[geeks] Vista cost

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Bill Bradford wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 28, 2007 at 05:46:23PM -0500, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
>> ...and you'll be paying $N for something you won't need as a "Microsoft
>> tax".
> 
> I can honestly say that although all of my installs are perfectly legal
> in various ways, I've never paid money for a Microsoft operating system,
> unless you want to count entitlements that I got with "prefab" machines
> where I couldn't choose to NOT get the OS bundled.

That's what I said.

You paid a Microsoft soft tax because the price you paid included the 
cost of the OS even if you didn't use it.

My current copy of Windows XP is not technically legal.

However, I look at it this way:

In the last ten years I've paid for several copies of Win95, Win98, 
WinNT 4, and Win2K, and didn't have a choice in the matter.

Why should I have to buy XP?  I only use it because of artificial 
requirements for XP in some software I use.

NOTE: I am looking for a legal copy just to cover the bases, but 
honestly, I think I paid my dues to Microsoft long ago.  I don't mind 
buying an OS at all, even one from Microsoft, but I do mind being forced 
to buy it over and over, and then being told I'm not a legal owner.