Tony Antoniou wrote:
Seriously Ben, have you noticed that people here hardly see eye to eye with you? Is it because you aim to piss people off?
No, but it may have a lot to do with the fact that I'm not in the cool 'lets hate microsoft no matter what they do' club.
And for a lot of issues (I have been on this list a LONG time) I get along with most people on a lot of issues. I've emailed Thane off-list and have had plenty of nice conversations with him.
But of course because I support Microsoft's anti-piracy initiative and don't think WGA is as big of a deal as it's made out to be, my aim automatically is to piss people off.
Yup, you found me out. The opinions I form are solely to piss off every HWG member!
Let's take a look at this from Thane's perspective. Software has always been available to the option of lower prices. However, the software companies allege that the piracy issue is what keeps driving the costs up to recoup lost revenue.
Ok, I am in complete agreement so far.
Well, now that WGA is in effect, how about we see the software companies put their money where their mouth is? If piracy is the cause of their upward spiralling costs, now is their chance to appeal to the legitimate market by offering cheaper retail prices on their software to then further encourage the consumer.
Most customers do not buy XP in retail form. Maybe XP Pro Upgrade, but most people are buying OEM copies with their parts, or bundled with OEM systems.
XP Pro costs $229.95 in retail form. This also includes tech support from Microsoft. In OEM form it's around $150, without support. How much cheaper do you want it to be?
Sorry Ben but I don't agree with your perspective on this and how the little guy's purchase quantities pale in comparison to Dell. That's one perspective but not the only. If piracy is the primary contributor to the costs as software companies have consistently cried, let's see them hold true to their word. Otherwise, quite frankly, they're full of crap.
Why should the little guy who buys 10 copies of XP and the large OEM who buys 1000s at a time get the same price?
