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Sell Your Computers, Keep Paying MS For Licenses
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft Licensing 6.0 requires a company to pay up on software maintenance when the computers that are covered under the license are sold off. Here's the kicker though: MS is no longer obligated to provide maintenance even though the contract is paid up! Read the Infoworld article."
Tell me Mr. Anderson: what good is a MICROSOFT LICENSING 6.0 if you are unable to KEEP USING IT AFTER YOU SELL YOUR COMPUTERS?
Now that innovation!
Mabye this is what they kept talking about during all of those trials.
what if my computer catches fire, and is reduced to carbon? do i still keep on paying to MS?
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
In other news, the U.S. Government is planning to divert all tax dollars paid by citizens directly to Microsoft.
"What with recent License agreements and all, they pretty much own us in all but name anyway. This will just smooth the transition from Country to Corporation," said one unnamed congressman.
The change in finance is made in anticipation of the official change in ownership and name of the country, soon to be renamed Microsoft Invader.
Isn't there still some clause in the US constitution that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment?
From the office of Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf :
In post Saddam Iraq, Microsoft licenses you.
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
Please do continue your efforts to rip^H^H^H fleece^H^H^H^H^H^H provide "value-added" propositions to your customers through your wonderful License Agreement.
You are making my world domination^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H job so much easier.
Thank you so much in advance,
Yours respectfully,
Linus Torvalds
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
" what if my computer catches fire, and is reduced to carbon? do i still keep on paying to MS?"
Give us your URL. We'll find out.
Finally someone has got the formula right
1. Profit
2. Profit More
"I think we can all agree on one thing: 'The Moos of Derision' would be a good name for a rock band."-Dave Barry
The beauty of living under a régime of napoleonic civil code instead of the common law is that such a stunt could never be pulled, as every kind of transaction is rigidly codified in law...
finally, a voice of reason.
Damnit! Now I'll have to build my next computer in my Dell laptop case with the OEM sticker on the bottom!
Of all the luck.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Just you wait until, along with a new social security number, you're required to purchase a Windows 2014 license for your new child, along with lifetime maintenance.
All in the name of curbing copyright infringement, mind you.
With Linux, when you want to transfer the license, you have to pay a transfer fee of 72.8 times the original license cost!
Why didn't I think of that.
Me: "Hey boss, I don't like the new MS license system. Letstop using Ms products."
Boss: "Sure, what would that entail?"
Me: "Um, well, the accounting, mail, DNS, Database, HR and Engineering servers would have to be completely redone, half of our software would have to go as well. We would also need to replace about half of our support staff with more expensive staff."
Boss: "Why haven't I fired you yet?"
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
Yes, but I will bet that there are at least a dozen other lawn care companies that you can pick from in the area.
Also, depending on your needs, that part of the contract can be modified to fit a certain time frame or set of conditions to cancel - it is not set in stone like the Microsoft one appears to be.
And a last thing, "Pedros Lawn Care" sure as heck will not stop by your door one day and say that they no longer support the current version of your lawn. "If you want us to trim that shrub, you need to upgrade your lawn to GreenGrass V1.2. We can arrange that for you for a modest fee. Of course, that means a new lawn maintenance contract..."
Andrew Borntreger
Champion of cinematic disasters
In other news, Microsoft has announced that Licensing 7.0 is currently in earnest develop. Inspired by the Columbian drug cartel's licensing model called "Addiction & Dependence," Microsoft plans to make its users chemically dependent on its software.
Said one Microsoft spokesman, "This has the potential to cut our costs ten-fold. We won't have to go out and push our software as much anymore. People would come to us. Just think of what would happen on those cold, rainy nights when a user needs Microsoft software but can't get it. The effects of withdrawl would be killer."
Microsoft plans to certify local mechants as Software Peddlers and Ware Pushers to help keep up with the expected demand.
Sources familiar with the development effort say that Microsoft plans to experiment with cocaine, marijuana, and "some of that Nuke stuff seen in Robocop 2" to find the most lethal combination of chemical components to inject in its software.
