Do you use unlicenced software?

movilogo

Either in your computer/tablet/smart phone?

By unlicensed means any software which you have not legally purchased or allowed to use.

Popular examples are bootleg copies of Microsoft Office etc.

This usually excludes all Linux apps and freeware.

PS: It is private poll so others can't see what you had chosen. So please be honest

Jeff_Bridges_hair

No. Anything I use is either paid for by work or I buy myself. Bootleg stuff you can never be quite sure about really. Especially if people are using hooky copies of windows stuff - you just dont know what else is in there.

If people dont want to pay for it then they should use free OS like Linux or free open office software.

bap98189

Currently I don't. I certainly used to. Until a few years ago I had pirated versions of Office installed on various PC's, but now free software is available that does everything I want. All my installs of Windows have always been paid for, the main difference is that OpenOffice, AVG and various other free programs.

InsideInsurance

movilogo wrote: »

PS: It is private poll so others can't see what you had chosen. So please be honest

Private is only so to casual viewers of the site, not to the admin, or if they were really that bothered, any that can force the site admin to reveal the results.


In answer to the question, no, I don't use pirate software. There is a lot of good freeware applications out there, via clients Home User Programmes I've legitimate copies of things like Office via their licenses and anything else I need and is expensive normally falls into the category of business expense and so still not free but at least discounted.

Yolina

Nope, if I use it, I pay for it. In the case of legally free software (I'm thinking of Calibre for instance which does such a great job of keeping my ebooks organised) then I'll make a donation or whatever.

HarryL

I Don't use any unlicensed software now. My work gives me a copy (legit) of Microsoft office to work from home with and has a system for requesting other programs if you should need them on your home computer. However when I was a student me and some mates threw around an illegal copy of office but I lost it when formatting my computer a few years ago. The University did offer microsoft office programs to student who required them at home but they only had a set number of licenses and ran out fairly early in the year. Since the library was a hour walk or 30 minute bus for me in my final year (the only year I even noticed there was a library :P) I had to find an alternative to get my dissertation done. I'm not making an excuse for stealing the programs but that is how I saw it back then.

kk20

No. Never have as there has always been credible alternatives. Plus with open/libre office and very friendly linux distributions available there is no reason to. MS security essentials, open office, paint.net are my main programs of use. I have installed plenty of trial software applications to perfom a "one off job" but always uninstalled them afterwards.

JamesK10

Back in the days when software came on floppies and didn't have install codes, I got rid of PC-DOS which worked with next to nothing, and which was pre-installed on the very first PC my parents had with no discs, and installed MS-DOS so I could get to Windows 3x upwards. When I bought an original DOS set in my first job nine months later, I didn't bother "swapping" the installation over though. Later on I was dumb enough to let an original Office suite, get pirated by rellies, which is effectively the same thing, so I stopped using it. I did buy three other versions to make up for that though.

So now I don't, too much hassle and too easily tracked, and I just want headache-free reinstalls of the OS. Freeware and Open Source have risen up to provide viable alternatives in enough areas to make buying software worthwhile - as long as the developers keep it up to date.

dealer_wins

Nearly everything legit here, only exception is using Office on 5 pcs instead of 3.

jamespir

err no i alwyas pay for stuff i need

Owain_Moneysaver

Not really.

But there are probably some fonts I've got which came with long-ago acquired and discarded packages, and things like that.

But legit Windows (or Linux) and open source office suite.