Microsoft: No Quick Fix to Software Piracy
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer and one of the two successors
| of Bill Gates along with Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect, revealed his
| perspective over the worldwide anti-piracy efforts, with a special focus on
| developing markets. Mundie expects by no means a quick fix to the piracy
| problem and made it clear that he expects Microsoft to be in the trenches for
| decades to come.
`----
http://atech4.blogspot.com/2007/09/microsoft-no-quick-fix-to-software.html
When they say "no quick fix", they talk about a /financial/ fix (for
Microsoft). They could easily end piracy if they wanted to. But they would
rather whine about those "filthy pirates" while at the same time say "come on,
spread the Vista infection and pay for it only if you can."
Related:
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
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
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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