[plug] Piracy!

[Brian Tombleson]

> * Compatibility
>
> The implication here is that since Microsoft no longer support Windows 95,
> and compatibility was a fairly hazy issue even when they did, there is no
> loss to ``pirating'' it. I know of several occasions when people paid for
> software, either Microsoft software or 3rd-party to run on Microsoft
systems,
> and the software proved incompatible, so they ``pirated'' a compatible
> version (either of the software or of a compatible supporting component)
and
> used that instead. Who is in the right there?

They don't support Win98 anymore either (or at least will very shortly drop
it).  Their policy is to support two (2) versions in each of their streams
and in the current situation that is XPHome+ME and XPPro+2000.  And, of
course, they are merging the streams.

Considering probably about 30% of the businesses I deal with run '95 and a
further 60% run '98 ... they're frigged for support.

Additionally - have you ever tried calling, emailing or otherwise contacting
Microsoft for support?  No, no-one does - they contact the supplier.  The
supplier then charges them accordingly as per any other service industry.
Contacting Microsoft directly gets you nowhere very slowly and their
"support", when it comes, is "download a patch from the US" (for which you
will undoubtedly need a new patch soon, so learn how to do this fast) - too
bad if it's your DUN/RAS or network that's screwed screwed because there
ain't no way they'll be sending a tech out to you for less than $200/h:-).
Lastly comment is - what warranty?  There is no warranty on software.  This
means that any support costs you directly or indirectly.

You have just received $0.0234 worth of my oppinion (with rounding, 2c :-)

Regards,
Brian.