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Re: Microsoft piracy check draws complaints

  • Subject: Re: Microsoft piracy check draws complaints
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:02:35 +0100
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: schestowitz.com / ISBE, Manchester University / ITS
  • References: <1154930317.465566.65870@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> <Xns9824A28A17A2Fhpt@213.149.105.26>
  • Reply-to: newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • User-agent: KNode/0.7.2
__/ [ High Plains Thumper ] on Friday 18 August 2006 07:58 \__

> nessuno wrote:
> 
>> Quote:
>> -----------
>> "To use the security mechanism to install marketing
>> software that is designed to increase Microsoft's revenue
>> but actually interferes with some people's use of their PCs
>> is a real breach of faith with customers," said Brian
>> Livingston, editor of Windows Secrets, a newsletter and Web
>> site that offers tips for using Microsoft software.
>> 
>> He thinks the episode will have a long-term, negative
>> effect on how well people regard the software maker.
>> 
>> "The trust has been broken," he said.
>> --------------
>> End quote
>> 
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060806/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_s_
>> piracy_check
> 
> I think the trust was broken before that, but this act has
> helped to seal the coffin.  It baffles me with the excesses
> Microsoft goes to.
> 
> Some time ago an OCR package came with my Microtek scanner.
> It was a Windows 95 version, but I continued using it for
> years after.  The company would still give me the code to
> enable it with a call, I was the registered user.  They never
> hassled me.  I could have a change in mind, if they told me
> that it was obsolete, no longer supported and I was required
> to buy their latest, but they didn't.  The software didn't
> call home and their tech support staff built my trust.
> 
> While browsing, I stumbled on this link:
> 
> http://www.slate.com/id/2115921/
> 
> Visiting the Pirate's LairWhere to buy fake DVDs in Shanghai?
> Try a fake restaurant. By Henry Blodget Posted Friday, April
> 1, 2005, at 7:24 AM ET
> 
>> This, of course, reveals one of the two fallacies in the
>> media industry's assertion that file-sharing and DVD piracy
>> are the same as "stealing": Some of the supposed damages
>> from "lost sales" would never have been sales in the first
>> place. The other fallacy is that the "theft" of digital
>> property is the same as the theft of physical
>> property?which it isn't. When someone steals a physical
>> product?a car, say, or a DVD from the shelves of
>> Blockbuster?the owner has lost more than a potential sale;
>> he or she has lost inventory. When someone buys a copy of a
>> digital product, however, for which the owner of the
>> copyright has paid nothing, the owner has lost only a
>> potential sale. This doesn't make file-sharing or DVD
>> piracy OK?there must be some way for producers and
>> packagers to get paid?but it does explain, in part, why
>> millions of people who would never shoplift are so eager to
>> collect pirated DVDs.
> 
> I found the point made regarding DRM interesting.  Basically,
> the issue is loss of potential sales.  People buy less if they
> have to buy legally, so those pirated copies do not represent
> actual sales.
> 
> I think that the Government going after pirated copies is
> good, because there is always an alternative and this helps to
> drive people to that alternative.
> 
> FLOSS has its place.  Perhaps this is another reason why Linux
> is taking off in China.

Judging by what I see (e.g. the following that I came across this morning -
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060816/1914235.shtml ), I would not be
surprised if the Chinese government forced all its citizens to use a
customised version of Linux. Linux-friendly machines are already a must in
that country and I am reluctant to believe that freedom is the top priority
there. Also bear in mind that back door that are open to America's
intelligence do not make the Chinese government too happy. I can't recall
how many governmental machines it recently converted to Linux, but it was a
large heap of them. It looked like an XP copycat.

Best wishes,

Roy

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