This is a good thing, people will actually have to buy software. They'll find M$ unaffordable and look at alternatives. This means Linux, FBDS, etc... For all the complianing the M$ does about piracy, bootlegs have been one of M$' best friend - insofar that it help perpetuate the ubiquity of their product base, which ends up making their market share simply by this fact. Like they say in show business: "good publicity or bad publicity - all publicity is GOOD". Likewise for M$. Whether or not the copies of the M$ products are legit or bootlegs - they M$ products all the same. This helps them perpetuate the opium for the masses of their product. However, money makes the world go 'round and if many of those using pirated SF would actually have to pay for this stuff (e.g. PhotoShop professional, 3DMax, M$ Office, etc..) then alternatives like the GIMP, Moonlight, OpenOffice - StarOffice - Koffice will at least garner a fair amount of new converts. This is especially true, in my opinion, in regards to high school and college age users. Cheers, Curtis On Thursday 27 December 2001 13:11, Fred A. Miller wrote:

Universities in NY, Netherlands Targeted in Warez Raids

The US Justice Department and international law enforcement agencies last week seized over 130 computers belonging to suspected software pirates around the world. Many of the people targeted in the raids have been providing law enforcement officials with information that has resulted in additional search warrants. The Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Twente in Hilversum, the Netherlands were both targets in the raids.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8233279.html?tag=prntfr http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8244958.html?tag=prntfr