Linuxiac wrote:
[...]
> Evidently China agrees, having bought only 244 boxes of Vista, to date.
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Opening sales of Windows Vista in China were much stronger than the 244
copies claimed earlier this week, according to a spokesman from
Microsoft. Though the company declined to provide an actual figure for
the number of copies sold during the new operating system's first weeks
on the market, Microsoft said that sales were "double" those of XP
during the same amount of time. The corrected number suggests that
Chinese sales were proportionate to worldwide sales results that
exceeded the XP launch of 2001.
"Recent speculation regarding sales data in China is inaccurate," the
Microsoft response said directly. "We're pleased with the positive
consumer response we've seen around the globe to the security and
usability enhancements in Windows Vista--and China is no exception."
An earlier report had alleged that abundant piracy in China had almost
completely eliminated legitimate sales of the OS, encouraging
individuals to buy copies for a fraction of the official price.
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Pirated Vista beats Microsoft to China's PCs
Kathleen E. McLaughlin, Chronicle Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
(01-31) 04:00 PDT Beijing -- At least a week before the rest of the
world got its first look at Microsoft Windows' new Vista operating
system, bootleg copies of the software were widely available here for
just a few dollars.
Yes, the pirated program would work, vendors assured a prospective
buyer. Yes, they said, it's really Vista, the highly anticipated release
available in the United States only Tuesday, the same one being
advertised at a subway stop up the road. Copies nestled in next to
Office 2007, another new release, and older programs were available at a
tiny fraction of their true retail prices.
The vendors' claims were true to some degree. The Chinese version of
Vista, priced by vendors from $1.30 to $4, depending on haggling,
appears to be the real deal.
The exact nature of the English-language version, which cost $7 in one
Beijing market, is less clear. One copy viewed this week was labeled in
its product information as the "Longhorn" beta, a testing version of
Vista released by Microsoft to selected users in August 2006. The final
versions of Vista, a pirated-software vendor promised, would be
available sometime next month.
According to Microsoft, Vista has been ready to go since last February,
and only beta testers who paid to belong to some of Microsoft's
developer networks had access to the beta. The Longhorn version on the
streets of Beijing is likely to be close to what hit U.S. shelves
Tuesday.
The availability of the new software in Beijing and other Chinese cities
even before its worldwide launch highlighted the challenges companies
like Microsoft face in this, the world's fastest-growing major economy
and a global hub of intellectual property rights theft. Even though
Microsoft invested heavily in anti-piracy features and negotiated a deal
to preinstall Vista on machines in China made by Lenovo, China's largest
computer manufacturer, pirated versions of the operating system can be
had easily, cheaply and quickly.
Sales lost due to software piracy in China were about $3.9 billion in
2005, according to the Business Software Alliance, an industry group
that tracks the illegal software trade.
Microsoft officials said built-in safeguards would disable parts of the
program on illegal copies. Some beta versions expire after a certain
time, Microsoft said, and other experts warned that pirated versions can
be full of spyware and other malicious programs. Even so, if most of the
pirated program works, there seems little incentive to do the right
thing and buy a licensed copy.
The company said social and legislative solutions to piracy are even
more crucial than technological fixes.
Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's business division, said in an
interview in San Francisco on Tuesday that the company has a
three-pronged strategy to fight piracy in developing countries: get the
country to pass intellectual property laws; get the country to enforce
the laws; and educate people about the importance of obeying the laws.
"My favorite anecdote was from Brazil," Raikes said. "There was a soap
opera that was the most-watched television show in Brazil. One character
on the show was a business executive who went to jail for software
piracy. (Soon afterward) we had a huge spike in sales."
China's software piracy problem is widespread and systemic. Factories in
the southern part of the country, though routinely subjected to police
raids, crank out millions upon millions of bootleg disks every year.
Older programs, like Windows 2003, are simply copied from authorized
users. In the case of Vista, the leaks may have come from beta testers,
but this is hard to track, industry groups say.
Last year, an estimated 86 percent of software installed on computers in
China was pirated, according to the Business Software Alliance. Though
staggering, that number is better than the 92 percent tallied in 2003,
said Victor Zhang, director of the alliance's Beijing office.
"China has achieved noticeable progress in reducing PC software piracy,
which indicates that the government's education, enforcement and policy
efforts are beginning to pay off," Zhang said.
Among other measures, the Chinese government has banned the sale of
"naked" computers, or those sold without pre-installed operating
systems.
Even so, immense work remains. As much as 70 percent of the software
installed on the Chinese government's own computers was illegally
copied, the software alliance estimates. Pirated software is not
relegated in China to back alleys and shady sidewalk peddlers. It's
boldly on sale at large computer markets and shops, often more easily
found than its legitimate counterparts. And with the price difference --
$4 compared with roughly $295 for the basic version in Chinese --
consumers, businesses and the government itself often opt for the cheap,
easy route.
The Chinese government says software piracy is a problem, but not nearly
as widespread as the Business Software Alliance or the U.S. government
claim. In a study released last year, the State Intellectual Property
Office estimated that 66 percent of software installed throughout China
was used or copied illegally.
Officials did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday but have
said in state-run media reports that the government is committed to
cracking down and routinely increases its own in-house software budgets
and inspections to root out piracy.
And the problem is not restricted to Chinese companies or its
government. Many multinational companies, including U.S. firms, are
reputed to have piracy problems in their China-based offices. Chinese
police often conduct raids on companies, both foreign and domestic, to
uncover software thieves, but the rate of usage slows only gradually.
James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China,
said his members are keenly aware of software piracy issues. The group,
he said, encourages all firms operating in China to use above-board
software and follow the law.
Zimmerman said the reality of intellectual property rights protection is
important for China, not just the foreign companies investing and doing
business here. The government is openly striving for a stronger
"knowledge-based" economy rather than its current heavy reliance on
manufacturing and export production.
"The development of China's innovation-based economy depends upon
effective IPR protection," Zimmerman said, referring to intellectual
property rights.
Zhang said the Business Software Alliance believes China needs to act on
several fronts to make a real difference in software piracy rates:
implementing a joint agreement with the United States to require
preloading of machines and legal software in government offices, better
enforcement and stricter criminal penalties to clarify that corporate
users are liable.
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regards,
alexander.
--
"Moglen also said that Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Vista
operating system will fail in the market place and charged that
Microsoft's Office software is ``dying.''"
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