Why I unashamedly pirate software

I am an unrepentant and unashamed pirate – software, music, movies, I don’t really care.

 

With movies and music it’s a combination of resenting the ridiculous prices the media distribution companies of the world think they can still charge, plus the fact that quite frankly – I can.

 

With software, it’s a little of both of those reasons, plus one overriding one – software is buggy crap, and I resent paying to be what’s essentially a beta crash test dummy.  Case in point:

 

For the last week Symantec AV Corp has been pissing me off.  It constantly complains about needing to be updated, but won’t run the update engine.  If I run the update engine manually, it says there are no updates… but the error won’t clear, and since it’s wired into the Windows notification centre, I’m pissed off with the popup warnings.

 

Uninstall the app, and of course it now won’t reinstall – obsolete and no longer supported.  Go find a current version, now called Symantec Endpoint.

 

This promptly pisses me right off to by taking over the Windows Firewall and forcing me to learn a bullshit obscure interface to set the thing the way I want it.  I dealt with that, right up until it pulled PRECISELY THE SAME broken update engine bullshit as AV Corp did.  Right, I’ve had this – Symantec Corp used to be OK, but apparently it’s now going the same way as their Norton rubbish.  Rip Endpoint out and OH FUCKING JOY, it kills the TCP stack in the process of getting its tentacles out of the OS.

 

I’m now running the free version of M$ Essentials, which is pissing me off a LOT less.

 

What gets me though is that the software companies of the world expect you to pay for this rubbish.  Sorry, but for premium prices I expect something that works – which most software sadly does not.  I’m running M$’s premium OS here at the moment and I can’t always right-click in an Explorer window without crashing the shell – apparently that’s a “known bug”.

 

Frankly, paying money for software is something that mugs do.

Aw, Calley loves me. ♥

T-Shop Bourke St mall, Melbourne CBD.

Lol g0+ h4ck5???

Another day, another idiot who doesn't know their own e-mail address

Dear Jackie *********, Welcome to Costcutters. To log in when visiting our site just click Login or My Account at the top of every page, and then enter your e-mail address and password. Use the following values when prompted to log in: E-mail: *********@gmail.com Password: 250679                 ß Oooh, ooh! When you log in to your account, you will be able to do the following: ·         – Proceed through checkout faster when making a purchase ·         – Check the status of orders ·         – View past orders ·         – Make changes to your account information ·         – Change your password ·         – Store alternative addresses (for shipping to multiple family members and friends!) If you have any questions about your account or any other matter, please feel free to contact us at sales@costcutters.com.au or by phone at (03) 9568-6400.

Thank you again, Costcutters

 

 

And yet again the thundering herd of stupidity continues, with our nimrod of the day not being able to determine their own e-mail address.

 

Note the über-secure cleartext password, too.  Jackie may regret this at some stage.

 

For instance, her shipping address may now bear a remarkable similarity to that of the Craigieburn Fish and Chip Shop, as opposed to her more normal residence in Geelong.

 

She may also have another order in the system for a spindle of blank DVDs, 12 pairs of elbow-length leather welder’s gloves, and more bog rolls than she’s likely to need for quite some time (or indeed that anything short of a small lorry can deliver in one go) – although I suspect she might get through a couple fairly quickly after the order arrives.

Bugger...

It was entertainment night at the Senior Centre.

 

Claude the hypnotist exclaimed, “I’m here to put you into a trance. I intend to hypnotize each and every member of the audience.”

 

The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful, antique pocket watch from his coat.

 

“I want you each to keep your eye on this antique watch. It’s a very special watch. It’s been in my family for six generations.”

 

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, “Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch…. ”

 

The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light gleaming off of its polished surface. Hundreds of eyes followed the swaying watch until, suddenly, it slipped from the hypnotist’s fingers and fell to the floor, breaking into pieces.

 

“SHIT!” said the hypnotist.

 

It took three days to clean up the Senior Centre.

 

Claude was never invited back.

I like this guy.

Motherfuckin' space nazis!

*So* going to see this.

Dear FBI: Fuck you

I'd just like to say a really hearty Fuck You to the FBI today.

You may have shut down megaupload and scared BTJunkie into closing, but luckily the newer totally decentralised P2P software like Tribler means there's no longer anything for you to aim at.

And that's before the raw power of a worldwide croudsourced hacker communiyt decides to show you exactly what it can do.

I wonder how long it will be until old people who wear ties to bed realise that their financial model of the 1980s is gone forever, and it's time to either move to something in line with people's expectations (and their capabilities) or their media will just be stolen.

Deal with it, suits.