[sdtPikachu]

Man, it's just so funny to see people go mad about something that you don't care about.

True, in a way it is. Try www.openoffice.org

But laughing at it doesn't make the problem go away, and that problem is this:

M$ has an effective monopoly on Office software (far more than they do on operating systems), which has made M$ office the standard.
Hence they can do what they damn well please.
Including anally rape you for your money.

people will download a crack

They might, but corps will still have to fork out the dosh. Businesses come under far far more scrutiny than even the most conspicuous home user. Many businesses live in mortal fear of a software audit.

Because there is no real competition, M$ can do anything they want with Office, knowing that the entire business world (where the REAL money is) will have to follow cos they're being grabbed by the balls. Clever move.

To make this worse, even though under the antitrust judgement emplaced on them they are being forced to reveal their API's and source to developers so they can manafacture competing AND COMPATIBLE products, they've included several clauses which will stop open source software (Office's only REAL threat) from entering this sphere at all. Also clever. This has already thrown up furore over Samba/NFS (*nix protocols designed to make *nix machines work on M$ proprietary networks, epecially printer networks) technically now being illegal.

Unfortunately, M$'s failure to disclose their API's to open source developers and their continued insistence on changing the .doc format with every new version have managed to produce a product unassailable by all competition. The *nix office clients, such as the KDE and GNOME systems (as well as others, like OpenOffice or Sun's Star Office) are compatible by and large, but there are still many many issues where Office alternatives just won't work with M$ Office.

Hence, there is no competition, and M$ get to shaft the rest of the world for all they want.

[b]You can kiss my @$$ when you see me buy a Mac...[/b[

Hey Cyrax, guess what the standard Office software for Mac's is? I'll give you three chances. In fact, I'll even give you a clue - it's an anagram of SicroMoft Fofice.

So basically, short of supporting open source and making sure the US actually do something about this illegal monopoly M$ has, there isn't going to be much of a light at the end of the tunnel.

Much info/news about computers can be found at www.theregister.co.uk, www.theregus.com and http://slashdot.org where you can see all of M$'s most recent rants about how terrible open source is, how great M$ software is, how it would be impossible for them to make Windows a modular system (like Linux, where you can install/run whatever products you want and heave the rest in the trash) and all the rest of it.

I wish more people would read up on more of Microsofts latest actions, cos then I wouldn't have to explain my hatred to them.

Open source software has the potential to provide high quality free software to all that require it, simply by people coding in their spare time as part of a large group. People who care PASSIONATELY about making a good product - they are simply trying to reward others who have contributed software which they have used. It would be rather a shame to see OSS shot in the foot by M$, for everyone's sakes.