OSNews

You'd have a point if we were talking Microsoft or Apple; they're HUGE multinationals to whom one more or less legal copy would mean fairly little.

Sorry, I disagree. There shouldn't be one rule for small companies and one rule for big ones, even if you switch 'em so that unlike now, small companies get the better part of the deal.

Now, however, we are discussing a small company, one that falls into complete insignificance compared to Microsoft/Apple. Hence, they have every right to defend their probably smal revenue stream. Without this activation thing, it would be extremely easy to pirate Xandros and leech off of the work of others.

I have no objection to any company "protecting it's revenue stream". What I object to is what I see as them putting the law into their own hands and going WAY over the top. As a private citizen, if someone steals from you you go to the police; you don't demand the right to sneak onto the property of everyone you know and everyone who lives near you to check whether they've stolen something, without even checking whether something has been stolen.

In fact, I am happy Xandros is doing whatever it takes to ensure revenue. They owe it to their shareholders as well as to their customers, because no revenue = end of company = you as customer are f--ked.

People should learn that NOT all companies are the same, and that there is more to think about than just yourself.

Any company that mistrusts its customers, in the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing, is in my view JUST as bad as MS. They have the right not to trust them, I suppose; but we have the right not to trust those companies, too.