Microsoft tries to put PC recycler in Jail

These agreements one always checks when installing a software package no one ever reads.

It my have in there

By signing this agreement, you agree WE OWN YOUR SOUL and the souls of your children.

Wed never know it.


This poor guy is meant to be an example.

You don’t mess with one of the elite CHOSEN corporations.


Microsoft is indeed one of the chosen super corporations selected to rule you slaves


They had their knees capped in the 90’s by that antitrust suit they lost and almost was busted until Gates went down to DC and got on his knees to the masters and they gave him a reprieve as long as he knew who was boss. So they let him in on the prize.

originally posted by: Pilgrum
a reply to: Willtell

The solution appears to be reformatting the HDD to wipe all traces of anything MS and installing an open source OS like Linux which can be legally obtained for the price of a magazine or downloaded for free.

This is actually a pretty good idea, it seems to me at least.

It's certainly a way you could teach people about Linux and show people it's not as scary as it might seem at first. People love cheap and/or free and Linux fits that bill nicely.

Unfortunately, today, apps have become so 'do it for you' that people are hesitant to step outside any sort of safety bubble where you have to actually think about things or explore the options. People really need to stop fearing tinkering around and doing things the old school way. Man, I really miss the days before Microsoft decided we're all too stupid to do things like edit our registry and fully use DoS for editing.

As to the OP, I feel for the dude myself. I can see where he was going with it, but he ran afoul of intellectual property laws. He may have had good intentions, but breaking the law to realize them wasn't the best tactic. Don't poke the corporation with big pocketbooks and big lawyers.

originally posted by: LogicalGraphitti

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

But overcharging the entire planet for it is.

But what determines what "overcharged" is? Should Apple be selling iPhones fro half the price because they have enough money already? Apple is approaching a trilion dolars in value. They put Microsoft to shame when it comes to monopolies and sucking the last nickle from their rabid fan base.

Profit = Final price - Cost of raw materals - Overheads (Research + Development + Manufacture + Distribution + Marketing + Sales + Support)

The difference between a good reputable company and a bad one is reliability of the product plus customer support.
10% profit margin is considered reasonable. 50% to 100% is getting towards profiteering.

originally posted by: LogicalGraphitti

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

But overcharging the entire planet for it is.

But what determines what "overcharged" is? Should Apple be selling iPhones fro half the price because they have enough money already? Apple is approaching a trilion dolars in value. They put Microsoft to shame when it comes to monopolies and sucking the last nickle from their rabid fan base.

Bill Gates himself becoming worth, what was it $100 BILLION at one point, all in a couple decades, might just wrap up this question.

You can always dream of becoming him though, and then rationalize it away as just. It is the "American Way" after all.

How much of all them trillion apples is from selling 'software' via iTunes / software in general (the stuff the article and apparently yourself is so freaked out about people "stealing")?

a reply to: stormcell

Thank you kindly! that sounds like a logical solution! I don't believe i'm ready for windows 10

a reply to: Willtell

Somehow this comes as no surprise.

I loved Window XP. I ran it until I was basically given no choice but to use the current Windows crap, with the never ending "updates", and "restarts", etc...

I'm nothing resembling an expert in these matters.

Its GREEDY imo for Microsoft to be worrying about someone pirating their operating system

As if there’s some kind of competition going on!

There once was IBM's OS2, in ancient times of course but there has been no real competition to the life long Microsoft monopoly (in the OS) since then and even then it was hardly a real competition.

The last real competition that Microsoft had was with the browser when they had to catch up with Netscape in the 90’s, and with the network OS against Novel in past decades,

Both have been vanquished through the monopoly Microsoft enjoys.

So Microsoft has absolutely no competition to their Windows OS at all, so for them to be greedily jailing a person for this is monstrous imo.

Like killing a gnat with an elephant

a reply to: Pilgrum

Absolutely this. Install Ubuntu (or whatever) and install the most used apps and make sure everything is up to date. People like my mother uses her laptop for one thing - internet browsing. If it's not Facebook, it's news. If it's not news, it's YouTube. Rarely does she use her computer for anything else. I've installed Ubuntu on her machine, she didn't bat an eye once I showed here where Firefox was located.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Willtell

Somehow this comes as no surprise.

I loved Window XP. I ran it until I was basically given no choice but to use the current Windows crap, with the never ending "updates", and "restarts", etc...

I'm nothing resembling an expert in these matters.

Actually the best less buggy windows, and I go back a long time in PC engineering support, was windows for work groups 3.11.

That’s why they got rid of it so fast and moved on to crappy Windows 95 the OS they really stole from Apple.

a reply to: Willtell

I've not had a computer that long... I think I bought my first one in '04? XP came with it, as I recall.

So my knowledge of such things can be summed up in one word: limited. Very.

a reply to: seagull

XP was a disaster. Def better than ME (that was a train wreck). But damn man I had to reinstall the bastard every 8 months on average. It would just degrade and dog more and more the longer it was a'live'. It'd actually go thru a death process. Win7 much much better I went years my first install no need.