Like many others out there, my initial foray into the wonders of all that is computers was my first pirated copy of Microsoft DOS 3.1 (then 3.11, then 95, 98, etc). This was back-in-the-day before I could even conceive of the notion of piracy (unless you count "pirates & indians")
Like any good drug-dealer, the first one's always "free" (or at least turn a blind eye to it rampant use in order to create the market)

Fast-Forward to today, and our dealer's painting us all as criminals, kiddie-fiddlers & torturers of small furry animals

So! I put it to you thus: follow Redmond's insistence and keep you software licences legal; replace your "pirated software" with LEGALLY FREE GNU software.

Don't know where to start? Head over to:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Free_software
* http://www.osalt.com (to find out what to replace with what)

All my software is now 100% legal, and it only cost me bandwidth.

Not a bad trade...


[Moderator (ND): Edited to proper company names. Please use in future.]