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Time:
11:11 EST/16:11 GMT | News Source:
Silicon Valley |
Posted By: Robert Stein |
Shame on you, Microsoft, for penalizing honest consumers and cynically pretending to help the cause of education in an underhanded but successful effort to boost sales of your Office software suite.
Bill Gates and company got roasted in the courts of law and public opinion during the antitrust case that detailed Microsoft's abusive monopoly control of the Windows operating system for personal computers.
Yet the software colossus rarely gets called on misconduct related to its other near-monopoly: the Office suite containing the ubiquitous Microsoft Word for creating documents, Microsoft Excel for spreadsheets, Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations and Microsoft Outlook for electronic mail and calendar.
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#1 By
61 (65.32.170.1)
at
12/7/2002 1:34:24 PM
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Actually, here, if you want to buy S&T from, say, Best Buy, you have to have a student ID from your college/university.
Of course, you don't actually have to buy the whole Office suite, they do sell the products individually. As most people just need a word processor at home, and possibly a spreadsheet (highly doubtful though, just get a real financial application, such as Money, or Quicken), it would be much cheaper for them to just buy the individual application.
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#2 By
135 (209.180.28.6)
at
12/7/2002 1:59:27 PM
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My god, I can't believe someone wrote up this tripe. That's just incredible, he's whining about Microsoft selling something at a lower cost.
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#3 By
1643 (205.240.158.3)
at
12/7/2002 2:11:54 PM
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LOL!!
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#4 By
61 (65.32.170.1)
at
12/7/2002 8:04:58 PM
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linux: It's like this, Microsoft tells the retail stores to veryify whether or not the person is a teacher or a student, and everywhere I have been does this.
ComputerExpert: Microsoft did NOT try to stop piracy with WindowsXP... they've even stated this over and over. They were trying to stop casual copying ("Hey, can I borrow your XP CD?" "Sure, why not."
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#5 By
135 (209.180.28.6)
at
12/7/2002 9:58:15 PM
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linuxhippie - I'll tell you what I think.
I think Microsoft was trying to cater to K-12 students and teachers in addition to Universities.
I don't understand how you can make this into a controversy.
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#6 By
1643 (205.240.158.3)
at
12/8/2002 12:35:19 AM
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Well, it clearly states that you cannot use the product if you are not a student or a teacher...if you need to steal it, fine!!! Just don't tell yourself that it is an evil plot by MS and you supposed to steal it.
How can Microsoft force the stores to limit their distubution policy...training time involved, etc. If you're circuit city, would you want to have every vendor have their own custom "who can by this product" manual?!?
humor
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#7 By
931 (67.35.52.174)
at
12/8/2002 5:44:03 AM
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This article such bs..
#1) Microsoft can chose to sell there wares how ever they wish for christ sake..
#2) WTF is this author attacking ms.. pissant should be screaming at the fakers cause there gonna fuk up a good thing unless the cheating is minimal.
#3) Microsoft would rather have you pay the 150$, and still make a profit of about 40% then for your lammer a$$ to go download it off the net and crack it and have them get nothing from you.
#4) Yes some of what they mention may be true about trying to make it avalible to some folks cheaper then to young-in and teachers.. a) teachers with copies, however obtained become proponents of there software, b) young purchasers become trained on the products give them skills there by saving companies training $, and entrenching themselves into another consumer... wtf is wrong with this i ask? nothing... it's called business
#5) The author assumes alot... did he actually goto compusa and try this... I know I did and the upgrade center wanted wanted a recent transcript or some form of student id... copy was for my brother.. and I had niether.. no sale.... came back next day with copy of his id and explained it was a gift and they did sell it to me.. and I shipped it off to my bro... DO ALL stores check every single purchase.. no they dont, does microsoft know this.. yes.. they accept it to large degree as part of doing business... refer to #3 BTW whens the last time you bought cigs or some beer.. were you carded..are you carded every single time?
#6) Are they f**cking over corporate buyers.. No there not, it's the corporate buys that one could say are subsidizing office standard for these s&t people... Should office be a 199$ product? sure.. but hell will freeze over first. Btw most larger corporations require mainly office professional anyway and dont pay anywhere near retail prices for it provided they bend over and become part of the borg. On top of which corporations realise the benifits of being able to assume a certain level of MS office skill for anyone who walk in the interview door.
This post was edited by KnightHawk on Sunday, December 08, 2002 at 05:51.
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#8 By
135 (208.50.206.187)
at
12/8/2002 2:40:53 PM
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linuxhippie - "Don't like the licencing on a piece of software? Fine. Don't use it. It's as simple as that. "
Where have I ever not agreed with that? I think you're trying to find controversy where it doesn't exist.
"#17. Soda, K-12 teachers and students could *already* purchase T&S editions through "distributors who specialized in serving schools". "
Very unlikely. First the distributors I am aware of are mail order. Secondly, if not then the schools would be advertising for Microsoft, which you would whine endlessly about.
This new T&S edition makes it easy for parents to buy this for their kids. Is it designed to sell more copies of Office... Yes, absolutely! But it's using the regular retail channels, which makes it easier for parents and that's a good thing.
This article and the "controversy" it's evoking clearly indicates to me just how much of whiners the ABMers are.
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#9 By
1845 (12.254.162.111)
at
12/9/2002 12:48:18 AM
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"In fact, from the little I know about you, I'd expect that you aren't the kind of person who would take advantage of the kind of dishonesty that both MS and its customers are engaged in here."
Exactly what dishonesty is Microsoft involved in?
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