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<rant>I’ve now needed to use Microsoft Word at least 30 times in the last few weeks since my last post about their licensing being restricted to certain hardware configurations, and at least 30 times I’ve been unable to use it, which negatively affects my ability to do my work, and simply reinforces my opinion of Microsoft and my passion for finding Microsoft alternatives.</rant>
Fucking Microsoft.
We own two copies of Mac Office 2011 for our business, both of which have to be licensed (inflexibly) to specific machines. Basically Microsoft licensing works like this: it takes a little snapshot profile of what your machine looks like, what the processor is, how much memory you have, what hard drives etc., and then uses that do identify your machine. Change your machine, the profile changes and the software fails to start.
I added a hard drive over the weekend, an external drive that I just plugged into my Mac with a cable to do a backup. I was going to remove it again but I accidentally started Word and it freaked out, reset my product activation, and now I can’t run any Office applications, which I need for some client work that’s due tommorrow. However the product keys are on the original software disks, and they’re currrently in storage because we’re about to move premises. I have no idea where the box they’re in would be, it was all shipped out by removalists, and it would take several days just to go through everything.
Yet again, Microsoft’s stupid licensing system only hurts real paying customers, when those who pirated it are simply running their no-activation products fine on any machine they wish, completely unhindered by Microsoft’s pathetic attempt to lock them down. Next time I upgrade Office, I’ll be seriously considering cracking it, because it’s obviously pretty easy to do, and I’m certainly not the only one.
Fuck you Microsoft. Fuck you.
Canadian ISPs avoid “Canadian content” regulations
Canada’s telecoms regulator has concluded that Internet audio and video does count as “broadcasting” and could therefore be regulated like a TV or radio stationâcomplete with levies to subsidize Canadian content. But the regulator has decided to exempt the Internet from the rules… for now.
Lawyers plan class-action to reclaim “$100M+” RIAA “stole”
Lawyers in this year’s two highest-profile file-sharing cases have joined forces, and they plan to file a class-action lawsuit against the recording industry later this summer to claw back the “$100+ million” that the RIAA “stole.”
Nesson speaks: Inside P2P’s “David v. Goliath” story
“[..] Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson explains why justice compelled him to take on the Joel Tenenbaum file-sharing case, why the RIAA’s legal tactics are unacceptable, and how he hopes to take down the music industry ‘Goliath.'”
Real: studios, DVD-CCA “illegal cartel” squeeze out fair use
“RealNetworks says that the DVD Copy Control Association and the movie studios have conspired to prevent anyone else from entering the fair use DVD market, and that they have illegally banded together to refuse appropriate licenses to third parties. The RealDVD case is clearly heating up, and Real looks like it won’t go down without a fight.”
Harvard prof tells judge that P2P filesharing is “fair use”
Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson is headed to federal court this summer to defend an accused file-swapper, and he plans to mount a novel defense: P2P sharing is simply “fair use.”
Fast-tracking of the new Copyright Amendment Bill through Australian Parliament.