Story: Counting the cost of counterfeiting

Posted by: David Wright (Tuesday 23 May 2006, 10:14 AM)

I agree with Chris, naked PC's are what I want, but I usually end up building my own if I have time, or buying something with a copy of XP (usually Home), which either gets replaced with XP Pro or more commonly Linux. If we have to buy Windows, at least give us a choice, most manufacturers will only provide Home on most of their machines, so for the Pro user who also wants a decent games machine, he usually has to buy two Windows licenses, one of which lays redundant in a cupboard, or build a machine up from components...

If all PC's were sold naked with an option to bundle the OS of choice, or stay naked, I would be happy...

As the the WGA programme, on some of the forums I've visited, people have been moaning that their genuine copies of Windows have started popping up messages - often because the PC has been returned to the manufacturer or warranty partner under warranty and the machine was re-installed using a different license number.

Microsoft should get their channel partners working correctly before they start penalising their end users!

Thankfully my machine was home built and the license purchased through a reputable supplier and the WGA plug-in validated it, but I know some people who aren't so happy/lucky...