How much $$ have you wasted on Microsoft/Apple software?

[tuebinger]

I only went back 5 years for this. I shudder to think how much money I've wasted prior to that:

Apple Proprietary Software purchases (last five years):
.mac (email, web page, backup software)-- $100/yr;
iLife -- $90 per each upgrade (three upgrades in past five years?);
iWork -- $90 each for iWork 06 and iWork 08;
OS updates -- $100 each (about 4?).

Grand total: more than $1300! (And that's just Apple software -- I've spent hundreds on third party crap that I thought was great stuff at the time.) I could buy me a nice, tricked-out Ubuntu laptop for that!

[Sockerdrickan]

Mac OS X 10.4 came with my mac mini I had does that count? Other than that no nothing :)

[b0ng0]

I think people who use Macs will generally have wasted more money than anyone else due to overpriced hardware and, as you say, proprietary software.

The biggest waste of money I have spent was on MS Office 2003 for students which set me back £40. I use OpenOffice now. I got XP Pro with my laptop which I don't consider a waste cause I used the CD to install on my desktop as well so that's lasted me 5 years and still works well.

[klange]

When I spend money on a Microsoft product, I usually have a pretty good reason for it.
Take my Xbox and Xbox 360 for example, two fine gaming products that were well worth the money given to Microsuck (same goes for all games for said systems). Also, by boosting their console revenue, I'm diverting their efforts away from making *******.

However, I must say I wish I could have every dime back that went towards paying for Windows on my new machines, and I can say that my family doesn't care about wasting money in general. We have no specific attachment to MS Office, but some of us will still throw away hundreds of dollars for it - and worse yet, get the "student edition" when it doesn't cover the only student that will be using it (not me of course, I'd make the student edition legit, but I use OpenOffice on all of my computers, even the ones running Winblows)

I can't wait to get my 22" LCD and my graphics card so I can show my family that you don't need to spend money on MS to get a wonderful computing experience.

[Erdaron]

TurboCAD 9 was horribly buggy and frustrating. That cost me around $40.

I actually paid for a Vista upgrade disc, which made my computer retarded. That was about $100.

I have some game (Heretic?) that I still have in its original wrapping. I know I bought it, but clearly I never played it. That's probably $20.

Actually, I also wasted $60 on Linux software. My campus store was selling SUSE packs (discs + manuals). The installation was broken. Nothing worked. Even system information applet would be frozen most of the time. And yes, I realize the irony of wasting money on a FOSS program.

[tuebinger]

Mac OS X 10.4 came with my mac mini I had does that count? Other than that no nothing :)

No that doesn't count. I meant purchases you made separate from your initial computer purchase. :)

[boast]

$200 - Windows XP Home FULL

[AndyCooll]

Well for many years I used pirated Windows OS's, Office and other apps. Goodness knows how much that lot would have originally cost.

Eventually I paid about £100 for a legal copy of XP. That has been my only expense since it was about that time that I started investigating legally free software, and eventually FOSS and Linux.

:cool:

[kamaboko]

Maybe the question should be: How much money have you made in the past using MS or Apple software? I've made hundreds of thousands of dollars using MS products from the early DOS days to Vista. So no...I don't feel as though I've wasted any money. If anything, I made a hell of an investment that paid off exponentially.

[shopjohn8]

Hello All
When I think of how much cash goes out on there Micro%$#@ products, my head spins. I have spent a few schilling over the years, and seeing these prices bleeding some people dry can understand why piracy a problem. There are a lot more options now than before and more power too us, I don't consider donating to the projects that I benefit from a waist, I choose the amount and am as generous as I can be. From '96 till '02 about $800 bucks of my hard earned cash made the richest people in the world at that time. Now I get great products and wonderful community of people to converse with. I have been reading 'how to' postings and have gotten better support information than MS. ever gave.

[BuffaloX]

I haven't paid for software for many years now, except a couple of games.
My wife has recently bought EnergyXT2 which is much like Cubase, but EnergyXT2 is available for Linux (and windows), it works better than cubase, and cost only a fraction ( $75).

[Fixman]

Here, in Argentina, its generally considered that most people win 4 or 5 times less than in the USA. That makes that most original (non-pirated) software (from Windows Vista to Age of Empires) is greatly far from the reach of the most part of people. That makes here piracy a very common practice. Generally, the rule of thumb is that if you can't download software (because you have a slow internet connection or just don't know how to use protocols like Ares Galaxy or BitTorrent) you should buy pirated software, the minority that buys original software (~1 person for each 20, and its not growing) is generally treated as a stupid or just as a tecno-phobic. I used pirated software ofr most of my life (with using pirated software I ment that everything I used was pirated - Windows, Office, games, programs, etc.) until I came to Linux and open source, from where I stopped downloading pirate software (not for being pirated software - that I would download again with no problems - but because all free software I needed was could be more easily obtained that pirating it).

So, Microsoft never got any cent from me.

[~LoKe]

Microsoft and Apple have received $0 from me.

[Pethegreat]

My parents dropped $130 on MS office2003. I only used the software once or twice. My mom spent $125 to have a computer reformatted and installed with a copy of XP pro(pirated) Now that computer needs reformatted, so I may be looking to save a few dollars and still get windows(other family members don't like Linux)

My xbox360 has eaten close to a $1000 in games and hardware, but it is worthwhile. To get a similar experience on a PC I would have had to spend $2000 to $3000.

