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Vista Pirates To Get "Black Screen of Darkness"
jcatcw writes "Microsoft has just turned on Reduced Functionality mode, worldwide, and sent a letter to OEMs explaining the consequences of Vista piracy. These include a black screen after 1 hour of browsing, no start menu or task bar, and no desktop. Using fear as a motivator, the email warns resellers to 'make sure your customers always get genuine Windows Vista preinstalled.'"
The problem here is one I've been warning people about all along. Unlike XP, Vista, or OS X, when you use Linux, you do not have control over your computer. Nobody does. All your work is at risk; all your data, workflow, applications, etc. The computer can stop responding to you based on nothing whatsoever; you accept this behavior when you install it. The current event is one example; all you need are bad drivers or another compile screwup (I've had several already) where your app doesn't build correctly, and you're down. And in this case, as TFA notes, you're down *and* nobody has a bloody clue how to fix it. Which Microsoft will happily sell you software to combat.
If you don't support software that enables the seller to provide you with support after install it, you're at risk. This is true of productivity software such as editors and image processing applications, and it is even more so for an OS, where *everything* you do can be affected. I rejected Linux as a serious use platform for myself and my businesses because of the lack of any production-ready software on Linux (with, granted, several notable exceptions, but the first person to use the phrase "Gimp" or "OpenOffice" in my presence obviously has never actually tried real production with either); been on XP and Vista since I left Win98 (though I've used OS X a lot in the last two years as well). I even run servers on it (WAMP is fantastic). And Windows is getting better all the time.
. (grain of salt)