Steven H. Blackwell wrote [4/20/05 11:43 AM]: > Actually it's the Mac OS that has the incorrect behavior here in my > view. Windows logo certification requires the presence of the original > installer (CD or network) to upgrade. This helps control illegal copies > and piracy.
How could "the Mac OS [have] the incorrect behavior" with respect to a Windows "logo certification"? Must-a missed the connect, there. I think the OP was upgrading, in this case, so there is clearly no need to require an original OS disk (nothing to do with FM) for an application upgrade. If the updating tool can not verify the authenticity of the application it is updating, then that is an issue of the tool. Requiring users to insert an unrelated media during an install is both inefficient and unnecessary in the logic of updating registered software. It smells of the tendency of MS (I use many MS products, BTW) to want to be involved in every aspect of one's computing experience. It also suggests some of the underlying struggles at MS. Their world-wide ad campaign is reported to have several goals: increase adoption of XP, prepare for Longhorn and "Stop frustrated users from switching to Apple products or Linux, the free desktop created by volunteers, and the Firefox or Opera browsers" [newsfactor.com]. "One industry analyst said the push could help Microsoft begin to shift focus toward some of the operating system's benefits, as opposed to some of its high-profile problems" [seattlepi.nwsource.com]. The wave of growing antipathy toward intrusion, from MS at the OS, and from third-party villains (spyware, virii, trojans, and friends) all contribute to the pressure to respond in such an expensive (and no doubt, probably effective, way.) It is wholly appropriate to experience frustration at the installation hoops that the Windows OS requires vendors and users to jump through -- when it is not technically more preventative of piracy than other software methods. The sheer physical (human movement) act of having to get and insert a CD when unexpected is one (just one) of the reasons my mother refused to continue to use Windows and made my father buy her a Mac. She had a stroke 3 years ago, at about the same time that XP debuted. Apple, +1; MS, -1. -- Gary -- To unsubscribe: send an email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> FMPexperts is hosted by Ironclad Networks <http://www.ironclad.net.au/>
