I'm about to buy a new desktop, and I find it utterly laughable that a Windows license will cost me almost the same as all the physical components inside the computer itself. As far as I am concerned, they're begging for people to download it. When it's for professional use I kind of get it, but for a domestic computer? Come on... How do you feel about this? What software do you feel is worth paying for the license? Do you have a cap on what you'll pay for a license? Thanks for your thoughts in advance! Cheers.
Our present desktop is 6 years old and we are on the verge of buying a new one. However, the license is what's holding my husband in pushing with the purchase because it is expensive no matter if it is already bundled with the hardware. The old computer was cheap because the operating system and other software have a free license. But for this new one, I don't think we can get a free license because normally the installation of the operating system requires an update from the Microsoft website. That means you cannot cheat with the license anymore. But someone has suggested a Linux which is an operating system that is free. But we have to check on it first because we have no experience with Linux.
Right now I'm writing from a Windows 7 OS (Licence key came with the notebook) but I was a linux user before. Never paid for any software licence besides this OS and MATLAB. There are always good free alternatives for almost all the software a regular joe user need.
The only software I'll spend money on is software that doesn't have alternatives that are just as good. There are lots of free Operating Systems so if I'm buying a new computer I could opt to install a different operating system and use something like Wine to run windows apps on that machine.
Hmmm... Well, I use a MacBook Pro and I think the software is already included when we bought this one. As far as Windows though, I've been a user of it before. And honestly, I loved it then and we bought the software license as well. I guess it depends on how reliable and good the software is. I didn't have any problems with the Windows software before. I think the only problem I encountered was with the laptop itself since it started becoming laggy. Now, with the MacBook, I think it's nice that we didn't have to buy its own software. Of course, with the high price tag, you really did pay for it, lol. But I think it's definitely worth the price. Since I became a MacBook user, I never looked back. At first it can be confusing but once you get the hang of it, you'll understand how their software works. So far, since we bought this laptop, there's been no lagging or hanging. The only downside is not a lot of applications or programs are compatible with it. So for me, if I really do need the paid software, I would pay for it. I do need it for my work since it needs a word processing program. But if you're fine with just the basics, surfing the internet and opening emails, a basic free software would be good enough.
I have never really had to pay for software licensing. All of the laptops and or desktops that I have had came with the latest version of Windows already installed, and the installation disk was provided with the purchase. I do understand that some people want a specific OS though, and will have to pay for it. I would just download it, like I do all the other software that I use.
If I didn't absolutely need Windows for business (I must use Photoshop, and I have no desire for a Mac), I would swap out Windows on all the computers in our home tomorrow, for Linux Mint/Cinammon. We have an old laptop that appeared to be dying -- until I tried running it on Linux Mint, right off a CD. (I didn't want to wipe the hard drive and install Linux as the only operating system, because I had never used Linux on a PC before.) After a few months of playing around with it, I am sold on Linux. It is blazingly fast, extremely stable, runs enough open-source software I need for basic activities, and is far less prone to viruses (er, virii) and trojans. And, of course, it is 100% free! But, as I said, I must keep Windows installed on my main PC. However, I refuse to "upgrade" to Windows 10 (for reasons you've probably heard elsewhere, and which go beyond this topic), and certainly wasn't about to mess around with the glitchy, feature-challenged Win 8/8.1. As far as I'm concerned, Windows 7 is the last Windows version for me. And, in order to keep it, I bought (legally, through a large electronics outlet) a brand-new, licensed OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version of Windows 7 Professional 64bit for $100, and keep my installation disk in a very safe place. The next time I must buy a computer, I will probably have the machine built to my specifications, with no O/S installed -- and then I will install Windows 7 from my OEM disk. Which is the long way around of saying: You can always have a machine built exactly the way you want it, without any O/S pre-installed at all. Then you can choose whatever O/S you want -- Windows, or the free-and-secure Linux. By the way, the only drawback of buying an OEM installation disk for Windows is that you get absolutely no technical support from Microsoft -- but then, I've never found much use for Microsoft's so-called support anyway. The advantages: All you get is the operating system -- no bloat, no extra "software" you don't need (which is usually no more than come-ons to get you to buy even more software you don't need) -- and the OEM version is usually a lot cheaper than the consumer version.
Most software nowadays are available online for free. If you can afford to buy it and support the developer, then go for it otherwise, it's just sitting there in some torrent sites available for the taking, although if you have a sensitive soul, you might opt to the legit and honest ways instead of feeling guilty for supporting piracy.
We live in a dog eat dog world, where doing the honest or right thing often sees you worse off. There really is no incentive for doing the right thing and paying for a lot of these software programs when you could save money, which seems to be ever elusive within this world, downloading these torrents for free. I would suggest being very careful about which torrents you download though, because some are viruses and malware pretending to be the software that you want.
I second this, @Briannagodess! That's part of the reason I love Apple products. You never have to buy the software separately. I guess because the products already cost an arm and a leg, Apple always offer updates for free. I'd hate to have to spend so much money just to get the software I need. -and to have it updated and having to pay some more for it would be annoying. I doubt we'll ever go back to PC. For as long as we can afford Mac, that's what we'll stick to.
I agree. Windows license is a bit too high priced. I think it would have been great to have gotten their free upgrade when it was still being offered for free but I'm sure now they are back to charging a high amount for it. I don't know if there is much other tigons though as if you switch to a free OS like Linux you'd be limited to just using their softwares or using emulators to run windows based programs though I've heard they perform fairly well that way anyway. I myself would just pay for it because there's not much choice.
I logged onto windows yesterday morning, and they were trying to get me to download windows 10 for free. So I don't think they are back to charming for it again. I don't trust them. It makes no sense for it to have been free when operating systems are so expensive any other time. There must be a catch.
Some say that Windows is offering is making Windows 10 free because Google and Apple offer their customers free OS upgrades. Thing though is there are ways Microsoft will make you pay. It could range from serving you with targeted ads to getting you to pay for some subscription service. Just one example.
I don't believe these 'official,' explanations about why Windows are or have offered windows 10 for free. If this was the case, they would not be charging at all from now on, but windows 10 being free is being pushed under a time limit. Every time I get the alert it says that I need to upgrade whilst I still can for free. I agree that they will probably always make us pay for new OS updates.
Usually I will research to see if there is a free or opensource alternative to the program before I buy anything. 90% of the time I can find a suitable replacement but otherwise I will give in and buy it.
