Ironica's Journal: Putting one's money where their OS is.

Recently, as I was rebuilding my computer after some sort of horrific malfunction, I found myself looking for Windows XP cracks. Our Windows 2000 burned CD doesn't work properly, and I didn't want to burn an authentication tick on my laptop WinXP disc. So I searched, and came up with nothing particularly useful. I ended up installing an Ubuntu bundle, and so far so good. Good thing we quit playing WoW again.

But as I browsed, I came across a message board discussing how to crack XP, with several people posting "Gah thieves! Just buy it already!" I found myself wanting to post back (though I refrained, having insufficient desire to create a new account on a random message board and bump a thread that's been dead for months). I wanted to say, "You know, I don't want to crack XP because I'm cheap. I want to crack it because I'm BOYCOTTING MICROSOFT."

So then I was thinking, how could I prove it? I mean, I'm morally opposed to giving MS any money, but how does one tell that this is truly my motivation, and not simply an excuse to make me feel better about "stealing" software? And then I hit upon the solution: donate the cover price of the pirated software to an Open Source project of my choice!

So, when I get PowerPoint back up and running somewhere, I'll find out how much it's "supposed" to cost, and donate that money to... something. Mozilla, probably, or Ubuntu (it's very shiny!). And I encourage all 1.5 of the people who read this to do the same, for any pirated MS software they are running.

boycott?

[Jherico]

When you boycott a company you're voting with your dollars by not using/buying their products. You can't boycott Sony by going into Best Buy and swiping a Sony DVD player. That's still considered stealing. Boycotting means you have to be willing to completely forgo the use of their products.

Re:boycott?

[Ironica]

When you boycott a company you're voting with your dollars by not using/buying their products. You can't boycott Sony by going into Best Buy and swiping a Sony DVD player. That's still considered stealing.

Well, duh. That's because someone who had a Sony DVD Player now doesn't have one anymore.

On the other hand, I can buy an RCA, or Panasonic, or Toshiba, or Samsung DVD Player with comparable features that plays all the same DVDs, so I don't *need* a Sony DVD player. Back when we were boycotting GE for b

Re:boycott?

[tomhudson]

Even if you're not buying the product, you're still supporting them by helping maintain them as a "standard." This is why microsoft overlooked widespread copying of earlier versions of Microsoft Office and Windows by home users - to help cement their monopoly position.

So if you're still using it, you're not boycotting them - you're helping maintain them as "the standard". Instead of using their products, bitch at your bank for not supporting Firefox on Linux for their online banking, etc.

Otherwise, you

Re:boycott?

[Ironica]

So if you're still using it, you're not boycotting them - you're helping maintain them as "the standard". Instead of using their products, bitch at your bank for not supporting Firefox on Linux for their online banking, etc.

Yes... an earlier poster made the point that it still helps them to use it, and I get that, and have already tried to dramatically reduce my usage of MS products, and will make greater efforts in the future.

But I guess it's time to drag out the dictionary.com:

Boycott: To abstain from o

Re:boycott?

[tomhudson]

Not to throw rocks, but I think the "abstaining from using, buying, or dealing" is inclusive. In other words, to properly boycott, you can neither use, nor buy, nor deal with.

To put it into context, with your GE example - it doesn't mean throwing out our existing bulbs. It DOES mean, though, that you would avoid using GE's financial arm for any future business leasing, buying any more products with GE brands, or dealing with any GE business unit.

I've been boycotting McDonalds for more than a decade. I

I completely disagree

[Nevyn]

My dad uses XP and MS Office, and the only reason he does this is because he got "free" copies from $random_guy_at_work. I can guarantee that if he had to pay for them, Office would be replaced by OpenOffice instantly. This is pretty much my only reason why I welcome WGA type stuff, "software piracy" is helping MS much more than it is hurting them.

You are part of the problem, not the solution.

Re:I completely disagree

[Ironica]

This is pretty much my only reason why I welcome WGA type stuff, "software piracy" is helping MS much more than it is hurting them.

Now, that's an excellent point. That's a really good reason to try to get my only real presentation client (who happens to be my mother) to run OpenOffice too, and make the presentations in Impress. The only hitch is that she often runs them off of a machine at the location, rather than her own laptop... but with enough advance notice, she can probably get the folks on the o