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Comment by jacobsladder | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand why couldn't the immigrant family just get a pirate Windows? Torrents are standard solutions to people who have no money to purchase software. They break the law, but the risk of prosecution is slim to none, so why not do it? They can start purchasing software as soon as they can afford it. No reason to stop them from being able to be a productive members of the society now.

I come from Russia where me and all the other kids of my age used solely a pirated software. Now I am building software for other people and only have licensed software on my computer. If I was not allowed to use Windows, as well as other supercool development apps from Adobe, etc, then that would be a simple waste of life.

It sounds like the guy imposed Linux on this family who didn't know what their real choices were (even though some may have been unethical).

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How do you torrent Windows when you don't have a computer to run BitTorrent or a broadband link to download with? I mean great, I'm glad your situation worked out for you, but don't make the mistake of assuming that what worked for you will work for everyone.

Why would it be a waste of life? Presumably you'd be making applications on Linux if enforcement was strong.

And the Linux market would have benefited from that, which fosters a growing community on the platform.

I don't think so. I use Linux a lot as advanced user now, and I definitely appreciate what it has to offer, but if I was forced to use Linux before, it would have been a disaster.

There are just so many programming applications that allow one to explore programming in a quick drag'n'drop and fun way. Imagine using Delphi, you drop the button on screen and you see the generated code right away. You then start to tinker with it and let go of WYSIWYG editor completely.

Apps like that were instrumental in my education. I even had superexpensive pirated 3d Max type of software to try myself at 3d modeling and understand what it is about.

I also tried lots of expensive and well-made software (at the time) from Adobe and it was a great learning experience.

I think the fact is, for many such cases pirated software is a great pragmatic solution. I understand there are ethical issues when suggesting something like that publicly, but the individual can make the choice for himself.

Maya for 3D modelling - Open Source

Scratch for Drag and Drop programming - Open Source

Linux and open source software are fantasic, perfect for a refurbished 7 year old laptop like this. Windows would also run like crap on one of these, Christ it runs like crap on an i7 with 16GB of RAM.

Maya is not open source, though there is a free (read: castrated) version. Use Blender. I learned everything I needed to launch my career from a bottom-rung 2gb Intel Celeron P.o.S. laptop running Linux, Blender, Gimp, and all kinds of other open source programming and creativity tools. That laptop is 6 years old and still gets stuff done today (though I do have a far more powerful rig now). IMO the modern equivalent of this kind of low-end laptop with open source software could really help refugees, and it would be relatively cheap.

Windows does not run like crap on a i7/16gb. Win10 actually runs great on some 5+ year old laptop we use in the kitchen.

It is not merely an ethical issue to use pirated software. The potential loss of security is a huge issue with pirated software.

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