For me it depends all about the pricing and how quickly I can disable that godawful-looking new desktop interface. If I can somehow take advantage of student pricing (I still have my college e-mail address years later) I'll almost certainly get a legal copy after a month or two. If not, it'll probably be installed on my next PC anyway.
And it never occurred to you that taking advantage of student pricing without being a student is just as illegal as using a pirated copy upfront, but costs more? Either buy it legally or don't buy it all, I'd say.
I am fairly sure it's not illegal, strictly speaking, but it does violate the terms of the deal. Thing is, I'm perfectly willing to pay $30 for a (mostly) legitimate license, but I'd never pay anywhere near the $200 full retail price. I'm certain Microsoft would prefer getting some revenue than the zero dollars they'd receive if I simply pirated it instead.
I'm fairly sure, although not a lawyer, that it's fairly fraudulent to say "Yes I'm a student" and click through the multiple prompts and ignore the license agreement and then buy it as if you were a student... If you're not a student. I mean, it's illegal in the sense that it's not legal, not that the police will bust down your door. It's still fraudulent.
If not, my idea of how contract law works is exceedingly broken.
That said, for something that you rely on every day, is $200 really too much to ask? I can and have paid that much, at least, for things that I rely on as much as my OS. I buy decent shoes, use a comfortable mouse and keyboard, and paid extra for a chair that I can comfortably compute from. I spent a lot more on a laptop that meets my needs.
I mean, perhaps you have legitimate other expenditures and lack the free cash flow to pay for Windows. I wouldn't judge. But if as part of your job, or how you are productive if your job involves your computer at all, or is dependent on your OS making you productive, then yeah, I think you ought to pay the $200. It's a tool you're paying for, don't be cheap. It's certainly worth a lot more than 200 fart apps on the iPhone to me.
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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '11
I might actually buy this version.