closed source, the wave of the past (at least I hope so ...)

By basd on Jan 1, 2009 | In linux

Oh, I'd say I was thinking in slightly stronger language. I decided to pass my daughter's old computer along to a friend of hers who hasn't got one. I overlooked the time commitment that would involve ...

...

Some time ago, I bought my daughter Macromedia Dreamweaver MX. This can be licensed on only one computer at a time, but we have the "privilege" of moving the license when we change computers. As in, say, every three or four years or so when the old one gets kinda beat up. We click on something like "transfer license," the program checks the web somewhere and tada! done!

NOT. Because, hmmm, in the meantime Adobe purchased Macromedia. And, according to the Adobe website, the license transfer system still works, but it doesn't. I suppose maintaining a licensing system for software that has already been sold and therefore does not involve any actual income is not "cost-effective."

Thus, when running software from the closed-source world, one wastes enormous time and resources dealing with software licensing schemes largely designed to prevent the actual use of the software.

So ... the instructions are to call Adobe. But, after navigating the computer voice mail menu system (for which there is no actual menu item for reassigning licenses), one is informed that Adobe is closed and does not intend to be in actual attendance until 12:00 noon tomorrow.

Considerable time wasted, nothing accomplished.

Of course, I know (and you know) that in five minutes I can obtain a hacked Dreamweaver MX license from the internet, probably placed there by irate customers. And that license will be a multi-user, all purpose license, unlike the one I actually paid for. So, being an honest, paying customer has no discernible upside. (But I will be on the phone to Adobe at noon tomorrow, anyway.)

Newer Adobe products "phone home" each use, so are not so readily hackable. But, if their phone home system is anywhere as convenient as their transfer license system, one can expect it to stop working precisely when the software is most needed.

Turning to the basic operating system -- before handing off the computer, I thought I would at least make sure it had all the latest updates. So, we now compare the OpenSuse Yast2 updater system with Windows Genuine Advantage. I told Yast to "update all packages," which it did, and in a few minutes Linux was up-to-date.

Now, let's look at the process with Windows Genuine Advantage. As Windows XP had been unused for considerable time, it needed some work. First, it insisted on updating in the Update program twice just to get to the point where it would consider updating the computer.

Then I spent 45 minutes "preparing to download" the Windows XP SP3 update. After considerable additional time, Windows informed me that the update had "failed." In the meantime, however, the updater had downloaded 18 updates, which then proceeded to install.

I then had to reboot & try to install Windows XP SP3 once again. After another 45 minutes, it informed me the update had again been unsuccessful. In the meantime, I downloaded (that is, attempted to download) the network install package, so I would not have to rely on Windows Genuine Advantage updater system.

But, it wouldn't download completely, just 80% or so, after two tries. So, I remembered I had an archive copy on another computer and used that one. Running the xp sp3 updater takes quite a while. Then, of course, there are more updates after that. And more reboots. Also, lots of updating of AVG, Spybot, Comodo (and more reboots).

Lastly, I wanted to update the Windows version of OpenOffice. But, I had some troubles with the download, so I had to install a torrent client and obtain it via torrent download. (As opposed to retrieving it from OpenSuse, where it is available via repository.)

So, as I say, wave of the past ...