On 12/15/20 11:15 AM, Ljubomir Ljubojevic wrote: > On 12/15/20 5:58 PM, R C wrote: >> When was the last time a large company (think IBM, Sun, Novell Netware, >> Oracle) had a great idea to create or take over an OS, or a community >> only ending up in a situation that only almost killed them. (Yeah MS, >> but they figured out that giving it away for next to nothing for >> residential/educational use is actually securing their market share in >> commercial/government/Education etc etc etc.) > 10-15 years ago BSA sued a person using pirated Windows (and Office?) at > home. Microsoft representative was a witness AGAINST BSA, so that there > is no precedent that private users of pirated software can be sued, > because out of fear majority of those using pirated software would stop > installing and using MS software and they would recommend software of > competition (free if possible). > > If MS did not "fail to implement" effective protection from pirating > Windows and Office, their market share would be at least halved, and in > countries with low income they would barely exist. > What I meant was that MS basically, for the longest while, had their OS pre-installed on computers sold, so it "felt" free to the buyer, it came with the machine. Universities and colleges did receive bulk licenses and .NET pretty much for free in their 'Developer Programs' and also have students keep using it. That "faillure to implement" obviously was a marketing move indeed, as was students "allowing" to keep using it on their laptops after graduation.