On Saturday 09 September 2006 09:23, Robert Fisher wrote: > Over coffee at a workplace a guy said he had a price for a new PC with no > software. > I offered to spend an hour with him (and his new PC) to load a Linux distro > so he could try it and then make an informed decision on wether he needed > to spend $500 getting MS Windows and Office.
Not sure 'bout the OS but due to reasons I'll not bother explaining here, the big corporate that my wife works for supports the "M$ at home" programme which means I have a legitimate version of Office PE 2003 and all we had to pay was for the courier. Supposedly if she stops working for this company its meant to be deleted BUT as the EULA is directly with us and doesn't mention the corporate then............... > > He said his wife "had to have Excel". I kept suggesting that all he had to > lose was an hour of time to give Linux a try but he was too dumb to even > try it. > Having tried OO, but not to the same level as M$ Office, especially Excel there could be a valid point, however I work with "corporate" people who make spreadsheets into forms[locking in data], complain that you left information out because they haven't read the tabs for the extra worksheets and complain that they modified the cell formulas and they now don't work, simply because they didn't read the formula and see I was using three dimensional locations. Lastly, it is my attention to pay some more attention to OO and possibly see if I can get the spreadsheet to play along but the reason I needed Office 2003 was to get Outlaw 2003 so I can make corporate email bearable with some VBA. <<--- Now all you serious programmers out there can bite ya lips!! Nuff said. > Now he has a fully featured PC with a complete suite of pirated software > (corporate versions from one of his "mates". > A few on this list will be aware of my occupation and locations of work; All I'll say is that sometimes not all the honest people are on the same side of the fence!! > I feel like dobbing him in but I am not sure how to go about it. Do they > pursue individuals at that level? I would say you have two options, if its corporate versions then contact the company as the individual who provided the "software" has stolen it. Secondly, from what I have seen in the mass media then unless this individual made multiple copies and sold them off its not worth pursuing. I would caution against mentioning or posting names to a public forum as the burdon of proof rests with the accuser? IANAL! Nick? Andrew
