| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
StephenfromNZ
Joined: 03 Aug 2013
Posts: 15
|
 Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:45 am Post subject: Prevalence of non-genuine software in China |
 |
|
It seems many Chinese use the "Ghost" version of MS Windows, but I had no end of trouble with script errors and update problems associated with it. Finally I have obtained - with some difficulty, Windows 8 from the Microsoft site, and hope it will be better.
The next project is to obtain a trouble-free version of MS Office. Does anyone have any suggestions?
The "Ghost" software is dirt cheap/free, but is junk I say. Is Microsoft aware of the level of piracy of their products in China? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Shroob
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 1339
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 2:09 pm Post subject: Re: Prevalence of non-genuine software in China |
|
|
| StephenfromNZ wrote: |
It seems many Chinese use the "Ghost" version of MS Windows, but I had no end of trouble with script errors and update problems associated with it. Finally I have obtained - with some difficulty, Windows 8 from the Microsoft site, and hope it will be better.
The next project is to obtain a trouble-free version of MS Office. Does anyone have any suggestions?
The "Ghost" software is dirt cheap/free, but is junk I say. Is Microsoft aware of the level of piracy of their products in China? |
I use Open Office. It's basically the same package as Microsoft Office, but free. It's not like "Ghost" (meaning a crap knock-off), but actually a quality product. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Javelin of Radiance
Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 1187
Location: The West
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 7:36 am Post subject: Re: Prevalence of non-genuine software in China |
|
|
| StephenfromNZ wrote: |
| The "Ghost" software is dirt cheap/free, but is junk I say. Is Microsoft aware of the level of piracy of their products in China? |
Yes I'm sure they're aware of the level of piracy around the world.
The quality of lots of the pirated software is just as good as if you had bought it legally. There's also a good chance you get something that doesn't work but if you downloaded something for free (via torrents for example) or bought pirated copies on the street, it's hardly something you can complain about.
| StephenfromNZ wrote: |
| The next project is to obtain a trouble-free version of MS Office. Does anyone have any suggestions? |
Well you could do what I did. Spend $100 or whatever the current price is and buy a licensed copy of the latest version of Office (I have Office 2010). Or find a torrent file and download it there.
Open Office is ok for most things but (last time I checked) Open Office files are not fully compatible/fully functional on computers running Microsoft Office. I still prefer MS Office myself because all the computers I work on run some version of Office and I use a lot of the bells and whistles on Powerpoint (one example), and I hate giving presentations and finding out half the stuff I prepared doesn't work on that particular computer. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
teenoso
Joined: 18 Sep 2013
Posts: 365
Location: south china
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 12:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
Open Office is compatible with my office 2010, but when i went to print something out the other day, they could not open the document because their version of MS Office was older (or maybe because they did not have open office installed?).
I have never seen here a legal copy of English Windows or Office, probably because there is little demand when the pirated versions are so cheap.
I bought my laptop here 2 years ago, and they could only install an illegal copy of English Windows 7, which after a month defaulted to the 'blackscreen desktop' .
How much was Windows 8 to buy from MS? Was it easy to download? And is it a useful upgrade?(my laptop I guess does not support touch-screen). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Javelin of Radiance
Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 1187
Location: The West
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 1:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
| teenoso wrote: |
| Open Office is compatible with my office 2010, but when i went to print something out the other day, they could not open the document because their version of MS Office was older (or maybe because they did not have open office installed?). |
Right, I've never seen Open Office on any Chinese computer, and most school computers are running Office 2003 which is likely to cause you problems if you're trying to open or print a file created in Open Office. At least Office has compatibility modes in which you can save your files ensuring they'll open on any computer regardless of which version of Office or other open source software is loaded on it, although you'll probably lose a bit of functionality. Try opening an Office file containing macros, formatted content, charts and graphs, complex spreadsheets, etc with Open Office. You can't but this might not be an issue for a lot of people.
This isn't a plug for MS products but I do like Office a lot, and while Open Office is a good and cheap alternative it just doesn't work as well.
| teenoso wrote: |
| How much was Windows 8 to buy from MS? Was it easy to download? And is it a useful upgrade?(my laptop I guess does not support touch-screen). |
I always shy away from these upgrades that are market driven because there often isn't anything in these "new" products that you need or that justifies the expense. I'll probably be buying a new laptop early next year and it'll come with Windows 8 anyway so I guess I'll find out soon enough. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoeKing
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 519
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Javelin of Radiance wrote: |
This isn't a plug for MS products but I do like Office a lot, and while Open Office is a good and cheap alternative it just doesn't work as well.
|
Same sentiments here, and I am not knocking anyone for trying to save a buck by either using a ghost version or by using Open Office, both of which I have done. Sometimes though it is worth it to bite the bullet and pay the extra money to avoid the hassles. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