Microsoft stock was up 3 points today after the announcement.
i'm sure they included this in the cost of ownership they toute.
License agreements are becoming more and more abusive. I decided to jump several steps ahead (short steps) and write the final EULA:
The final license agreement:
- I can do anything I like.
- You have no power.
- You can't say anything bad about me.
- Everything belongs to me.
I knew a 3-year-old who said this. He has since become an adult, which is more than I can say for some executives.Do what I did. Format it clean and put Win2k on it. Use the XP CD as a frisbee. The day MS gets XP on one of my PCs is the day their thugs break into my house and I run out of ammo.
But do any of them actually switch to another platform? Nope. It's WAY too much trouble to switch your documents and programs.
The trouble is those documents are in Microsoft format because it's the defacto standard, and, let's not kid ourselves, Office X is much buggier than Office for Windows and OpenOffice is still ramping up.
What to do? Keep preaching software freedom I guess, and hope that people get so sick of MS they jump to open formats.
Or hire the former Vice President of the United States of America to lobby for Government mandates on open file formats...
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
IANAL, but there's absolutely nothing grey about it. Write up a carefully worded letter stating that you cannot accept their license because their software is completely useless, defective, unattractively packaged, overpriced, and Bill Gates has a bad hair cut. In the second paragraph, point out that there isn't a single paragraph of their license that would stand up to legal scrutiny by a first year law student and that the ink on the printed copy in the box contains several known carcinogens.
Next, pay a lawyer hundreds of dollars to review it. Print it on nice letterhead and address copies to any address in the EULA, as well as Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and every MS VP whose name you can find with Google. Okay, you have a stack of letters. Put them in a box and use them for kindling next year. The license is only valid it both parties agree to it. If you don't, you can't use the software. You aren't under any other obligation except to not use the software. If you agree to the license and then can no longer continue complying with the terms, you are immediately required to discontinue use of the software.
They don't seem to be able to comprehend that a customer may already own Windows or wish to install an alternative OS.
No, I think they do comprehend. That is why they throw their weight around. Nasty technique to keep their dominance, in my own opinion. I have to ask the question though, at what point is OSS so usable that you are just plain dumb to not use it. Kind of how I cannot feel to much sympathy for some one who dies when they pee on a live, exposed, electric wire. Should we make a 'Darwin Awards' for people who waste their money on this MS crap?
...it's a shame that the only things they're innovating are new ways to extract every last cent out of their customers.
I think they must have some kind of internal competition going: "Who can come up with the most galling licensing terms? I mean, a policy that will effectively force customers to buy the most multiple, superfluous Windows licenses for the same PC? That person gets a new car!"
Better yet, how about we have a law saying the same thing about legislation. The problem is, the first time an unenforcable law _is_ passed and upheld, the "Anti-Unenforcable Law Act" itself becomes unenforceable, thus producing a legal paradox and Congress implodes, taking most of D.C. with it. Hmmm, not a bad idea, actually.
Dyolf Knip
Not bad... that would also invalidate every employment non-disclosure agreement I've ever seen...
All I can say is that if someone wants me to keep a secret after I no longer work for them they better PAY ME EVERY DAMN DAY I KEEP MY MY MOUTH SHUT or their secrets are going to fly fast and free.
Otherwise what is the bargain? I am no longer paid, BUT I have to keep their secrets quiet FOR FREE?!? That is totally fucked up.
No way in heck am I going to keep working for them if they refuse to keep paying me to work for them. FREE Non-Disclosure Agreements? Hell no. What a scam for babies and fools to keep another schmuck's business plan intact when they are not receiving any monetary reward in return.
That is as bad as the GOP=KGB WHORES that bend over everytime Bill Gates is bouncing around with a boner for their bondage. Some people love to be abused, but I refuse to play GOP=KGB WHORE for anyone especially Microsoft.
"Face it, a nation that maintains a 72% approval rating on George W. Bush is a nation with a very loose grip on reality.
Their response will probably be, "We're suprised that the CTO of a mid-sized company is emailing us from 'babeluvr69@hotmail.com'."
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are not necessarily my own, as I've not yet had my medication today.