[2cute4u]

I have just about every piece of software Apple or Microsoft created for them Mac, and paid $0 for them; I have everything Adobe made for the Mac, and paid $0 for them; I have tons of other commercial software for the Mac, and paid $0 for them; I did pay the shareware fee for IRCle.

[Bachstelze]

2 microsoft mice : let's say $60
an iPod : let's say $300

And I'm very happy with both, so I wouldn't call that money "wasted" ;)

[wheredidrealitygo]

Apple: I can honestly say that I've never personally spent money on either. I had a 4gig iPod nano as a gift, and now I have a 30 gig iPod nano as a gift.

MS: I received all my software for free when I worked for MS, and a wireless laser mouse 5000, so technically I've been paid more by MS than I've spent on them hahaha.

[IHATEDLINK]

Mac's are for people with money.
There are GREAT computers but there are so damn over-priced!
I will buy a mac if i had the money ( NOT MAC MINI :P)
Until then Ubuntu is the best altenativ

[IHATEDLINK]

Hey Fixman i'm from argentina to!
And i agree on the piracy thing i mean 98% of the software here is probably pirated or something.
I've never seen anyone who has a linux distro exept for me.
People here just think that why pat if you can get it free
If you bought music, OS's or games they gonna say you're stupid.

[Trail]

0 euros.

Well, I do have a Microsoft keyboard and 3 mice total. Wireless. They were the cheapest, so... (and, stupid companies here insist on selling vast quantities of specific brands, like Microsoft, Western Digital etc, with just a few other brands here and there to pretend to have variety).

All of the windows OSes I used to have were pirated. (Helps that I have only built custom PCs and laptop, so no preinstalled OS). And that I used to be a kid and couldn't afford them. Though now that I work and have the funds to buy software that I use, I tend to buy old games that I had enjoyed playing in the past (hard to get though :S), but I don't feel like buying Windows just for the heck of it.

Do I feel bad about? Nope. I still think it was Microsoft's policy to not hunt individuals for pirated copies of their OS, just so that it gains popularity. Then all 3rd party vendors develop for their platform, and Microsoft get their money off big companies with thousands of licenses each. And it seems this plan has been successful, if you look at the situation. Bah.

[schauerlich]

I went 3 ways on the student version of MS Office for Mac, about $30 to me. I should have had to pay for Leopard when I upgraded, but my brother already had a disk and luckily Steve doesn't have the 15 character WGA code of the box to follow. Installed just fine. : )

[Sunflower1970]

$0 on Apple.

Microsoft: Not sure. All the computers I've bought had one MS OS or another on them, and I don't know what percentage of that money went towards the OS...But if I did have any other MS software I never bought it...

I do admit to loving their keyboards and mice though. Not sure how much I've spent on MS hardware...Maybe $200-$300 over the past 8 years..?

[jrusso2]

All of the microsoft software I own I got Free from Microsoft.

One copy Vista Ultimate - Free for attending Server 2008 release
One copy Vista Ultimate - Free for doing a survey.
One Copy Office 2007 Free for attending Vista Release event
Once copy Server 2008 free for attending Server 2008 release event

[cardinals_fan]

I do admit to loving their keyboards and mice though.
Microsoft mice are nice :)

[Frak]

Microsoft = Over many years, possibly over $5,000 or more
Apple = At LEAST $12,000

[Rhubarb]

I paid the m$ tax on two notebooks, so I guess that comes to ~ $200.
I only used windows on one of the notebooks for 4 days before switching to ubuntu :)

[LaRoza]

I paid the m$ tax on two notebooks, so I guess that comes to ~ $200.
I only used windows on one of the notebooks for 4 days before switching to ubuntu :)

The cost of Windows for an OEM installation would be about $20 I think. So it is $40. It doesn't matter the version, as MS needs it to be preinstalled on the hardware for widespread use.

[Ultra Magnus]

Paid the ms tax on 2 laptops and thats it.

I have however bought a copy of Ubuntu from PC World for £10 - Vista crapped my computer up and I had no way of fixing it (no spare cds or anything) so I had no choice.

[Tundro Walker]

I've only wasted enough $ to be able to get on this forum and complain about it. :)

[executor]

0$ i used to pirate every thing, now i use linux ubuntu, don`t pirate software eny more, and it`s easyer. :)

[Kingsley]

None, I don't believe in spending money for software if there are "alternative" means of getting it. The same goes for TV shows, movies, and music.

[clairegrrl]

My parents are cheap. We keep reloading the same Office 2000 on every new computer we've ever gotten. Other than Norton A/V, I dont think we buy anything. Now, I have no reason to with ubuntu.

[Istonian]

None, I used my friends XP copy. Then I installed Ubuntu. No money spent on MS products.

[BluntBox]

I paid for an oem version of Win95 way back when. Since that though I've not paid for Microsoft product. Hey, if their WGA software says my OS is genuine, who am I to argue? MS free and loving it now though.

[dashnak]

I've only paid for the version of XP that came with this lap. Every other version of windows I've used I've pirated.

[paintba||er]

I'd estimate that I've wasted around $1,000 on MS software. I have wasted $0 on Apple software since OS X is my OS of choice and I definitely don't consider it a waste.

[RDL89]

I've spent enough on Microsoft junk over the last 5 years to take an around-the-world cruise twice.:)

[AvWijk]

Windows XP HOME that came with my € 1100 laptop.. I never used it, and I never spend money on Microsoft products either.

[Tundro Walker]

0$ i used to pirate every thing, now i use linux ubuntu, don`t pirate software eny more, and it`s easyer. :)

Holy crap, that'd make an EXCELLENT Ubuntu ad campaign!


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