Im using MS office and Open office without any problems. you can get hold of perfectly legal copies of MS office from trusted sites like ebay. i did and it was fully packaged complete with product key. try amazon also

I think in the licence agreement, it states that its yours to use not to sell,only microsoft is licened to sell the product!
I almost sure i read that somewhere on the net before!!!

That's probably only if it's opened. I see no problem with reselling a software package if it's unopened. The license is only for protection against installing it on more than one computer.

True ,i never thought of it that way! not opend ,makes sense

I installed XP for a friend, legit copy of my own. However, I did not feel like going though the activation hassle so I used a registration crack. After upgrading to SP2, the crack no longer worked for him. I told him to just put his 2kpro back on.

as i haven't enough money to buy windows Xp, i decide to use illegal copies. my friend downloaded a copy of xp, used a sepcial software to make a key, and actived it. now it works very well and can update. i want to do the same, but i don't know whether it would cause series problems if i do this? besides braking the law, of course. ;)

Get your self a great and legally free OS: http://fedora.redhat.com/
http://www.linux-mandrake.com/
http://www.suse.com/
http://www.slackware.com/
http://www.debian.org/
http://www.gentoo.org/

Or get a CD from here:
http://www.linuxiso.org/

Windows XP has been cracked from day one, you could get away with using less than legal copies of Win XP, they blocked some keys with SP1 and some more with SP2, but there are still loads that work.

The next big problem your going to have if you go down this route is the WGA or Windows Genuine Advantage.
Last month Microsoft said from the middle of 2005 customers will need to verify that their copies of Windows are genuine before downloading updates and add-on tools, through a programme, called Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). WGA uses a validation tool to check whether a particular version of Windows is genuine, which is already running on the Microsoft site.
From: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39185471,00.htm

The WGA FAQ page at MS:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/faq.aspx

Steveneven

I'm going to confuse the thread a little here, well, at least my arguement, and expand on alc's post because I think it's interesting. I posted part of this somewhere else but can't find the ref...

For those who use the command prompt, of course that's left over from MSDOS, part of which is still in all the Microsoft O/Ss, did you even wonder how that came to be? I´m talking about C:\>. When MSDOS was introduced (I was lucky enough to be working for Microsoft at that time) DOS used that prompt. It was just a black screen with A:\> - A because at that time there weren´t any hard disks, I know that´s hard to believe, but the whole O/S really was on a floppy.

Anyway, Microsoft broke all the rules and it´s own policy that it holds so dearly now and stole that and a whole lot of code from a guy down in Monterey, CA (sorry can´t recall the name for some reason and don´t feel like looking for it) that wrote CP/M. And that was a viable O/S that ran on most micros. So Microsoft did not invent the wheel on its way to becoming number one, and its roots are based in hostile acts...

And for Steveneven who posted to this thread while I was writing this, as I was a unix programmer way back when, I´ll have to support him in his enthusiasm for linux. You can do more for less with unix and its derivatives than any other O/S ever written. But I, like most, use Windows still because more of us use it. And that logic has been around for a long time...

changing to Linux world not be an option for most, as using windows is hard enough and its somewhat user friendly .

And for Steveneven who posted to this thread while I was writing this, as I was a unix programmer way back when, I´ll have to support him in his enthusiasm for linux. You can do more for less with unix and its derivatives than any other O/S ever written. But I, like most, use Windows still because more of us use it. And that logic has been around for a long time...

I really like Linux, I have also used and like Solaris, but thats about the extent of my Unix experience.
I am only a Linux Noob, I can get by, but have been a Windows user for the bulk of my computing life.

I prefer Linux, I use it for about 70% of my computing needs, but I do still have and use Windows XP also.

I only really use it for gaming, I don't get on too well with the Windows emulators, and just by chance most of the games I like don't have ports for Linux :(

I am not another MS basher, you can't knock a company that knows how to market and sell, and excluding the moral arguments, you can't really knock a company that will do anything it can to stay at the top.

I will offer links to Linux and great Linux support sites to anyone that will have them, but I don't hate MS or their Windows products, I just prefer thefreedom that comes from Linux and other Opensource products, and I genuinely think that for me, and most of the activities I want to use my computer for, Linux just seems more powerful and most importantly more stable.

Steveneven

PS: is it only me or is everyone else noticing that their posts look different every few minutes this evening?
I guess that someone is changing the way the signatures are presented?

I genuinely think that for me, and most of the activities I want to use my computer for, Linux just seems more powerful and most importantly more stable.

may i ask wht it is that use it fore mostly ,i ask because i use windows xp ,mostly for burning making backup copys of cd/dvd that i buy and coming to this fourm.can i copy my dvd collection with linux.[/url]
PS: is it only me or is everyone else noticing that their posts look different every few minutes this evening?
I guess that someone is changing the way the signatures are presented?

no its not just you ,someone is defently putting a different look on things
edit ,the different look just went away !!:)
Edit :The different look is back and I like the Split between message and signature

I'm going to confuse the thread a little here, well, at least my arguement, and expand on alc's post because I think it's interesting. I posted part of this somewhere else but can't find the ref... For those who use the command prompt, of course that's left over from MSDOS, part of which is still in all the Microsoft O/Ss, did you even wonder how that came to be? I´m talking about C:\>. When MSDOS was introduced (I was lucky enough to be working for Microsoft at that time) DOS used that prompt. It was just a black screen with A:\> - A because at that time there weren´t any hard disks, I know that´s hard to believe, but the whole O/S really was on a floppy. Anyway, Microsoft broke all the rules and it´s own policy that it holds so dearly now and stole that and a whole lot of code from a guy down in Monterey, CA (sorry can´t recall the name for some reason and don´t feel like looking for it) that wrote CP/M. And that was a viable O/S that ran on most micros. So Microsoft did not invent the wheel on its way to becoming number one, and its roots are based in hostile acts...

microsoft, did not steal the code for DOS, Bill Gates had his father purchase it (from a man in CA, because they had just pitched to IBM that they had DOS, but they didnt, and that they would Licesnse it through IBM), and for the GUI, that was stolen from Mac, that was in turn stolen from xerox....

watch the movie pirates of silicon valley (its pretty good and goes over pretty much everything that happend) and to top it off, my dads been working in computers his whole life, and is a great source of info.

There's so much controversy around these factoids, regardless of what movies might claim, that I won't argue the point. It's just interesting to me that Microsoft puts so much emphasis on protecting software that has its own skeletons in Redmond closets.

For more on CP/M and Gary Kildall, see:

http://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Micronews/paterson04_10_98.htm

and even this reference is cloudy on facts...

I did come across some software the other day on accident that blocks government IPs from accessing your PC...forget what it was called though. (To keep BSA and stuff out of your PC.)

I think the cannot afford it reason applies to the majority of us. However, we must realize that folks write software stuff for a living. So to use illegal stuff is taking away their living. There are alternatives though. I use Mandriva linux 2007 a great alternative, and well supported in software.
chrisbees.

Thread locked for discussing piracy.