A 2018 study reported that at least 91 percent of PC users in India are using a pirated copy of Windows. In fact, even when one buys a new PC or laptop with Windows pre-installed, 80-85 percent of the time, the user gets a pirated copy of the operating system. What’s interesting here is that Microsoft is well aware of this fact, as well as the numbers behind it.
One could imagine that, given how strict and litigious most tech companies are about using their products without a proper license, companies like Microsoft would either send cease and desist notices to such users or directly prosecute them for hacking. In fact, Microsoft can instantly block the use of your PC or laptop in such a way that it simply won’t boot to the desktop. Although the reality is very different. In fact, Microsoft doesn’t really care now if a PC user is using a pirated copy of Windows. Why is it so? In fact, Microsoft relies on the fact that you are using a pirated copy of Windows, whenever it is a Windows operating system you choose, unlike any other alternative. Well, that is as long as the PC in question and the user are using the operating system for their personal use. In fact, in an interview, Bill Gates, when he was CEO, chairman and chief software architect at Microsoft, once said that as long as people steal software and use pirated operating systems, we want them to steal ours.
The idea behind this thinking is that if Microsoft allows private individual users to use a pirated copy of Windows, it is likely that people who are learning about computers, as well as children, will develop their computer skills around a Windows system. Similarly, if you turn a blind eye to schools and educational institutes that use pirated windows, you will have a generation of computer users, whose preferred operating system is Windows. Now, when such a person joins the workforce and has to use a computer, he will have to provide his employees with a Windows machine, even though there are tons of free and open source operating systems out there. Microsoft takes Windows piracy very seriously, if it is committed by a company or corporation. They send notices, even to non-profit organizations, when they discover that computers used in the business use pirated Windows. In such a case, the business or company has to pay for a legitimate Windows license, which Microsoft is more than happy to customize, both in terms of services required and fee for each machine where its operating system is installed. This is where Microsoft really makes most of your money from software sales. Via: FirstPost
