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Microsoft Calls Today Global Anti-Piracy Day
Posted by
timothy
on Tue Oct 21, 2008 09:40 AM
from the pirates-live-for-live-cd-distros dept.
from the pirates-live-for-live-cd-distros dept.
arcticstoat points out an article at Custom PC, according to which: "Microsoft has announced that today is Global Anti-Piracy Day. Launching several global initiatives, the aim is to raise awareness of the damage to software innovation that Microsoft says is caused by piracy. ... As well as educating people about piracy, Microsoft has also initiated a huge list of legal proceedings that it's taking out against pirates. Microsoft isn't messing about when it says 'global' either. The list of 49 countries that Microsoft is targeting spans six continents, and ranges from the UK and the US all the way through to Chile, Egypt, Kuwait, Indonesia and China." Interestingly enough, unauthorized copies of Vista might not be harming the company all that much: reader twitter was among several to contribute links to a related story at Computer World which highlights Microsoft attorney Bonnie MacNaughton's acknowledgement that pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista and Office 2003 over 2007.
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Minor correction... (Score:4, Funny)
Fixed that for you...
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Insightful)
Their newest product line is so sucky that no one wants to pirate it.
Now that's an innovative strategy!
Parent
Even pirates don't want Vista (Score:5, Insightful)
You know you have problems when even pirates don't want your software!
Parent
Re:Even pirates don't want Vista (Score:5, Funny)
You've got that wrong.
Clearly what's happening is that they made the DRM so good that it's reducing piracy. Right?
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Insightful)
2007 isn't that bad. The effing "x" formats are a P.I.T.A but as per usual, the next Office version is a decent incremental upgrade, which will, in due course, be adopted by the business community at large.
If they followed the same sort of incremental, professional design philosophy with Windows, they wouldn't spend so much time having their user base frothing in hatred and rage.
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:4, Funny)
I'm still using Office 97. I'm just a little bit behind in the times. (Or too cheap to lay-down $200 on a pointless upgrade.)
>>>Microsoft Calls Today Global Anti-Piracy Day
Ironically, even as I read this article, I am downloading Stargate Atlantis season 4. What I've seen so far (401-410) was crap, so I'm glad I tried it before wasting money on the stupid DVD. I guess I'm not really feeling the "spirit" of this day.
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, hopefully they are going to replace Paint with Paint.Net. That alone would be a huge step in the right direction.
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Interesting)
Would this be a good place to mention that it took me at least ten minutes to figure out what they did with the File menu so that I could convert an OOXML document someone sent me into a different file format?
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:4, Funny)
It took me a few minutes to get used to a mouse back in the 80s, too; now that I know how to use one, it's intuitive.
On the internet, nobody know that you are a kitten.
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with the ribbon is that it assumes that menus and toolbars are not a quick and easy way of finding what you want.
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Interesting)
As in I work in IT and it took me 10 minutes to find the Save As option the first time I used the beribboned Office ...
I use OpenOffice because I can find things on the Menus ....
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Insightful)
The story behind the ribbon:
After each version of Office ships, Microsoft asks a selection of users which features they would like to see in the next version of Office. When they did this after Office 2000, a large percentage of the features users suggested were already-implemented. When they did this for Office 2003, even more already-implemented features were suggested. The conclusion was that Office isn't lacking features, but the UI is so arcane that nobody could find which features it had, or how to use them.
That's the problem the Ribbon is intended to solve. In actuality, it removed a few features from Office (dealing with custom macro toolbars, IIRC.) I think that it's definitely a move in the right direction. It might not be right for every application, but for programs like Word and Excel that:
1) Are used by myriads of untrained people
2) Have craploads of features
I think it's the right move. For something like Photoshop, point 1 doesn't apply, and for something like Notepad point 2 doesn't apply, so it's not right for every application.
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:4, Interesting)
Once you get over the fact that a few things are in different places
That's one of my biggest gripes about Microsoft! Why in the hell do they DO that??? How stupid do they think we are?
