Well well.

Microsoft and the BSA are going after hundreds of PC technicians in Israel (Hebrew), suing them for installing illegal windows and Office software for home users for a small price. The PC technicians, in reply, say through an unnamed "victor" dude, that from now on, Microsoft, who so heavily depended on them for installing 96% of the Windows and Office software in Israel, is going to suffer. Yep. From now on they'll be recommending all home users to switch to Linux.

Give me a break, both sides.

On one hand, the techies have no cause to defend themselves whatsoever. what they have done is illegal and should be punished. I mean, once they are caught they are trying to use the "social injustice" card to help them in their irrelevant struggle. To me this all looks like finally, after years of law-breaking and doing whatever you want, someone has come down on some of them. Because they are now so scared that this will become the norm, they are raising their voice and trying to claim "injustice". Well, you're wrong. You did something illegal, now live with it.

 

On the other hand, Microsoft.

Let's face it, Israel has always been a "one disk nation" in many regards. Office and Windows software has been as prevalent here and as easy to get like chewing gum (and for half the price). Microsoft, for years, had one eye closed in this regard, and "let" home users do whatever they want with the software. Yes, even the CD keys that were needed were easy to find and generate. But why? Because that's a great way to achieve market dominance. A kid uses Office and Windows all day, and as he grows up that's all he knows and wants to use. So now a whole culture of people that grew up using illegal Office and Windows software goes to work and wants to use the same software because that's what they know and that's what they are good at. Only now they do have to be legal, so everyone seems to win out.. eventually.

 

The techies say that "now Microsoft wants to turn over and bite the hand that feeds it". In a sense, Microsoft is sort of "hurting" the market it has been non-actively helping to prosper for years. It's totally legitimate, and even required that they shut down all this illegal activity, only right now there are too many sleeping dogs on the floor, and MS just opened up a whole can of bells and whistles. My guess is that in two weeks we won't hear of this again. The techies will disappear, and MS will have only done some noise about it, but nothing much more. They know what's good for them.

 

As a disclaimer: I believe that what the techies have been doing is wrong and bad. But the whole situations is very very interesting...