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There is no such memory in my mind about my last birthday, while the one this year would be extraordinarily special.
I didn’t even have the faintest idea that my birthday is around the corner the other day. They did. My closest two fellows didn’t stop reminding me of going out and having fun to enjoy my birthday ahead of time, because they were leaving, and we detinitely did it. The next day, I went for a dinner with a girl, who is one of my best friends, too. I thought it was over, but it was absolutely not. Today, the day 24 hours before my real day, when another friend of mind was about to leave for home, he along with another mate, did not forget the issue and took me out to dinner. To make things happier, some girl would be my company tomorrow to go the Temple of the city, for fun, and for my birthday as well.
No party, no feast, no enthusiasm, but one present, some friends, and, much attention filled up my mind. The day belonging to me, by the way, also belongs to the lady who gave birth to me, my Mom. I am supposed to, and have the responsibility to give her a phone call.
By the way, a fourth dinner would be somewhere later, ‘cos someone is watching.
I am blessed, aren’t I?
Another acquaintance of mine installed Vista, pirate version of course, on his computer.
“Is it good?” I asked him.
“Works perfectly”, he replied.
“Mr. Gates has more than halved the retail price of Vista to 499 kuai from 1521 kuai since the beginning of this month. Why not go and buy an official version?” I just said it, and it was something funny for a man like me who has been using a pirated version of XP for years to raise such a question.
“Come on, pal! I’m not that stupid to spend hundreds of kuai purchasing a so-called official version of the same function as a pirated one.”
This is where the problem emanates from. We are poor, living in a much lower standard in comparison with that of the American’s. The money to buy an official version of Vista, MS Office, Adobe series, Visual Studio, and the like, equals to the money for a brand-new, decent lap-top. In contrast, a pirated version of any sort of software, which could be hundreds of kuai worth of money, can easily be gotten with a few bucks. We are forgivable therefore.
I heard that pirates promote the fame and development of an origin in China. Could be like that. MS has sold more than 60 million vista licenses globally–what else do they want? I would be in position to buy an official version of its dominant Windows operating system the day I had been that well off, or the moment MS found a more efficient way of meeting people’s demand.