Pretty stupid, I guess. They take the same damned program, move shit around, rename other shit, add fluff and eye candy and then expect us to buy the sam load of dingo kidneys all over again and...
Hell, I guess we ARE that stupid. I mean, I have XP on my box.
We have Offoce 2000 at work. Does Office 2007 do anything Office 2003 doesn't? Or even anything Office 2000 doesn't? What makes it worth the extra Five hundred dollars per license????
Could this be contributing to our global economic meltdown?
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, the irony.
Parent
Re:Minor correction... (Score:4, Funny)
What irony? This person is clearly a poster child for Office 2007 being easy to use.
Parent
If it weren't for piracy (Score:5, Funny)
If it weren't for piracy, there'd be a sizable amount of people that would never even try Vista.
Re:If it weren't for piracy (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:If it weren't for piracy (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, if it weren't for piracy, Microsoft would never have dominated the market in the first place. People buy at work what they have used at home. I can't justify paying $500+ for software I use only when re-writing a resume every few years or so.
Parent
Re:If it weren't for piracy (Score:5, Funny)
I find it funny that Microsoft feel they have to educate people about piracy. I'm already well aware of the many benefits thank you, Microsoft.
Parent
Re:If it weren't for piracy (Score:5, Funny)
I find it funny that Microsoft feel they have to educate people about piracy. I'm already well aware of the many benefits thank you, Microsoft.
Maybe this Microsoft's way of fighting global warming? By educating more pirates, we insure a healthy planet for our children's children.
Parent
RRRRrraaaaa (Score:5, Funny)
Does that make it "Talk Like an Anti-Pirate Day?"
Re:RRRRrraaaaa (Score:4, Funny)
!!!!rrrray
Parent
Bill Gate's Pirate Name (Score:5, Funny)
Putting "Bill Gates" in the name field here [gangstaname.com] returns "Smugglin' Hubert Cutler" as the result, appropriately enough... :) Even better, though, "Steve Ballmer" becomes "Sea Monkey Baird"!
;)
Sea Monkey! lol
Hey! Is that a flying chai.. OOF...
Parent
Re:RRRRrraaaaa (Score:5, Funny)
If you knew who he was, he wouldn't be much of a ninja.
Parent
For once I agree with MS (Score:5, Insightful)
Pirates seize Indian vessel with 13 crew members off Somalia [hindustantimes.com]
So I agree, piracy is a terrible problem. Our hearts go out to the families of the missing sailors.
However, I would think that Microsoft would be more concerned with copyright infringement that piracy. Are they planning an anti-copyright infringement day? September 19th [wikipedia.org] might be appropriate.
Re:For once I agree with MS (Score:4, Insightful)
Damn you. You beat me to it [slashdot.org]!
To be serious for a moment, does anyone else feel that Microsoft's crusade on software piracy is simply insensitive in the recent wake of high seas piracy? A lot of good men and women are out there getting killed just so companies like Microsoft can deliver their product around the world. Rather than displaying their global conscience and supporting the cause of defeating real piracy, they're worried about a bunch of 12 year olds who harmlessly steal software for kicks! Meanwhile, the vast majority of consumers who use Windows have actually paid for Windows. Repeatedly.
But that's not good enough for Microsoft, is it? They want to squeeze blood from a stone. Get every last nickel out of those horrible people who miscounted their licenses by one, or the people who load Linux/BSD/Solaris/Plan9 on their machines. (Because, obviously, anyone using Linux is ACTUALLY pirating Windows!)
You know what? I can't bring myself to care, Microsoft. In fact, I hope your company BURNS for those practices.
Parent
Re:For once I agree with MS (Score:4, Funny)
I think you got it wrong. They're talking about the idea of privateering. They're opposed to hiring pirates as mercenaries to fight other countries by proxy. I, for one, am glad to see Microsoft take a stand on this serious issue! In fact, I'm going to go give out duplicated copies of Windows XP to all my friends to show my support!
