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TO ME ITS STEALING,
1. vti take unlawfully: to take something that belongs to somebody else, illegally or without the owner?s permission
2. vt take furtively: to take or get something secretly, surreptitiously, or through trickery
steal a glance
Vista activation crackers are criminals
Comment Let's not forget that, eh?
By Andrew Thomas: Friday 02 March 2007, 09:24
WHILE SOME COMMENTATORS rub their hands with glee at the news that a simple ? if clunky ? method of activating pirated copies of Vista, let's remember a couple of important points:
Microsoft is a legitimate company that pays (a lot) of tax and creates work for millions of people around the world. Its products cost millions to develop and are protected by copyright law. People making copies of these products are breaking the law. People using pirated copies are breaking the law.
There is no moral defence of these criminal acts. Hackers are not latter-day Robin Hoods stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. They are organised criminals, in it to make money for themselves, despite their vapid protestations that they are helping bring down da man and not harming anyone. The originator of the crack is on record as saying, "Under no circumstances should anyone sell the key that they generate. I do not support Piracy, this was simply an experiment in which i used to practice my vbscripting. This was just for fun and was a complete accident! sorry for cracking your beautiful operating system BILL GATES." Yeah, right. No one's going to use those keys, are they? That's like putting a bottle of whisky in front of an alcoholic and telling him not to touch it.
An illegal act doesn't stop being illegal just because you have a personal dislike for, or grudge against, the company you're robbing. And if Microsoft and its products are so dreadful, why is there a huge demand for stolen copies of Vista, XP and Office?
For commentators to state that they hope the Vista activation crack will cause problems for Microsoft and its legitimate users is irresponsible in the extreme. While everyone is entitled to their personal opinion, we wish to put on record that The INQUIRER does not condone the illegal copying and use of software.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. March 2007 @ 09:52
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