4 year mac user, returned to windows 7

[T-Rexx]

Should have kept looking!

You can buy a digital OEM version for $120: (And that's for the ultimate edition! Premium is $90, Pro is $100)

OEM copies of Microsoft software are NOT LEGAL IN THE USA unless sold with hardware.

If Microsoft should ever identify the serial numbers of MS software sold illegally like this, it is always possible that MS might disable your Windows installation via WAT, and demand that you purchase a legal copy of Windows for the "correct" price (then you would have paid twice for it).

 

[BearBoi]

OEM copies of Microsoft software are NOT LEGAL IN THE USA unless sold with hardware.

If Microsoft should ever identify the serial numbers of MS software sold illegally like this, it is always possible that MS might disable your Windows installation via WAT, and demand that you purchase a legal copy of Windows for the "correct" price (then you would have paid twice for it).

Okay, no need to yell.

I made a mistake, they are not OEM. I was thinking of a different company, but I linked to the right one. They are a digital software distributer, Microsoft partner, and located in California USA. I know several people that have used them.

That said, I didn't know OEM wasn't legal in the US. I'm not American.

 

[Apollo]

That problem is solved by using Open Office. It does everything that MS Office does and is free.

It does a quarter of what Word does and it's free. Not to mention it is heavier and ugly as sin.

 

[Apollo]

No, I posted the cheapest price I could find for the most common version of Windows.

The least expensive version of Home Premium begins at $180 (USD). Perhaps you've seen Home Edition Upgrade sold for around $100 - but that only applies if you are upgrading a computer that already has Windows on it.

Windows Ultimate is not the most common version of Windows. Home Premium is the most common and Win7 Home Premium is $120 straight from MS's website.

 

[Corny]

It does a quarter of what Word does and it's free. Not to mention it is heavier and ugly as sin.

The average user needs about a tenth of what Word can do.

Apart from that OpenOffice Writer is about as powerful as MS Word (by the way .. has MS Word finally LaTeX support? .. I'd guess no )

And I want software that does what it should do .. not software that looks pretty and costs extra money because of that.

This is about tools here. Not about fashion.

 

[andysayshi]

^ While I agree with you completely that function is more important than form, I don't think a large part of the mass tech market sees things that way. People are incredibly conscious of aesthetics about things they own. The most important thing on my mother's computer to my mother is the wallpaper and screensaver!

Perception and aesthetics sell products. If Apple stuff looked like every other crappy plastic no-name product, do you think people would pay the Apple price premium? No way.

You can buy a pair of jeans at K-mart for 20 bucks, but that doesn't stop people from buying Diesel or G-Stars for $200+ per pair! Don't underestimate the public's willingness to buy a product because it's prettier than the rest.

And sometimes it's not just fashion, it's tiny, little differences. Little things like multitouch trackpad gestures on a MacBook/Pro may seem tiny to someone who hasn't or won't use them, but these days I absolutely struggle when using a machine that doesn't have them - they've become almost essential to my computer experience, despite the fact that I can get the job done without them.

 

[milktea]

I am using windows 7 right now as well. It is by far more stable than vista.

 

[Corny]

^ While I agree with you completely that function is more important than form, I don't think a large part of the mass tech market sees things that way. People are incredibly conscious of aesthetics [..].

People in general are also - generally speaking - incredibly stupid ... so what's your point? Just because many people prefer something shiny over something useful - it doesn't make the shiny thing better. And if they even pay more for it .. well that's their stupidity tax to pay then - not mine

 

[andysayshi]

My point is in reference to your statement "This is about tools here. Not about fashion." For many people, it IS about style and aesthetics, maybe a little bit, or maybe a lot. Different things are important to different people. But calling people stupid because they see things differently to you, or have different priorities to you, isn't really fair.

The second point I made was about tiny differences in function that matter to people. Some people don't have the time, the knowledge or the aptitude to deal with things that are second nature to you or I. Some people would rather spend a few hundred bucks on Microsoft Office than have to understand and check the MS compatibility options in Open Office preferences. Or they don't want to ever have to wonder what to do when they download a client's Word document and discover their Open Source office app doesn't support the VB script that their client included in the doc. They don't want to be confused when their document looks different on their bosses computer compared to their own. Tiny issues that you or I might fix in seconds can be insurmountable to others, and they just want a tool that will get the job done with the least amount of fuss. That doesn't make them stupid.