MS bitching about Indian stores installing unpaid for Windows

[mobrien_12]

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/05/20/2046246.shtml

"Microsoft caught some Indian retailers selling pirated copies of Windows by sending in a dummy customer to ask for a copy of Windows to be installed on their PC. The dealers claim that they are promoting MS software in this way. One retailer said: 'Since we are are not charging anything extra for installing the software, it means that we are actually not trading in pirated software. For us this is just a sewa (selfless act) that we are offering to our customers. Besides, the pricing of their operating systems is way too high for the Indian markets.'"

OK... if the stores are providing the copies as well as installing them I'm actually with MS on this. For   crying out loud, Linux is right there, it's just as good as MS for nearly everything. If they need MS software, why not pay for it?  Otherwise they are just supporting a broken system.  

If the customers are providing the copies and the stores are just installing them no questions asked, well that's a bit different, but still people should be using GPL software that can be priced at whatever their   economy can support.

[_LiquidOxygen]

That quote really says it here, because here in the UK, Vista actually costs a bare minimum of

[Jack2000]

How about overscrewing them ?

[mobrien_12]

Jack and Oxygen, I think you both are correct.  In my opinion, MS is both overcharging and, more importantly, overscrewing, its customers.  That's why my home boxen use OSS.  

But, actually, that is my point.  In a free market, if a company charges too much, and provides a product that is poor quality (which, in my opinion, "overscrewing" and undesired DRM restrictions and other such "features" that are not in the interests of the customer qualify), customer is supposed to naturally buy the competitors product, which is superior (Linux, *BSD).    

Now, instead of doing this, these people are turning to copyright violation (well, I'm assuming copyright violation, India does have copyright laws on software from the  US, doesn't it?).  This breaks the system.

[worker201]

I was actually in India in April, and I saw a couple things that might add some insight to this discussion.  I stopped for a cold drink in a Microsoft Vista cafe in a department store while out wandering the mall one night.  The whole thing, including menus and decor, was done up in what I assume was the Vista graphical interface (That's on the side of town where they have a Mercedes dealer.)  In the streets of the real Bombay, you can buy pirated dvds, pirated cds, pirated videotapes, and pirated software, including (get ready for it) "Longhorn".  So much for the software retail shops.