pfft....it's Microsoft. Pirate XP if you want to. Take some time to read the findings of fact from the antitrust trial (none of which were disputed by the appeals court).
Don't go out of your way to make sure you don't do anything that could undermine Microsoft's ability to compete. When MS sees a potential competitor they don't take the tack of competing based on product quality; they set their sites on that competitor to put it out of business. And where do they point their crosshairs? Innovation every time. Every time there is significant innovation made by another company that company is stomped out by MS. Netscape - destroyed. Java - not gone yet, but MS is doing their best (promting a $1 billion lawsuit by SUN). Macintosh - All but destroyed. The list goes on.
Try this on for size. Years ago, when the Apple/Mac platform stood on a much closer to equal footing in the marketplace with the PC Microsoft came up with a brilliant business model. Any computer retailer that wanted to put a Microsoft OS on any computer it sold had to pay Microsoft a royalty for EVERY computer it sold. Yes, indeed. That means that unless a computer store wanted to sell ONLY Apple/Macintosh computers (and go out of business) it had to pay Microsoft a royalty for every Apple computer sold. As a retailer that made it unprofitable to sell Apple computers. The same goes for OS2, Dr. DOS, etc. Not only is this immoral, but blatently illegal. It is also not an exception. It is VERY VERY VERY typical of the tactics Microsoft has always used and still uses to this day.
If you want to pretend that the world is black and white and treat Microsoft with respect when, as a consumer, they treat you with contempt go right ahead. Due to the destructive practices they have used for the last thirty years you really have no viable option besides using MS operating systems. That doesn't mean you have to help them retain their stranglehold on this industry and consequently on innovation, consumer choice, etc. That's like saying, well the Nazi's made it to the top and became the ruling party. It doesn't matter what they did to get there or what they're doing now, they are the leaders so we've got to just go along with what they say (please don't take this comparison at face value...it is to illustrate a concept, not a direct comparison of Bill Gates to Adolf Hitler. Yes, Nazi's were/are far worse than Microsoft).
Note to admins....before you censor or delete this please remember that I am not offering any illegal software or even suggesting how illegal software can be obtained. This is only an opinion that, as posted, should present no legal ramifications for this board.
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