Parent
and... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:and... (Score:5, Funny)
Anti-anti-piracy-day-day
That'll teach-em
Parent
Well, I'm glad to see Microsoft... (Score:5, Interesting)
...invest heavily in warships to help protect our shipping lanes. Nothing could be a better use of their money than helping stop the violence inherent in piracy on the high-seas. Already, many American warships are in stand-off confrontations with merchies taken over by pirates. I--
Sorry, what? This is about software? How Microsoft is concerned about companies who are missing one or two licenses out of 5,000 or 12 year old kids bragging that they got XP off of I13|<p1R4Cy.com? Pfff. In that case, screw 'em.
Working so far (for me). (Score:5, Funny)
I pledge I will not pirate anything... today
Re:Working so far (for me). (Score:5, Funny)
I pledge to pirate 3 times as much, to make up for you slackers.
Parent
sweet (Score:5, Funny)
Re:sweet (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, I hear the '30s are coming back into fashion. There's a buzz on Wall Street.
Parent
Fighting software piracy? Excellent idea! (Score:5, Funny)
Prevent Windows piracy: Use Linux instead!
Excellent initiative Microsoft! (Score:4, Interesting)
And I'd like to remind everyone that the easiest way to combat piracy is by using open source software instead of Microsoft/Apple products whenever possible.
It's just like pirating; freedom minus the eye patch.
Re:Open source games instead of Xbox? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Really Sad (Score:4, Insightful)
pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista and Office 2003 over 2007
Its really sad when even Pirates don't like your crap. That's like making a movie which even the pirates don't pirate.
Think about it, people who can get it for free, don't want it, even as it is free. This is not boding well for Microsoft.
Jumping on the Bandwagon (Score:5, Funny)
After the success of last month's "Talk Like A Pirate Day", this is just Microsoft just trying to cash in on the whole pirate thing.
Parents can't be expected to shell out for every single pirate related holiday. Enough is enough.
Anyway, don't Microsoft already have April 1st.
I pledge... (Score:5, Funny)
...that I will not pirate Vista. Ever.
FTFAFY (Score:4, Funny)
Should read:
Damage to software innovation caused by Microsoft. (Score:5, Insightful)
> raise awareness of the damage to software innovation that Microsoft says is caused by piracy.
Which fades into insignificance when compared to the damage to software innovation caused by Microsoft !
Only one day? (Score:5, Funny)
In contrast, the rest of the world celebrates the remaining 364 piracy days.
Microsoft calls Global Anti-Piracy Day (Score:4, Funny)
REDMOND, Indian Ocean, Monday - Microsoft has announced that today is "Global Anti-Piracy Day," [today.com] with the aim to raise awareness of the damage to software innovation caused by robbery and murder on the high seas.
"Robbery, rape and brutal murder on the high seas is just like people copying that floppy," sobbed billionaire Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "You wouldn't steal a patented software process, why would you steal a cargo ship?"
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has made these the most dangerous waters for software development in the world. The pirates use hacked zombie PCs, sometimes impounding codebases and programming staff at the point of their Heckler & Koch MP3s and demanding warez before they are released.
A famous attack late last year against one luxury system was foiled when the crew scared the pirates off with the Righteous Mathematical Stentor, an ear-splitting acoustic device developed in Massachusetts as a "non-lethal" free software advocacy weapon.
Somali clan leaders have agreed to end over two decades of Unix wars in the country and have made attempts to address the piracy problem. But the tremendous lawlessness off the long eastern Somali coastline reflects the difficulty of controlling the flow of information on the Internet.
In one breakthrough, pirate chiefs have resolved that they will never pirate Windows Vista or Office 2007. "Not even with your dick."
Re:Can they do that? (Score:5, Funny)
- "Think of the children"-day,
- "Bad car analogy"-day,
- "Robotic overlord"-day,
- "Natalie Portman"-day,
- "In Soviet russia"-day,
- "Insensitive clod"-day,
- "Goatse"-day,
etc...
The fact that nobody'll listen to you will just make you feel like MS today. But if they don't care - why should you?
Parent
Re:Is it September 19th? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent