Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

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re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

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re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

betamod — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:16:42 GMT

Correction to last paragraph in the above post: Also, I would suspect that if ever MS Windows/Vista is dethroned as the #1 OS and software ecosystem, it will be by largely means of exploiting contradictions arising from your hypocritical dependence on the piracy you claim to abhor.

To clarify further, my point is that this contradiction is not only a corrupting force within the ecosystem, which costs everyone in the community, but also an opening that represents both a grave risk and a great opportunity for MS’s future and that of its competitors. For instance, what is going to lock people into MS’s ecosystem as office-like functionality and soon even games become more available through web based services? In this light, is the recent release of Safari for Windows the thin end of a wedge?

From my standpoint as a customer, I would like to feel that the value of my software does not stem merely from the fact that I will be able to participate in the ecosystem since that makes me feel trapped (i.e. locked in) and thus resentful of Microsoft. Rather, I would like to feel as if the greatest value in the software that I purchase from your company resides in genuine innovation both in functionality and UI design that continually improves my user experience. But unfortunately, I can’t say this. For instance, I eventually stopped using Word Perfect and Netscape in 2k, not because Word and IE were better but simply because these were more compatible with the ecosystem. I do therefore carry some resentment towards your company for that reason, and I would suspect that this is why you guys have that evil empire stigma in the popular culture. People like me often feel like we are getting a raw deal, and we want a way out, whether that way is to migrate to the Mac or Linux platforms. Perhaps it is not fair to blame you for outperforming your competition but the devil is in the details of “how” you are perceived to have done so. If people feel like they are being forced to use a product that is worse than the one they previously used then they will be less inclined to pay for it, whether that means finding an alternative or piracy.

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

betamod — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:37:38 GMT

Well, I certainly appreciate any attempt to protect the consumer from being ripped off, since as a consumer, I often feel at a disadvantage in the marketplace where my reasonable expectation of product performance is routinely violated, even by products from supposedly reputable and competent manufacturers, from General Motors to Microsoft itself.

Even so, I would like to take this opportunity point out to you that in some ways Microsoft's business model (whether you know it, or admit it, or not) is dependent on the continued proliferation of cheap or free versions of MS' software. Below, I will explain why I think this is so.

I own the MS software that I use because, and in as far as, I can afford to do so since there are moderate advantages to using legitimate copies. However, many people could not afford to own MS software if they had to buy all of it, and since it is easy to obtain pirated copies of MS products for free, it is common practice to do so. (I am talking about, for instance, people in the developing world, students and first adopters who generally try out and create a culture for way more software than they could possibly afford to buy.)

Meanwhile, collectively, the users of your products, the software, web services and proprietary data formats themselves, are often collectively referred to as an “ecosystem". The interdependence of this ecosystem assures the "lock-in" of consumers to products such as MS Office Suit and its proprietary formats as the price of participation in the wider economy and culture. But a large part of the installed MS software products within said ecosystem is prated software. Actually, while I have not done a formal survey, I would estimate that 50% or more of the total install base for your software, is pirated. Thus, the value of your paid for software is in part dependent on the interoperability it assures with the pirate install base. Were it not possible to pirate your software and thereby to obtain it for free, there would be strong motivation to switch to competing platforms.

Linux and Open Office will not overtake their MS counterparts, because while the former may be "Free" in the larger sense of the term, the latter is free in the only meaningful sense of the term for the vast majority of users who are not programmers and simply want software that will enable them to participate in the larger socio-economic ecosystem.

In contrast, most of the Mac users I know actually own most of the software they use, or at least they seem to own more of the software they use than do their PC user counterparts. (Though I also acknowledge that I am less confident in this assessment of Mac users than my assessment of PC users since I know comparatively fewer Mac users than PC users well enough to speak with equal certainty of the two groups.)

While I do not expect that anyone at your company will ever to admit it publicly, I think you know that what I am saying is generally true (fore if you do not, I think your shareholders should be worried), and I am not accusing MS of being hypocritical so much as I am calling on you to be more transparent about the contradiction arising from (a) your need to be paid for your software, and (b) your simultaneous dependence on the free distribution of your software via widespread piracy (whether for profit and/or not-for-profit). I ask this in the hope that by bringing this contradiction into the open, some more reasonable legal framework might be found with which to satisfy these two competing imperitives. Is it really in your interest to criminalize what is probably the majority of the very user base you depend on?

This hypocritical prohibition against what is called piracy is in fact giving rise to ever more sophisticated forms of organized piracy, similar to how prohibition against alcohol and Marijuana actually create organized crime by creating black market unregulated economies that on the one hand feed legitimate human desires and needs, while on the other hand generating capital that is then used to feed more malevolent socio-economic phenomena.

Also, I would suspect that if ever MS Windows/Vista is dethroned as the #1 OS and software ecosystem, it will be by largely means of exploiting contradictions prizing from your hypocritical dependence on the piracy you claim to abhor. However, I admit that this last bit is highly speculative on my part.

Yours truly,

betamod

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

gauravgulati81 — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:30:16 GMT

find some useful information at http://more-vista.blogspot.com

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

Good_Bytes — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:28:42 GMT

Thanks Nick!

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

newscientist2000 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:56:31 GMT

Thanks for the info evildictaitor, good to know.

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

adacosta — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:24:06 GMT

Wow, the counterfeiters are really pushing the limits. Its gone far beyond holograms now.

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

Nick White — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:51:26 GMT

Hey Good_Bytes: you should check out the How To Tell site for more information on how to spot fakes (granted, some are very difficult to discern, and a photo is rarely good enough to tell the difference in those cases): http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/.

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

The MAZZTer — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:51:43 GMT

Hmm it's a bit hard to compare the DVDs without being able to actually hold them up to the light and tilt them to see the holographic-ness...

But from this image alone it looks like it would fool anyone, if it's not a perfect replica. So much for the sophisticated holograms. :( But then again I didn't expect them to stop counterfeiters anyways.

Although it's a bit odd they don't figure out how to tweak the DVD install files so that WGA can't be installed or crashes or something... or maybe the counterfeiters who HAVEN'T been caught figured it out. Hmm.

WGA Wins

Noticias externas — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:29:07 GMT

Windows Genuine Advantage Wins Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history More than 1

re: Sting! The biggest software counterfeiting bust in history

evildictaitor — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:20:46 GMT

quote newscientist2000:

Hopefully Microsoft will send a thank you letter to those 1000+ end users who sent in these authentic looking but pirated discs.

endquote

Microsoft replaces disks that are illegal, but not obviously so with the geniune article, and charges the difference between the genuine cost and the amount you paid. This is lodged somewhere in the EULA of WGA I think.