Microsoft Piracy Check Angers Privacy Advocates

Will.Spencer · 08-07-2006, 03:20 PM

Microsoft Piracy Check Angers Privacy Advocates
Monday , August 07, 2006

When Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said it planned to begin checking for pirated copies of its Windows operating system using the method it set up to send people security fixes, even some of the company's traditional critics could sympathize.

After all, although Microsoft rakes in billions, piracy of its flagship products remains a huge, costly problem, particularly in developing countries such as China and Russia. The Business Software Alliance estimates that 35 percent of software installed on PCs worldwide is pirated.

Nevertheless, 18 months after announcing the Windows Genuine Advantage piracy check, Microsoft faces controversy and backlash, including two lawsuits. Some say the company clumsily handled several elements of the program, including a key privacy issue.

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dhruvd · 08-07-2006, 09:11 PM

Yeah ... in developing countries like China, Russia & India too .

Still here in India it is much lesser ( Actually reducing now ) as compared to China and Russia because Microsoft has launched many offers with windows operating systems and also the price is pretty cheap here.( Coz many special offers with windows cd

)

Also Xbox 360 Piracy is spreading very fast in China.
Xbox 360 titles such as Hitman: Blood Money for around 30 Chinese yuan ($3.50)
Now that is pretty cheap.... ! and not good for the company !

BILZ · 08-08-2006, 11:24 PM

I bet they made a ton of extra money from people who had pirated versions and didnt know - so they went ahead and purchased their "genuine validation"

darviria · 08-14-2006, 09:39 AM

There's one way of avoiding a lot of piracy.....make decent software worth paying for, especially at those prices

Will.Spencer · 08-14-2006, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darviria

There's one way of avoiding a lot of piracy.....make decent software worth paying for, especially at those prices

Nah... some people won't pay no matter what. Why should they, if they can get the same software for free? :rolleyes:

darviria · 08-15-2006, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Will.Spencer

Nah... some people won't pay no matter what. Why should they, if they can get the same software for free? :rolleyes:

Yeah but compare Windows XP with something like SUSE 10, with SUSE you get the OS plus a lot of software, 5 cds in total, manuals, support and all of that all for about £40 I think? I'm sure it was about that when I last looked.

With Windows XP you get 1 cd with the OS and not much else for something like £200, they don't even provide an office suite, you have to pay similar prices for that seperatly.

I've never actually bought either and haven't used the support, but from my experience with other companies and their online support and help files, the MS support is probably terrible which isn't good for beginner users, it could also be to do with the fact that they're a huge company, I generally find the support is worse the larger the company is, large companies only care about money rather than what they provide for that money.

MS should follow how the Linux distros usually work, they should provide XP Home for free with no support and manuals and charge for XP Pro with support....of course it will never happen.

Will.Spencer · 08-15-2006, 06:12 PM

Windows XP comes with two support calls. Every call after than is $35/each.

In short, "Microsoft support" is an oxymoron.

I found enormous bugs in Microsoft SNMP agent. It took me weeks with the paid support team to get them to understand and accept the bugs. Then, they told me "Yes, this is completely broken and it won't be fixed in NT5." At the time, "NT5" was over a year away from being released. Microsoft refunded the cost of the "support call" and I advised my client to buy SNMP agents from another vendor.

darviria · 08-16-2006, 07:17 AM

Thats bad, I didn't know that. Does the telephone call also cost a lot per minute?

Will.Spencer · 08-16-2006, 08:46 AM

Luckily, it's a toll-free number.

In the U.S., the cost of long-distance telecommunications has fallen until it's almost neglibigle.

We still pay "traditional rates" for local loop and we currently pay far too much (IMHO) for mobile telephony.

Fry · 08-19-2006, 12:54 AM

I never knew you get support calls with XP, never used them myself.
I can imagine the hoopla you'd go through to firstly get someone on the line, then be able to explain your problem to them.. Im sure most of their support is probably Indian based...

Will.Spencer · 08-19-2006, 04:49 AM

I know that a few years ago that a lot of it was in Seattle, but it may have been offshored by now.

Fry · 08-20-2006, 12:27 AM

Im sure some of their support is offshore.. they'd have a huge team in Seattle otherwise.

Will.Spencer · 08-20-2006, 05:30 AM

Microsoft Support is so bad, I'm not sure they need a lot of people. :lol: