Windows Genuine Advantage's newest setting: "you might be a pirate"
,----[ Quote ]
| Although the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool is
| "optional," Microsoft is in the process of pushing out the tool
| as a "critical" and thus automatic update (affectionately dubbed
| WGA Notifications 1.7 KB905474). The update has been known about
| for over a month, but users are just now seeing it show up as a
| critical update to Windows XP.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070226-8922.html
The actual news here is that fewer people will be locked out. They might be
just warned instead.
This comes after Ballmer said that Microsoft would squeeze harder to extract
profits from poor countries.
"Piracy reduction can be a source of Windows revenue growth"
,----[ Quote ]
| It's perfectly reasonable to expect people to save up for two months to
| buy Vista, Steve. Really. You'd be willing to spend $150,000 of your
| money on Vista Basic, wouldn't you? I'm sure all you need to do is
| tighten those screws, and the giant Chinese turnip will start
| squirting sweet, sweet blood to sustain you.
`----
http://wilshipley.com/blog/2007/02/piracy-reduction-can-be-source-of.html
Related:
Ballmer hints at tougher Vista antipiracy crackdown
,----[ Quote ]
| According to the Business Software Alliance, an antipiracy watchdog
| group for the software industry, counterfeits accounted for 86
| percent of the software sold in China, 72 percent in India, 64
| percent in Brazil and 83 percent in Russia. The figures are 2005
| estimates, the last year for which data is available.
|
| [...]
|
| It appears that Ballmer doesn't agree, for he hinted that Vista's
| antipiracy features might be tightened even more. "We [will]
| really ferret through how far we can dial it up, and what that
| means for customer experience and customer satisfaction," he said.
`----
http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;7680622;fp;16;fpid;1
Chinese attitude on buying Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| I've mentioned above,the price of Vista is higher than RMB2000 (about
| USD257) may not shake users in developed countries, but do you know it
| is equal to the average monthly salary in China's economic center
| Shanghai!So please take this fact into consideration before
| criticize our behavior of buying pirate softwares.
|
| recent survey of public opinion from China's portal NetEase shows that 81%
| of netizens think Microsoft is forcing them to use pirate Vista...
`----
http://ya.iyee.cn/2007/02/chinese-attitude-on-buying-vista.html
Why Piracy Hurts Open Source
,----[ Quote ]
| "...John looks at this from a different direction. He shows you why
| software piracy hurts Open Source software--the free stuff you are using."
`----
http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000266
Microsoft seals its Windows and opens the door to Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| Now comes the really interesting question. With Vista's activation
| technology, Microsoft has the power to stamp out piracy everywhere. But
| will it choose to do so everywhere? After all, if folks in China or
| Thailand or Ethiopia have to pay for Vista, they won't be able to run
| it because they won't be able to afford the licence fee. In which case
| they may finally wake up to the attractions of free software such as
| Linux - and it's easy to imagine what that will do to Microsoft's
| plans for world domination.
|
| It's a delicious prospect: Microsoft impaling itself on the horns
| of a dilemma it has created for itself. Roll on Thursday.
`----
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1956941,00.html
|
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