I'm a 'hardcore' GNU and Linux (everything Open Source) guy yet I've bought commercial software like Windows Vista before.

Anyone else like me out there?

We have all done things that we regret.
However i cannot say i have bought anything other than games for the last few years. Find someone (or our company) that may have a technet subscription and download M$ products as much as you want.

Well... we pay for Windows Vista (almost) every time we buy a new notebook. Personally, I bought a Linux box with installation CDs and manuals when I first installed Linux on my desktop PC (it was Red Hat 5.2 in 1998).

Actually I've never 'bought' any Window$, it always came pre-installed. However I have bought 2 Xbox (first one broke) and 1 Xbox 360 (currently suffering from red ring of death ... will die soon). I also have here a M$ keyboard, but it's probably a re-branded logitech model.

I still have WinDuhs 2k - it was used for programming work at a time when I couldn't completely escape WinDuhs for a project and has since been used only to file my tax returns. I have no need for another version of WinDuhs - there are some games I'd love to get (like the upcoming TombRaider, but I suspect it's over-hyped and it also looks like they're suffering the typical "ship it now" pressure) but I'm not paying $$$ for a hostile OS to host my games. I guess I'll have to do without the games - or pay a much smaller amount for CrossoverOffice if it will do the job. Besides, the high crash rate on WinDuhs just puts me off MS software as a base for games. My Linux games don't cause screen tears and hangs, so why pay for games that aren't even up to that quality?

Isn't that the truth...

But my hypocrisy is that I actually run my Xubuntu distro from within Vista (Wubi). My laptop was a gift, and the folks who gave it to me are anti-Linux. When I move out and get my own place, I'll wipe the thing clean and install pure Xubuntu on the hard drive. That will be a great day for me. For now, this works.

And on the subject of games, I only play GPL'd games or games under the Creative Commons license.

I bought a new laptop recently that came preloaded with vista. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I still prefer using Linux. Unfortunately for college work and some other things I do for work I have to use Windows.

Where I go to school, every piece of software that's required for most degrees (save Graphic Design) has a Linux port that's available through the student book store. It's actually more useful for me to use Linux for school than to use windows in many cases. For example, in order to use X forwarding through Putty on Windows, you need an external program. But Linux does it seamlessly.

Furthermore, if there's software that's not available on Linux, you have remote access to Windows machines via TSClient. So there's nothing that a Windows user can do that Linux user can't at my college.

"Like windows vista" isn't the same as "Windows vista". Purchasing useful commercial software makes sense, but I wouldn't install vista even for free, because there is no need to do that, and because I really don't like certain aspects of that OS.

I have several copies of windows (nlited to death, and only for games). All of them were free.

The main computer I use at home has openSUSE installed on it. I have two other computers that have windows vista ultimate(32-bit) installed on them for good reasons (I also have a laptop with xp and one that I put Slackware onto, but I don't use them).
Reasons why I have Windows vista computers in my apartment:
1. The university my fiancee and I attended had a volume license agreement with Microsoft that allowed student's and faculty to buy one copy of Windows Vista Ultimate for $15.
2. One of my vista machines is a Media Center PC and IMO Vista is much better at this than Linux (especially since I play blu-rays through it and have ATI tv wonder tuners in it). Also, power management works with no problems and the machine will even awake from sleep to record a scheduled program.
3. The other machine is my fiancee's computer. Let me just say that she and I both are better off with her on Windows. She is already familiar with it and the first six months of her on a new unfamiliar OS(Linux) would be hell for both of us .

I have to say that I haven't run into problems with Vista at all. The media is overstating Vista's problem's IMO. My fiancee even thinks it's a great OS. I do think it is quite expensive and perhaps that will force me to go down the trail of teaching the woman Linux, but I think it looks like Windows will be my primary OS for A/V type stuff for the time being.

This is not me endorsing Windows, I like and enjoy Linux much better than Windows, but I think for the specializations I listed above, Vista was the better choice.

Stupid question: How did you get them? (excluding piracy, and assuming these are licensed copies)

I bought XP Pro for my desktop, but I've deleted it. And my recently purchased laptop came with XP Pro pre-installed, but I don't know how long it's going to stay. I'm definitely not getting Vista.

There was a computer teacher who had a theory that M$ actually promotes piracy, I think he was right. The reason is that the people who will use it now pirated (due to lack of money ? it does cost a lot, plus you need lots of other software just to keep it alive) will have to use it later and pay because it's the only thing they know.

Piracy is another story and is out of question. In my area non-pirated "Windows" is still very rare sight (except some large commercial entities, because they can get into trouble due to piracy), so I'm curious how it could be possible to get windows installation CD/DVD for free and legally. The only thing I can think about is gift from someone. I also think that people who pirated it just will keep pirating future versions, avoiding purchase.