Checked out what looks like the BSA’s big push against pirated software users, and people are taking it pretty seriously. As we speak friends of mine who are internet cafe owners have been asking when and where could they buy cheap or pre-owned MS w98/xp/me/2k licenses (with the coa and stickers of course).
Before I launch my post proper however, let me show you this, the latest MS pricelist (I edited the prices to close approximates):
And now, four points:
- I’m only partly in agreement with the BSA. First of all, P5,000.00 for an operating system is stupid, okay? Let’s not mince words. I know some of you reading this can afford it, and of course some of you are also thinking that’s not a big deal. Well, that’s well and good. But for me, living in a third world country and where a new PC can be had for P17,000.00, paying a quarter of that just to get a PC running with an operating system is Kalokohan.
- Now that I’ve said the OS cost is stupid, guess what I think about the idea of having to pay 8,500.00 for a Client Access License, aka the privilege of accessing a Windows 2000 Server. Yep. Make a wiiiild guess.
- Ok, so now you got your OS and you can access a server, we now go to Office XP Small Business Edition (SBE), with Service Pack (SP) 3. P10,900.00. That’s SBE, in other words, no Powerpoint, for a two year old product. If you really want Powerpoint, lookee, that’s P17,000.00. Incidentally, the price of a brand new bare PC as I mentioned above. And oh, you get Publisher with that too. How nice.
- Oh yeah, there’s a fourth point. First thing I noticed about the BSA site is that it’s done in cold fusion. Now I haven’t heard from cold fusion in a looong time. Cool, old school. :)
Anyway, you get my point. But guess what I emailed my clients when they asked my recommendation? Go for it. Go ahead and buy yourself the Operating system (not office though, we stopped short at that point and went with oOo.
Why? Well there are other considerations outside of the price, and no I’m not saying performance here. I don’t even wanna get into that. The other consideration is, to those who’ve been using pirated software in their businesses all this time: well, it’s time to pay up.
I seriously believe that if you’ve been doing that, and you’re using it for your business (as opposed to being a student or equivalent), or had otherwise been using it to make money, go ahead and pay Microsoft. If you’ve been making a profit, I believe you at least owe them that much.
I agree… its not practical at all if you buy software that is more than the value of your machine…as for the company.. its also unfair… in a way that some users are restricted to use an application (in MS office) that they can only open and edited in that apps.. what i mean is when you create a xls file with some advance computation and decided to open it in Open Office, expect to have an error, that the main reason why some of my users prefer to use MS, simply they use to it and it take more adjustment for them to re create same documents that they use 5yrs ago if they use open office. Do you think there is a future to have a standard in this productivity suite? like word/xls/powerpoint? Or it is because MS codes still be closed to public?
Or it is because MS codes still be closed to public?
Hello Ruby. Well yes MS codes will always be ‘closed to the public’ because their code is proprietary. Nothing really wrong with that, it’s the price to pay if you want to use their software. If you’re going to send files you created in MS software you’re going to need MS software to read it properly at the other end, hence causing everyone to need to buy it (that’s what MS is good at). However it can also work the other way. If you used Open Office to create your documents, the other end is going to need that as well, hence everyone will (hopefully) start to want to standardize on it.
Do you think there is a future to have a standard in this productivity suite? like word/xls/powerpoint?
I’m not really sure what you mean, because those are standards, albeit Microsoft’s standard. But if you mean if I think there will be a standard word processing, spreadsheet or powerpoint document, I’d say the .rtf format is a nice workable standard for word processing documents, and .csv is an alternative to .xls, but I’m completely unsure about .ppt.
Keep in mind, .rtf and .csv lack the formulas and programming that .xls might contain, so while you might open the file, you might encounter problems like you did using OpenOffice.
So to try and help you solve your compatibility issue, maybe you can try convincing people who send you documents to save them as .rtf or .csv instead, or better yet, use OpenOffice native format, .sxw (for docs) and .sxc (for spreadsheets). Hope this helps!