Software ownership...

Did you know that you don't directly own the software on your home PC? I am referring to your Operating System... Windows 95, Windows98, Windows ME, or Windows NT, or even Windows 2K that was pre-installed on your home system at purchase. Who owns it??? Your PC owns the software. Your PC is licensed with that operating system. I guess you indirectly own the software. When the day comes that you let go of your 486 PC and sell it (God Forbid) or donate to a charitable cause (Church or School) you must relinquish the OpSys software and the license. The license must remain with that PC.

This is not to say that you can't walk into Best Buy and purchase Win2K Professional off of the shelf and install it. In this case, you DO own the software and you can keep it. Be careful though. Purchasing an OS may not be the best choice for your system. Many PC manufacturers sell their computers with special drivers for the hardware. The "off the shelf" OS may not work immediately without some tweaking of the drivers. This is where you local computer professional or your geeky relative come into play.

If you are interested in using another operating system other than Windows, try using a Linux operating system. There are many flavors of Linux and they are much harder to install and configure. If all your PC is used for is the internet, email, and word processing Linux will work perfectly for you. It is all free via download. You can purchase Linux and you will often see it being advertised, but you don't need to buy it. Go visit any of the Linux websites and you can download. WWW.LINUXLOOKUP.COM has all of the different Linux versions available for download.

See Ya.