>I have absolutely no doubt that MS' Authorization will be "cracked" in no time and only legitimate Users will get got up in the net, for whatever reason.

FWIW, people have been using reasoning like this forever. (ie., people driving without insurance, people lying about their address for whatever purpose, etc...) The only way that I can see to live is to just live my life as honestly as possible and let others do what they want. Any other reasoning just leads to bitterness and hate - living the opposite of the Golden Rule sort of...

>It seems now that you cannot even "own" software unless you have an Internet connection. What's going to happen if my ISP goes down, out of business, whatever, and I can't get my "Authorization Key" in a timely manner ? What if I operate in the boonies and don't have an ISP ? What about people who don't have/want an ISP ? I wager that they won't know about the "key" until they get their box home.

I've been buying S/W for quite a while and haven't run into the 'Auth. Key' in a long time. What S/W still uses it?

>What if my wife happens to surf to MSN.COM and MICROSOFT.COM, using "my" MSDN OS, a couple of times, and the OS starts transmitting "my" ID to MS's Big Brother data bases ? You think they won't notice ? Bullies love making examples of "little people" ... it keeps the rest in line.

I sincerely doubt that MS will come after you to make an example.


>Gates needs "more" money ? Why do I "program" ? For myself ? I program for others, and in the course of my business, I recommend upgrades, more hardware ... which translates into more (MS) OS's, etc. etc.
>I "pay" MS and in the process generate "more income" for MS. For this I deserve an increase in the price of my Subscription and to be treated like a crook ?

There's two issues that you're addressing: 1. price increase 2. Treatment
1. Price Increase? see my earlier post about the ever sharper pressure from Boards to increase profits.
2. Treatment. That's largely something you interpret from circumstances. Like Harry Nilsson's The Point: "You see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear." You feel treated like a crook and I feel I'm Ok but they're attorneys pursuing a goal where 'heart' has no place.


>I think they could make a bigger dent in sofware piracy with "Fink Fees". It works for the IRS.

They already do - sort of. They and other S/W companies (Symantec and Oracle for example) are part of a Consortium that have legal offices, have sent out letters (I received two as a matter of fact.) demanding a self-audit, use of a third party auditing S/W package called 'GASP', etc... They state in the letter that I'd be better off safe than sorry - *after* an ex-employee, for example, reports me for using illegal software. (I have no 'ex-employees' being a one-man shop.) I can't blame them for pushing for licensing.
I checked the consortium out, talked with them, asked them about their legal rights, probable cause, search and seizure, etc. When I was satisifed that they were not bogus and were exercising their legal right I filled out their questionaire truthfully (1 MSDN Universal Subscription, 2 desktops and a laptop) and returned it. Haven't heard from them since and that was early spring.