Appeal failed:
Court Rejects Microsoft, Best Buy Appeal
,----[ Quote ]
| The Supreme Court Monday rejected an appeal by Microsoft Corp. and a unit of
| Best Buy Co. Inc. to dismiss a lawsuit alleging violation of racketeering
| laws through fraudulently signing up customers for Microsoft's online
| service.
|
| The companies asked the justices to overturn a May ruling by the San
| Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the civil suit
| could proceed. The Supreme Court is letting that ruling stand, which means
| the class-action lawsuit involving thousands of consumers with complaints
| against the companies will be litigated in federal district court.
`----
http://redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=9147
Class action on its way:
Is Microsoft’s Windows “Genuine Advantage” program installed on your computer?
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft’s “Genuine Advantage” program is now being challenged by a number
| of Windows XP users in Federal court. If you are interested in helping in
| this effort to hold Microsoft accountable for using your computer to help
| Microsoft chase down software pirates without asking for your permission,
| contact us.
`----
http://www.classactionconnect.com/?q=node/715
Microsoft still pretends that piracy hurt/s it.
Microsoft crackdown snares illegal traders
,----[ Quote ]
| Since the launch of Keep IT Real last year, Microsoft has carried out
| undercover investigations, surveillance, forensic testing and joint raids
| with the police and Trading Standards.
`----
http://www.vnunet.com/crn/news/2201137/microsoft-crackdown-snares-3559359
Court Continues Microsoft Antitrust Case
,----[ Quote ]
| Two antitrust claims brought against Microsoft Corp. by Novell Inc. can
| proceed, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
|
| A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a decision by U.S.
| District Judge J. Frederick Motz of Baltimore dismissing four of Novell's six
| claims but keeping the other two alive.
|
| Novell alleges Microsoft used its monopoly power to limit sales of
| WordPerfect, a word-processing program, and Quattro Pro, a spreadsheet
| program.
`----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501262.html
Related:
Lawyer Altered Docs in Best Buy Case
,----[ Quote ]
| The lawsuit, filed in 2003, accuses Best Buy of signing up at least
| 100,000 customers for trial subscriptions to Microsoft Corp.'s MSN
| Internet service from 1999 to 2003, in many cases without their
| knowledge. Once the trial period ended, the customers began
| incurring credit card charges they had not approved.
|
| Microsoft, which paid Best Buy for each customer it signed up, is
| accused of allowing Best Buy's practice to continue even after
| receiving complaints.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070605/best_buy_lawsuit.html?.v=5
Court: Microsoft, Best Buy must stand trial for racketeering
,----[ Quote ]
| That was all done without his knowledge or agreement, he
| says.
|
| A similar incident happened to the buyer of a cell phone at a
| Reno Best Buy store, the case says. Microsoft withdrew monthly
| MSN payments from her debit card account for 17 months withouth
| er knowledge or permission, the allegations say.
`----
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=5059
Coincidence? WGA Failures Followed Windows Update 381
,----[ Quote ]
| One plausible scenario: Windows PCs running Windows Update version
| 7.0.6000.374 (or earlier) failed to activate/validate against a WGA service
| updated for version 7.0.6000.381. Microsoft had attributed the WGA failure to
| early release of a system update, which could fit this scenario. I haven't
| set up a new Vista PC recently. But if I rightly remember, activation is a
| process that occurs before updating.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/coincidence_wga_failures_followed_windows_update_381.html
.----[ Quote ]
| If Microsoft ever wanted to get caught with their pants down, they
| succeeded. For most people, the above doesn't make a whole lot of
| sense past the "you might have a virus" part. VerifyMyPC requires a
| little extra knowledge about computer systems when dealing with the
| details. Google is your friend in these cases. Running searches for
| 'wups.dll' and 'wups2.dll' turns up something about Automatic
| Updates. In particular, those DLLs provide Automatic Update
| functionality for Windows.
|
| In other words, the Automatic Updates utility automatically updated
| itself. Now this might not seem like a big deal but I have
| automatic updates set to manual (both download and installation
| have to be approved by me) and not the usual 'automatic' setting
| found on most user PCs. In other words, Windows updated itself
| without my express permission. Such behavior is right in line with
| spyware-like activity.
`----
http://cubicspot.blogspot.com/2007/08/windows-update-updating-without.html
Windows Is Free - The impact of pirated software on free software
,----[ Quote ]
| In fact, a free copy of Windows might even be freer than free. What I mean by
| that is, unlike most tangible consumer goods, pirated software is often
| easier to obtain and set up than making a legitimate purchase.
`----
http://tlug.jp/articles/Windows_Is_Free
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
Why the illegal market determines the success of your software
,----[ Quote ]
| Vista however was marketed as being harder, better, faster, stronger
| and more importantly - nigh uncrackable. Which proved a problem
| because it made uptake noticably slower than that for XP. However,
| things might have changed now because some awfully clever people
| managed to crack Vista (apparently). This might have caused a
| shift in demographics because users are now potentially able to
| sample the "delights" of Vista without paying massively
| inflated prices.
