield maybe more companies would get into the game and competition would spur innovation and bidding for our use (like cpu price wars).

Somebody needs to knock these guys off their high-horse. I have always purchased my own OS software, but I may just start backing the pirates and hackers if Microsuck doesn't change its ways.

Maybe Linux will be the way to go in a few years????

I am still running win98 cause it is finally more stable...Maybe in a year I will upgrade to win2k (by then it will mature a bit more for drivers) and I can be safe from this type of crap for a few more years.


 
this does not mean MS will not get broken up, it means it will go back to the lower courts, where they will make the decision again, and even then only about the punishment part.
 

<< this does not mean MS will not get broken up, it means it will go back to the lower courts >>
Raspewtin

Thank you for your clarification. It was needed.
 
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