Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
My father has spent the last few weeks in hospital, so I'm upgrading his virus-infested computer with Windows 7 and the latest version of Norton antivirus, all legally bought with proper lisences and all, just to avoid any problems in the future, or at least that was what I thought.
Being a Mac user, I'm used to operating systems that comes installed on the computer, but since most people in this part of the world use pirated software that can be bought for $3-10 anywhere, PCs mostly come without OS or with Linux (which is usually replaced with a pirated copy of Windows hours after the purchase).
So, I install the newly acquired software on the shiny new computer, and everything seems fine, until today. Now, there's a message on the monitor saying : "The product key you typed cannot be used to activate Windows on this computer".
I then make a few phone calls to experienced Windows users to find out what's wrong, and learn very fast that there are zillions of different versions of Windows 7 and even more license types floating around. Most shops around here don't have a clue about what they are selling, and will mostly pick the version that is cheapest, since even those who buy legal software in this country have friends who can hack their way to a workable solution.
And the moral is?
1. Buy a Mac. It works.
2. If you have to use a PC in this part of the world, buy pirated software. That works too.
And as for Microsoft; I wonder if they know how many millions or billions of dollars they lose every year in Asia by making solutions that people give up on, to buy a pirated copy instead.
Being a Mac user, I'm used to operating systems that comes installed on the computer, but since most people in this part of the world use pirated software that can be bought for $3-10 anywhere, PCs mostly come without OS or with Linux (which is usually replaced with a pirated copy of Windows hours after the purchase).
So, I install the newly acquired software on the shiny new computer, and everything seems fine, until today. Now, there's a message on the monitor saying : "The product key you typed cannot be used to activate Windows on this computer".
I then make a few phone calls to experienced Windows users to find out what's wrong, and learn very fast that there are zillions of different versions of Windows 7 and even more license types floating around. Most shops around here don't have a clue about what they are selling, and will mostly pick the version that is cheapest, since even those who buy legal software in this country have friends who can hack their way to a workable solution.
And the moral is?
1. Buy a Mac. It works.
2. If you have to use a PC in this part of the world, buy pirated software. That works too.
And as for Microsoft; I wonder if they know how many millions or billions of dollars they lose every year in Asia by making solutions that people give up on, to buy a pirated copy instead.