`----
http://www.seopher.com/articles/why_the_illegal_market_determines_the_success_of_your_software
Microsoft Happy with the Evolution of Windows Vista Piracy
,----[ Quote ]
| But the truth is that Microsoft is happy with the way Windows Vista
| piracy is evolving. Is there a catch to this? No. The fact of the
| matter is that Windows Vista has delivered a heavy blow to
| software counterfeiters. The reason for this is the new Windows
| Genuine Advantage security mechanism integrated into the
| operating system.
|
| You may not notice this on the surface. On the surface, the
| Internet is crawling with Windows Vista cracks, hacks and
| workarounds. On the surface, every Windows Vista edition has
| been cracked and is available for download via peer-to-peer
| networks. But this is not the true extent of Windows Vista piracy.
`----
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Happy-with-the-Evolution-of-Windows-Vista-Piracy-50577.shtml
Governments Must Reject Gates' $3 Bid to Addict Next Billion PC Users
,----[ Quote ]
| "Microsoft's strategy of getting developing nations hooked on its
| software was clearly outlined by Bill Gates almost a decade ago," said
| Con Zymaris, CEO of long-standing open source firm Cybersource.
|
| Specifically, Bill Gates, citing China as an example, said:
|
| "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but
| people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though.
| As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours.
| They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to
| collect sometime in the next decade."[1]
`----
http://www.cybersource.com.au/press/gates_set_to_addict_next_billion.html
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
How Piracy Opens Doors for Windows
,----[ Article's summary ]
| Bill Gates may not be entirely dismayed by software thieves. They
| seed the world market and make Microsoft a standard.
`----
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-micropiracy9apr09,0,414067.story?track=tottext
Why piracy kills Open Source
,----[ Quote ]
| Because for them, the price is the same.
|
| So, please, Microsoft, defend your own products, and don't allow users to
| use pirated versions. You'll be doing the best for the Open Source
| products.
`----
http://youmaybeinterrupting.com/desktop.php?view&postid=12&a=apps%2FBlog%3B%3B
Piracy of software, and why it helps software companies
,----[ Quote ]
| I recall something that Bill Gates said about the issue of piracy
| of Windows 98 a few years back. The piracy situation was pretty
| bad in South-East Asia (and the rest of the world) and he did
| not seem to mind. I can't remember the exact quote, but it was
| something to the effect of "I don't mind them using my software
| for free as long as they are using it. I understand they cannot
| afford the price, especially in this part of the world."
`----
http://blog.jeffkee.com/2007/02/14/piracy-of-software-and-why-it-helps-software-companies/
Average Indian person just gets a copy of pirated Windows instead of a free
and legal copy of Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| One of Linux's compelling features is the cost; Linux is free.
| However, as far as the average Indian person is concerned, there
| is no difference in cost between Linux and Windows, since he gets
| a copy of pirated Windows instead of an authorized and legal
| copy of Windows anyway..
`----
http://www.webpublishingforum.com/about965.html
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
Original Message----
From: Robert (Robbie) Bach
Sent: Friday, January 17, 1997 8:50 AM
To: Bill Gates
Subject: FW: Netscape: and Corel to Provide Integrated Software
Optimized for Network-Centric Environment
Per our discussion in the hotel room.., this press release actually says
they are "jointly developing WordPerfect 8" and integrating Communicator
into that. Combine that with the Corel Java work and I think this does
make Netscape a key competitor ....
Robbie
--Original Message---
From: Library News Service
---Original Message---
From: Bill Gates
Sent: Friday, January 17, 1997 12:56 PM
To: Robert (Robbie) Bach
Cc: Richard Fade; Jon E)eVaan; Brad Silverberg
Subject: RE: Netscape: and Corel to Provide Integrated Software
Optimized for Network-Centric Environment
I guess the Groupwise relationship with Novell was structured so that
Corel could just ignore it since this attacks that directly. I thought
Corel had committed a bunch of royalties for Groupwise and loyalty to
Novell. We should have Novell analysts probe this issue.
I do wonder how the pricing between the 2 companies work since they both
want to make revenue on these products. We should get Netscape and Corel
analysts to probe this issue.
We do need to get our people to evaluate these JAVA products again. I
look forward to seeing what the analysis comes up with.
With Netscape and Corel working together its nice that we organized
ourselves so the group attacking Netscape and the group attacking Corel
are under common leadership! I agree their relationship could get
stronger over time with Netscape buying Corel. It would be complex but
if they pulled it off it would strengthen them.
--Original Message----
From: Robert (Robbie) Bach
Sent: Monday, January 20, 1997 4:50 PM
To: Bill Gates
Cc: Richard Fade: Jon DeVaan; Brad Silverberg; Steven Sinofsky; Michael
Hebert; Michael Graft; Brad Chase
Subject: RE: Netscape: and Corel to Provide Integrated Software
Optimized for Network-Centric Environment
You mentioned this in the MYR today...we are following up and calling
analysts to get their info on the Netscape/Corel relationship. ..
MikeHeb will forward as soon as we have it. SteveSi is also looking at
the latest Corel Java apps they posted.
Thanks
Robbie
From: Steven Sinofsky
Sent: Monday, January 20, 1997 5:24 PM
To: Bill Gates
Subject: FW: Netscape: and Corel to Provide Integrated Software
Optimized for Network-Centric Environment
I sent this to aaron:
it is also http://officeweb/publicl/javaaoffice
http://edge-op.org/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/2000/PX02629.pdf
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