"It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when
there's piracy than when there's not."
-->Bill Gates
11 in China Sentenced for Software Piracy
,----[ Quote ]
| A court in Shenzhen, China, sentenced 11 members of a
| software counterfeiting operation Wednesday, with the
| defendants getting between one and a half and six and half
| years in prison, according to Microsoft.
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft applauded the PSB and FBI for their work in the
| case. "Software counterfeiting is a global, illegal
| business without borders," David Finn, associate general
| counsel focused on piracy at Microsoft, said in a
| statement. "Criminals may be on the other side of the globe
| and may not even speak the same language, but they prey
| upon customers and partners all over the world. This case
| is a testament to the importance of Microsoft's commitment
| to close collaboration with government bodies and local law
| enforcement agencies around the world to bring these
| criminals to justice, wherever they may be."
|
| PSB raids in July 2007 lead to arrests and the convictions.
| The PSB, with tips from Microsoft and the FBI's Los Angeles
| bureau, found about 55,000 copies of counterfeit software
| and traced them back to the same syndicate, based in the
| province of Guangdong.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/156224/11_in_china_sentenced_for_software_piracy.html?tk=rss_news
“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure
out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”
--Bill Gates
Microsoft is dying. It gradually runs out of cash and Windows
margins are close to 0. So it's squeezing for bucks out in
China... and hopes that software patents will do something.
Microsoft Uses WGA To Obtain Record Jail Sentences
,----[ Quote ]
| "According to Microsoft, 'No information is collected
| during the [Genuine Advantage Program] validation process
| that can be used to identify or contact a user.' That's
| little comfort to the software counterfeiters who were just
| handed jail sentences ranging from 1.5-6.5 years by the
| Futian People's Court in China, especially since Microsoft
| contends that much of the estimated $2B in bogus software
| was detected by its Windows Genuine Advantage
| program. 'Software piracy negatively impacts local economic
| growth,' explained Microsoft VP Fengming Liu in a
| celebratory New Year's Eve press release. But then again,
| so does transferring $16B of assets and $9B in annual
| profit to an Irish tax haven, doesn't it?"
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/01/1251254
Recent:
£49.99 Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition, 3
Users
http://www.itproportal.com/articles/2008/09/21/4999-microsoft-office-2007-home-and-student-edition-3-users/
Microsoft cuts prices in China to fight piracy
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSPEK1362420080923
Microsoft aims to undercut Chinese pirates
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba625eb2-898c-11dd-8371-0000779fd18c.html
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