RE: Adobe adds product activation

[Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Watson Laughton <WLaughton -at- orphan -dot- com> wrote:
> >>There is PLENTY of choices. We, as a society, are awash with choices. 
> 
> sure.  i can choose to use software that is not fully compatible with msft
> products at home because i'm annoyed with the activation thing, and suffer
> the consequences.  or i can choose to fight city hall, and try get the CIO
> of my 80,000 person company to go with open source, and enter a nursing home
> before i get my computer working.
> 
> but in the real world, most people use microsoft products (or adobe, or
> whatever, that require activation) because there are no VIABLE choices other
> than the ones they are TOLD to make.

How is any organization TOLD what decisions to make? Furthermore, if your
employer is making software decisions that offend you, then you have the
freedom to quit and find work with an organization that more appropriately
suits your needs. 

Nobody in the entire universe is FORCED to use Microsoft or any other
technology. You have ample freedom to chose. The fact that some of the
consequences of that choice are lame, is not Microsoft's problem. Perhaps the
reason there are no other good choices is because - gasp - Microsoft actually
makes a good product. 

I realize its trendy to bash Microsoft, but you're going to have to come up
with better arguments than "Microsoft forces me to use their products."  The
fact is, Microsoft is a big software company that dominates many areas of
information technology. This is no different than Adobe, IBM, Oracle, etc. If
you don't like their products - don't use them. No need to create illogical
situations where you're a victim - just don't use their products. 

My feeling is that I don't give a crap that Microsoft is big or evil. I have
work to get done and Microsoft technologies help me do that. A few moments of
inconvenience are not enough to make me stop using their products. If I was to
stop using products from companies that caused me inconvenience, then I would
be living in a shack in Montana somewhere. EVERYTHING causes inconveniences. 

> as to why large corporations choose the products they do, i think that's
> outside the scope of this discussion.  for individual users, SOHO-type
> setups, etc., i'm willing to bet that given several reasonably comparable
> alternatives, they would avoid the activation product like the plague, just
> like they avoided 1-2-3 until lotus got rid of the copy protection.

The SOHO and business markets are much different. Much different requirements
and challenges. Comparing the two isn't a really fair comparison.

As I said before, if the features of a product offend or annoy you - don't use
that product. If your employer makes you use technologies you don't like, quit
and go work for an employer that uses the technologies you DO like. 

The fact is you have numerous options. You just don't like the options you
have. Such is life. 

Andrew Plato 


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