----- Original Message ----- From: "Stan Zaske" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "The Hardware List" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 1:03 AM Subject: Re: [H] MS Makes VirtualServer 2005 R2 Free
Glad to hear you're content but Microsoft will destroy "open source"/free any way it possibly can! The Walmart of the software industry without the low prices! Long live Linux!
Sometimes my predictions and/or wishes come true. For years some felt I was doing wrong by copying and using Microsoft Windows CD's of various Windows versions to do clean installs. True, I was breaking their rules. I was not pirating Windows, as I was using the Product Key shown on the COA affixed to the computer.
Now, according to the latest issue of Maximum PC, Microsoft will include all versions of Vista on one generic DVD. Evidently Microsoft feels they have enough control with the combination of Product Activation and Product Validation etc. to stop most of the piracy. No more of this having to buy a Windows CD just for the media, as I had to do in order to get myself a copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition to do clean installs with. I sold that kit along with its legal COA etc. to a customer along with a new computer for the same price that I would have charged for Windows XP Home, ninety dollars.
My point here is I for a long time have predicted that Microsoft will rent Windows by the month or by the year. Could they start this with Vista? Would it surprise anyone if they did? They have already built into the all versions DVD idea, the ability to upgrade your version of Vista. Can you see where this is going? It is a sneaky way to get your credit card number.
With all versions on one DVD now I am wondering how I, the OEM, will pay for the version of Vista I choose to install on new computers I build. Perhaps each kit will have an unlock code installed by the distributor? Or who knows? Somehow I get the feeling that Microsoft will want my credit card number. It would not surprise me if Microsoft eliminates any OEM who does not sell at least 100 computers per month. I am looking around for a job, the same as any employee who feels a firing coming on would do. I do not trust Daddy Bill Gates or his clan!
The scary part is at any moment, Microsoft could press a few control buttons and destroy Microsoft Windows on any computer in the world that is online, or all of them, unless you have a third party firewall that keeps Microsoft out.
Chuck
