I win

[person8451]

I did not wish to reinstall Windows XP. I tried fixing it with virus scanners and registry cleaners, recovery tools and so on, but it remained infected, slow, buggy, and increasingly weird. So I saved what I could, wiped out the hard drive, and started over.

"The number of times this activation code can be used has been exceeded."

What? XP came with this computer. I didn't decide to get viruses and a messed-up registry. I wasn't looking to reinstall the operating system for fun--it was a chore, and now this thing was telling me that I was not going to be allowed to do it. It's not my fault the damn thing is so unstable it needs to be reinstalled over and over to work properly.

I tried calling the toll-free number provided, but all I got was someone telling me I could purchase a new license for, (as I recall), 87 million dollars. Or I could upgrade to Vista, which I doubt would run well on an obsolete Compaq with just onboard graphics. I tried to explain that I just wanted to reinstall the OS that had been on there all along, and that I was not up to anything illicit, and so on.

But I got a personally signed letter from Bill Gates which said, in gold-lined letters written in the blood of kittens, "screw you, send me even more money or you can't use your computer any more, hahahahahahaha", accompanied by a scribbled drawing which I think might have been pornographic, or a submarine, or possibly a pornographic submarine.

(My memories of these events may be somewhat garbled, due to trauma.)

This annoyed me. I had made an attempt at using Linux once, out of curiosity, but had little success with it. Now I was determined to make it work, no matter how alien and difficult it might be. So I poked around a bit, with my invalidated XP prompting me every 30 seconds with a message saying "Remember to hate Windows more and more and more! Don't forget to bow down to us and send us money! We own you and always will!", or something like that, and I came across Ubuntu.

I can hardly describe the sheer atavistic glee I experienced when I got the thing installed, booted up, and did not hear John Tesh music, or see that infuriating pop-up, or see that blissful green meadow where Bill Gates buries all the kittens he murders for ink.

I win. Everything works. I had a few little problems at first, which were solved here on the Ubuntu forums in literally minutes, and I can now say lots and lots of terribly rude things to Microsoft because I do not need them and never will again.

I called the toll-free number again, and told them I wanted a fully functional operating system for free, with expert support, immediately, with the perpetual rights to install and reinstall it as many times as I wanted on any computer I ever owned for the rest of my life. They said that was not possible.

They were mistaken. I win.

[Saint Angeles]

that made my day.

[alawho]

I too had a similar situation with my Dell X300 and a brother-in-law that got it infected with some b.s. I had previous experience with knoppix and linux mint and had the resources to get ubuntu (now edubuntu) and needless to say it's working like a charm. I had a couple of glitches (mostly user) problems with my wireless card but all is well in the world of linux. Yeah!!!

[k33bz]

lmfao, that is what i love

[jdrodrig]

Originally Posted by person8451 I tried calling the toll-free number provided, but all I got was someone telling me I could purchase a new license for, (as I recall), 87 million dollars.

That is strange, I had a similar problem and I got a new activation code under 5 minutes..well, it is their loss...

I hope you can find linux equivalent software for all your needs!

[Aeph]

Another victory in the war on Microsoft.

[wolfen69]

that's one of the best stories ive heard in a long time. welcome to the good side and enjoy.

[iSplicer]

Great story, lol

[eragon100]

welcome

[armandh]

My brother in law's un-safe surfing resulted in regular M$ reloads.
My son's student upgrade ran out of installs leaving only a Generally Disadvantaged XP1 to keep the brother in law's loaner computers running.
I put FF 7.04 on a 800 mhz P-III and he has not been back.
his $39 ink-jet printer was not supported but he declined a free HP laser-jet 5 as he has little use for printing.
everything else just works.
so much so he gave back a spare 733 P-III [with XP1] never used.
that one now has 7.04 instead for that day he manages to break Ubuntu, if ever.