Comments on: Microsoft battles piracy with free software

Company lays out booty for nonpirates who prove their Windows software is the real thing.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

ok what next

what's next from microsoft.....a tool to check if the user is stupid?... hmm or how about a tool that checks if the user is running microsoft products on a linux machine.....hmmm i got a good tool one that detects microsoft and installs a virus...lol my bad microsoft is a virus :)

install linux
never have to reboot for a update fix

[201293546946733175101343322673]

so anyone with a pirated copy of windows....

...could get a pirated copy of this too. I don't see the logic here.

[Steven N]

Exactly ...

...don't know what they are trying to prove here.

You know they are trying to do the same thing when you try to download an update manually?

......

So, if you have a "genuine" piece of garbage (Windows), you get another piece of garbage from Microsoft? Isn't it enough that poor people have Windows in their systems? Why does Microsoft want to pollute their computers even more????

Microsoft, save people headaches and put away that junk you want to give away! :-)


...a happy Mac user, ex-Windows user.

What a joke. That genuine verify utility rarely works.

Surely Microsoft (and News.com readers) know that there publicly exists a piece of software that will generate a "Genuine" installation key for Windows XP volume license edition (no activation required), that, when tested with Microsoft's online verification tool, comes back as being genuine. I mean, come on.

[David Arbogast]

So? Big Deal. It's just incentive.

So hackers can get around a system in place. What's new? Microsoft is choosing NOT to come down with an Iron fist, and still they catch flack.

This program encourages people to care about whether their system is legally licensed or not. When a consumer purchases a new PC, they now have a reason to care whether the software is legally licensed or not. By offering incentive, Microsoft is hoping to influence consumers. No, the system is not a final answer to piracy, and it was not meant to be. It is meant to improve the ratio of licensed to unlicensed copies of Windows over time, and it will likely be beneficial for the company. A future analysis will show just how successful it has been.

[dejo]

A Cheaper Windows

How about this as a tool for Microsoft to combat piracy: lower
the cost of your OS!

$100 PCs and free slideshow software seem like they are
barking up the wrong tree. What will they think of next?

[David Arbogast]

They already have.

Microsoft is offering lower-priced versions of Windows in other countries as part of a plan to discourage piracy.

Honestly, though, sale price is not the best answer. If consumers only cared about acquisition costs, they'd all be using Linux. And this is not the case.

[lewissalem]

agreed.

over $100 for an OS nowadays is WAY too expensive. You can buy an entire PC for only $300.

[Russell McOrmond]

Free/Libre and Open Source Software best solution to piracy..

I believe Microsoft is only part-way there. When I first thought about software as a business more than a decade ago I rejected "software manufacturing" because of the inherent incentives for copyright infringement it created. I believe the best solution to the so-called "software piracy" problem is FLOSS. You get paid for the work you do, and your customers do not have any incentive to infringe your copyright.


Make it legal: don't litigate, use creative licensing http://www.flora.ca/makelegal200403.shtml

Microsoft battles piracy with free software

There is no "Photo Story 3" to be found on the "main Windows download page". The latest they show is "Photo Story 2".

Microsoft battles piracy

Microsoft battles piracy with free software?

I have taken the time to read all 20 posts so far on the subject matter concerning Microsoft and photo story 2 or 3 in exchange for allowing them access to your computer to do as they will.

Sounds like Microsoft should team up with the music industry in trying to control how users end up using their product.

?The Business Software Alliance, a trade group that counts Microsoft as a key member, estimated earlier this year that software piracy robs the industry of $29 billion in sales a year.?

Hmmmmmmm, wonder where they pulled that figure from. On that note could Business Software Alliance come up with a figure of what Microsoft cost its end users in losses of revenue and data due to bugs and hackers?

Well Corporate America, keep sending our jobs and your products to be produced in foreign countries and in turn they can mass produce your product at a cheaper rate and in the process mass produce pirated copies to boot. Did someone say new desktops being sold already have a pirated copy of the OS on it??

As to the earlier post that his software has no bugs, does he work for Microsoft????

[Fray9]

Hmm

"As to the earlier post that his software has no bugs, does he work for Microsoft????"

Obviously not if its true which is quite possible contrary to popular belief.

Programmers will tell you its impossible to write software without bugs because that gives them an excuse to be lazy and relieves them of responsibility for the malfunction of their hastily/cheaply written software and the damage it causes.

[kieranmullen]

Where are the links news.com?

Where are the links news.com for the great $20 software from MS?

KM