Before I begin, let me take you back a little bit.
I was always interested in Windows Vista, even when it was still called Windows Longhorn. I can’t remember when I first started became interested in it, but I think that it was around January 2005. I always wanted to get a test copy as well, but There were two things stopping me:
1. The Computer. The only computers that I was able to install Windows Longhorn were an old Pentium 3 and a Celeron processor with 256mb or ram and 130mb (respectively). These computers couldn’t run Windows Vista, even if you tried.
2. The disk. This was an obvious one as you can’t install Windows Vista without a disk. I hadn’t thought about writing a letter to them asking for a copy, and I didn’t have Broadband fast enough to download the torrent.
So anyway, I still tried to keep up to date, reading various news articles and getting the latest screenshots from Google. Time went by and the Easter holidays in 2006 came up. I decided I would write to Microsoft and ask if I was able to get a copy for a project. I was unsure where to send the letter so I sent it to both Microsoft in Sydney and Brisbane. Four weeks past and I got my first response. It was from Microsoft in Sydney and was promising. Along with both a 32 and 64bit edition of the February version of Windows Vista (Beta 2) I also received a copy of Age of Mythology for my “innitive”. In the holidays I was able to install a copy on a spare computer I got. Unfortunately I could only use it for a week as it had blown up. I went back to waiting.
A couple of months later (September), I found that you could download a copy of both Windows Vista and Office 2007 for a short time. While I signed up and received a key for Windows Vista, I never downloaded it. I did, however download a copy of Microsoft Office 2007. I was able to use it for a short time again before I formatted my computer and then the setup file became corrupted.
I decided to install Windows Vista so that it could dual boot with Windows XP. I was unsure on how to do it so I decided to go to Google for an answer. This Website had the answer I was looking for.
As many people were downloading both Windows Vista and Windows Microsoft had plans to charge people for downloading Windows Vista. From memory, it would be $1.50 to download either Windows Vista or Microsoft Word. At that time I was thinking something along the lines of “So why don’t they make torrents for people to download, it works with Linux?” This Website also had the same answer. There was a torrent for Windows Vista and it even came with an MD5 checksum to make sure you had the correct version.
Microsoft responded to this with this comment:
“There are legal and privacy issues which unfortunately make that not an option for Microsoft to officially sponsor a BitTorrent. I really wish we could do it, but we can’t.”
Huh? as I said before, Linux have been doing it for quite some time now and it seems to be working successfully. My opinion: Microsoft just wants to charge people for this just so they can make money. There is nothing wrong with them creating a new torrent and posting the MD5 Checksum on their website, they just want to charge users so they can make even more money. They don’t even guarantee any work that you save in office 2007.
3 Comments
[...] It Coming Out In Beta - I always love beta stuff, but this was an exception, not only did you need to have Game Maker 6 installed on your machine, you also needed to have it registered. And I’m not talking about any key you can get internet (for free!) I mean you needed to pay $25 (AU) for a registered copy of Game Maker. That kinda reminds me of this post. Although with this one you can still use a working version of the program (Version 6.1). If you don’t have a valid key (or Game Maker 6.x installed, you get an error like the one on the left. Not only that but you get an annoying popup each time you run the beta version. [...]
I’m sorry what’s your problem? I don’t understand what you are getting at and instead you are just really, really annoying me. Are you trying to be like GearGod and his blog? You see there is one slight difference, GearGod makes GOOD points about thing’s you don’t. And Please do leave the GMC… it already has enough people wasting their bandwidth.
-GM man.
GM Man,
I think you meant for your reply to be in Ten things I hate about Game Maker Blog, but I can’t be bothered moving it
My if you check the timestamp, mine was posted before Gear GOD’s, so he is coping me