liscencing, piracy and M$

:ninja::ninja: I have a question: Will this get me or my friend in trouble. Friend of mine recently gave me a copy of some microsoft software. It was distributed at my friends campus freely. You just had to sign a release that said it was for your own use and you wouldnt resell it or copy it or share it. How closely is this kind of stuff watched? im not sure but would anyone (campus/M$) be able to see or tell that its not being used by the same person who signed for it? I'm talking like Office, operating system, VS, and other stuff. Things i'd like to play with but arnt worth money or getting my friend in trouble. Thanks in advance -Tonz

it depends… Which software is it?

MS doesn't care about single-copy piracy. Me, I pirate all.

Yarrr, that be my money in me pockets now, saved from those greedy hands of them corporations. Savvy?

Basically, when you start going and allowing people do download that software, your screwed, but think of it this way, If you were selling say 10M copies would you waste the time and effort for 1 copy of maybe $100 dollar software?

yours31f wrote: Basically, when you start going and allowing people do download that software, your screwed, but think of it this way, If you were selling say 10M copies would you waste the time and effort for 1 copy of maybe $100 dollar software? If it gets any more obvious than that (not that it wasn't before with "single-copy piracy")… A kitten will die. Somewhere.

lol. poor kitty.

I hate you.

quick question, How is that new?

yours31f wrote: quick question, How is that new? Give it a while… Everything can be new again.

Lol, ya trust me, I know. And the weird part about that… It fits many things in my life that are going on. But anyways, I better get some sleep. Gotta make up about 3 test. I guess thats what I get for skipping friday.

To the OP of this thread, it totally depends on where you live and what the software is. Drop me a line and I can let you know if it can come back on you.

Also to those who said something about a $100 piece of MS software…WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? I do not know a single license of Microsoft software that is $100. Perhaps if you are talking like Word or Excel, but the Office Suit is at least $350 for the basics and more when you get into Pro and such. Visio is $400, Project is $550, shall I continue? I take care of the corporate licensing for the company I work for and let me tell you, there is no software that MS makes that is $100. That would not be profitable for them :P

Anyways, Hit me up for information on what can happen with said software.

AldarHawk wrote: Also to those who said something about a $100 piece of MS software…WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? I do not know a single license of Microsoft software that is $100. Perhaps if you are talking like Word or Excel, but the Office Suit is at least $350 for the basics and more when you get into Pro and such. Visio is $400, Project is $550, shall I continue? I take care of the corporate licensing for the company I work for and let me tell you, there is no software that MS makes that is $100. That would not be profitable for them :P

Office Home and Student 2007… circa $125: http://www.thenerds.net/MICROSOFT_CORPORATION.Microsoft_Office_2007_Home_and_Student_Licence.79G00647.html? affid=8&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=79G00647%5E~%5EMICROSOFT%20CORPORATION

CNet coverage of "OS licenses less than $100"… includes Server CALs, XP Home, and Vista Home Premium

Granted, the usefulness of those licenses would be debatable (or easily agreeable). However, the danger with sweeping generalizations… is that they can never cover everything. As for whether it would be profitable for them or not… That depends on the original price of the software, how long it has been around, and whether they still support it.

Server CALS are less that $100 but buying one CAL is worthless ;)

and need I say anything about windows home?

Zephyr_Pure wrote: Granted, the usefulness of those licenses would be debatable (or easily agreeable).

AldarHawk wrote: To the OP of this thread, it totally depends on where you live and what the software is. Drop me a line and I can let you know if it can come back on you.

Also to those who said something about a $100 piece of MS software…WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? I do not know a single license of Microsoft software that is $100. Perhaps if you are talking like Word or Excel, but the Office Suit is at least $350 for the basics and more when you get into Pro and such. Visio is $400, Project is $550, shall I continue? I take care of the corporate licensing for the company I work for and let me tell you, there is no software that MS makes that is $100. That would not be profitable for them :P

Anyways, Hit me up for information on what can happen with said software.

I'm not seeing anything in my outbox so I'm not sure if my last message sent. If it did please disregard this one. Anyway I'm talking about a copy of vista ultimate and Visual Studio. The key i believe is on record with the university along with the student it was distributed to so if theres any way they can prove or tell that I'm using the software and im not that student I wouldn't want to do it. But if the university cant see where the software is activated or whatever and If M$ wont look into it then i probably wont care. Thanks for your time, -Tonz

As long as you don't REGISTER it with your name and address then nothing will prolly happen… Do you go to the same University? Why don't you try and get a copy from them?

Dude, you're probably pretty much safe.

1. use encryption if you're worried, look up TrueCrypt. You can encrypt an entire operating system, or just a file container (install software into the file container and open it when you want to use it. BAM you're secure. Use hidden containers and you're safe from FBI with plausible deniability. it's what I do… maybe :p)

2. you are a single person that alone makes you pretty much safe. They're not going to come after you unless you start distributing this stuff to many people. If they did that, I would have been caught back in my noobish days… i basically advertised to the whole world that I was giving away CS2 for free.

3. can you say FIREWALL? Don't let Office communicate with the internet. There is no reason it needs to, really, so just block it from sending data. Done!

4. Use OpenOffice.org suite. http://openoffice.org go check it out, open source MS Office clone by Sun and the Open Source community. I have used it for upwards of 2 years now and I love it. Version 3 just came out and it has full support for the new OOXML formats (docx, etc.) so there's really no reason not to try it.

Hope that helps. Bottom line: yes, there is always risk with any illegal activity, but there is really no reason they'd "get you" even if you aren't secure.

Zephyr_Pure wrote: I hate you.

Lmao!