Michael wrote:
*"Second, I tend to think these are more than likely just sold dirt cheap
via 3rd world countries where Microsoft will take what it can get, even
pennies ..."*
Exactly.
Going from distant memory here, so don't quote me, but, to determine the
optimal price that they should charge for a product, one of the variables
that companies need to consider is the "elasticity of demand" for that
product. That is a function of many things, including how essential the
item is, the wealth of the target market, the availability of substitute
products, etc. Everything else being equal, to optimize revenue, companies
can charge more for a product with a low elasticity of demand.
The elasticity of demand varies around the globe. In a rich country, the
elasticity of a given product is low (people are less price-sensitive), so
the optimal price is higher. This is consistent with our intuition.
In a poor country, the elasticity is higher, so the optimal price is
lower. So, to maximize revenue that they can raise from poorer countries,
it sounds like M$ charges less for 'Doze. Again, perfectly consistent with
our intuition.
And it's a win-win, because everyone benefits: M$ makes more more money
(unfortunately IMHO, but who can blame them?), and the consumers in the
poorer countries can afford to buy the product due to its lower price.
But that strategy breaks down if consumers exploit this difference in
price, by consumers in poor countries buying low, and then selling high to
other consumers in rich countries. If it happens on a large scale, this
prevents the company from being able to exploit that difference in
elasticity.
Incidentally, this is perfectly analogous to the pharmaceutical market.
For example, drugs are sold much more cheaply in Mexico, so many Americans
drive down there to get their prescription drugs much, much more cheaply.
Clearly, big pharma hates that, and so they sponsor legislation to ban the
import of the very drugs they exported. Of course, they don't say that
they are doing that so that they can maximize revenue. They claim that the
quality of the imported drugs cannot be guaranteed.
On a personal note, I have no problem with companies maximizing their
revenue, even companies that I detest such as M$. They produce a product
that, unfortunately, many people want. And I have no problem with
consumers re-selling a product that they own and have legitimately
purchased, to take advantage of the price difference (arbitrage). What I
DO have a problem with is the state interfering with the freedom of people
to buy or sell their own property. Doing so actually represents a state
subsidy to these corporations, paid for by taxpayers.
On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 10:44 AM Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss <
plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
> These are as far as I have ever been able to tell actual, working
> licenses. I'm on my 3rd copy of use between different devices over
> probably 6+ years now, Microsoft blesses my pc still as authentic, so not
> like it dies after a few months or eventually figures itself out. My
> current win10 copy I've used for 2+ years, and still have versions on older
> systems I don't use as much anymore, but presume they'd start and update
> without issues without going into Pirate Edition mode.
>
> One thing that is a bit otherwise sheisty, I did buy a 2-pack of win10
> licenses, used the first, and went to use the second a few weeks later, and
> the key no longer worked, but contacting them they did regenerate me a key
> that works. I've also had them give me keys that didn't work immediately
> too, but again support will give me new working keys.
>
> I contemplated for a bit on this, wondering just how legal or shady these
> are, and went down some rabbit holes of thought. One thought was they just
> randomly try keys until they use some online means of validating them, sell
> them as quick as possible, thus if I wait too long they're already DOA.
> I'd imagine later MS would put me into Pirate Mode lockdown if so...
>
> Second, I tend to think these are more than likely just sold dirt cheap
> via 3rd world countries where Microsoft will take what it can get, even
> pennies vs. just having Billions of people using the same pirated WinXP
> copy as it was in the early 2000's and beholden to inherent insecurity.
> Cisco and other mega manufacturers do this commonly in 2nd and 3rd world
> nations, as otherwise no one could afford them legitimately there, but hey
> stupid westerners with more money than brains, sure we'll take that $200
> windows license fee! Obviously they'd rather have $200 than $7, but when
> you print money as licenses as they do, copper or paper, it's all cash, and
> they'll take what they can get.
>
> Think about that some, how does that make *you* feel? Makes me want to
> crumple a dollar bill and throw it at Microsoft quoting Bricktop from the
> movie Snatch: "If I throw a dog a bone, I don't want to know if it tastes
> good or not." Besides, I've more than paid the microsoft tax over the past
> 30 years for windows licenses on devices I never needed or used with Linux.
>
> I'd love someone to actually explain how these work and what the racket
> is. Other companies do this, I saw another random asian company ad on
> lifehacker selling the same win10 keys for like $20 bucks, and an hour
> later they had ads for windoze licenses "on sale" for $179. Something
> tells me there would be bloody murder and "Night the Lawyers Attack" if
> Best Buy started selling windoze copies for $7. Knowing is half the
> battle, so why pay more?
>
> -mb
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 7:32 AM Anthony Radzykewycz via PLUG-discuss <
> plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>
>> I’m curious to know if the keys bought off this site would match any keys
>> found in places like this:
>> https://gist.github.com/jhermsmeier/5959110. Also, what would be the
>> liability if you paid for the license and that key was pirated like this?
>> To be clear, I agree with the advocation of getting these keys as
>> inexpensively as possible. Just thought I’d throw this out there and maybe
>> you could do a quick compare just in case.
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 7:24 AM Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss <
>> plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for sharing this Michael!! If I can get a legit copy of Win10
>>> and Win11 for cheep I will eventually install on a VM.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2023-06-16 04:21, Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>>> >> Are the installation discs sufficient to install Win10 on a no-OS
>>> > computer (or a Linux computer with some extra space on the root
>>> > drive)?
>>> >
>>> > Yep, you install the iso from microsoft.com [1] so it's legit, vm or
>>> > hardware, give it a key during/after install, and off to the races.
>>> >
>>> > -mb
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, Jun 15, 2023 at 11:15 PM Steve Litt via PLUG-discuss
>>> > <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss said on Thu, 15 Jun 2023 18:22:08
>>> >> -0700
>>> >>
>>> >>> So interestingly enough, if/when I need windoze, I often buy from a
>>> >>> place like THIS, as a method of getting Windoze officially
>>> >> licensed,
>>> >>> flat cheap.
>>> >>>
>>> > <
>>> http://mail.sendmailco.com/index.php/campaigns/tb637ap0sybfa/track-url/gv224svhyh867/11430a51e55c5971d23f31e2e7ede8b0f9331165
>>> >
>>> >>> It updates itself, never had a problem, and simply just works.
>>> >>
>>> >> Are these legitimate licenses, or Far-East knockoffs?
>>> >>
>>> >> Are the installation discs sufficient to install Win10 on a no-OS
>>> >> computer (or a Linux computer with some extra space on the root
>>> >> drive)?
>>> >>
>>> >> Can you install these as Qemu guests on my Linux computer?
>>> >>
>>> >> Thanks,
>>> >>
>>> >> SteveT
>>> >>
>>> >> Steve Litt
>>> >> Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
>>> >> http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
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>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Links:
>>> > ------
>>> > [1] http://microsoft.com
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