Microsoft offers amnesty program to pirated WinXP users

INQ7 ^ | 11/26/04 | Alexander F. Villafania

[JusticeTalion]

MICROSOFT Corp. is staging another attack against software pirates with an amnesty program for unwitting users of bootlegged copies of its Windows XP operating system (OS).

The project enables the software giant to collate information about the sources of pirated software and quickly work with authorities to capture illegal traders.

In addition, the company also wants to get to the source of the problem, which it suspects is the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) sector. It promised not to prosecute individuals.

In its website, Microsoft announced the Windows XP Counterfeit Project for users who are “unsure” if they are using legitimate versions of the OS that came pre-installed in computers.

The company suspects that most pirated Windows XP copies were from resellers of OEM computers, which explains why the Counterfeit Project largely targets pre-installed versions.

Microsoft will require suspicious users to have their software submitted to them for analysis.

Users would have to apply online, then send the illegal copy -- as well as the official receipt of the PC they bought and a witness statement -- to Microsoft’s Redmond office.

Microsoft will replace the counterfeit versions, according to their terms and conditions of offer.

However, the deal only covers PCs bought before November 1.

The project also covers some European countries. There are no definite plans to make the project a worldwide activity.

[EGPWS]

I hope they have tremendous success playing the cheapskate buyers against the unethical dealers!

As do I!

[quietolong]

Now they need to look into the CP/M software pirates
(pot calling the kettle black?)

[Joe Bonforte]

Take a look at open source projects such as Mozilla and OpenOffice though, and you will see that while office applications and web browsers have been around for a long time, the open source versions tend to have significant usability improvements over their commercial counterparts. Take Firefox for example, not only is it more stable and secure, it also has elements such as tabbed web-browsing and the structure necessary for pipelining web downloads -- both of which are valuable features not found in the leading commercial ventures.

Well, your case would be a lot stronger if your primary example did not come from a commercial effort in which millions of dollars were invested before the open source folks got their hands on it. Plus the fact that IE is the one stagnant sore spot in Microsoft's lineup, probably because it's free and had no effective competition for years.

No, I'll stick by my assertion. Open source is great for things that are well understood. Apache, for example, is a great web server, but everyone understands what a web server is supposed to do. Open source is not very good at real innovation, because the consensus model it uses, plus the lack of big time monetary resources, mitigates against it.

[Bush2000]

[BASIC] is (or was) a terrible programming language. I haven't looked at it since C became popular so maybe it's been improved in the last 20 years or so, but it used to suck big time.

The latest versions of BASIC bear practically no resemblance to those early versions. VB.NET, for example, is completely object-oriented; in fact, it's so different that many old-timer VB developers complained. But it's become a pretty good language.

[Bush2000]

No, I'll stick by my assertion. Open source is great for things that are well understood. Apache, for example, is a great web server, but everyone understands what a web server is supposed to do. Open source is not very good at real innovation, because the consensus model it uses, plus the lack of big time monetary resources, mitigates against it.

If you accept the notion that open source is more innovative than commercial products, then where are the radically new software applications to displace the old guard? Where are the "next big things"? All that I see from the open source community are outright rip-offs of existing commercial offerings that don't push the envelope at all. Tabbed browsing? Pop-up Blocking? New OS shells? Themes? This is somebody's idea of "innovation"?!? Puh-lease. I want to see an example of tomorrow's "spreadsheet" or "web-browser" eminating from the open source community -- not a cheap iterative knock-off of well-understood concepts. True innovation has little to do with the development model (open versus closed source) for a project -- and more to do with (a) the brains producing it, (b) the amount of investment capital (intellectual and financial) poured into it, and (c) an interest in serving customer needs. I just don't see the same kind of investment in research among the open source community that you see in private industry. Which explains why the OSS crowd is so interested in cloning anything that's popularized by for-profit companies.

[Ready4Freddy]

Dorm room in Jester Center.

[Bush2000]

They've been filing lawsuits against end users for years, with little effect.

Maybe if you consider criminal convictions for copyright infingement a "little effect".

Microsoft Software Pirate Given 3 Years in the Slammer
Industry toasts first conviction under No Electronic Theft Act
Record jail sentence in piracy case
Former Austinite Sentenced in Software Piracy Scheme

There are too many examples to list. Go to bsa.org. Criminal convictions for piracy have become commonplace.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Which explains why the OSS crowd is so interested in cloning anything that's popularized by for-profit companies.

As opposed to M$ who rips off research centers

[HiTech RedNeck]

High profile abusers, businesses, reselling pirates. The private home user has infinitely more to fear his door bashed down for child porn, than for ripped off software.

[Bush2000]

As opposed to M$ who rips off research centers

M$. How original. Are you supposed to be using Daddy's computer?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Tell me who invented windows long before Gate$'s "premiere version" that was ultimately to attempt to pull all trademark law precedent on its head. (If Lindows had been a domestic only product with no international exposure to death by a thousand lawsuits in a thousand venues, Bill Gates would be eating big crow right about now instead of carving another notch on his bedpost)

[MTOrlando]

Maybe if you consider criminal convictions for copyright infingement a "little effect".

All of those convictions have had no measurable effect on reducing the number of "systems builders" who load pirated software. Microsoft's own actions prove that what they've been doing doesn't work - otherwise, there would be no need for this amnesty program.

[Bush2000]

Tell me who invented windows long before Gate$'s "premiere version" that was ultimately to attempt to pull all trademark law precedent on its head.

You need to do a little research. Microsoft licensed that technology from Apple early on.

[Bush2000]

All of those convictions have had no measurable effect on reducing the number of "systems builders" who load pirated software.

And imagine my surprise to "discover" that convicting criminals doesn't eliminate all possible sources of crime. Who'd a thunk it?

Microsoft's own actions prove that what they've been doing doesn't work - otherwise, there would be no need for this amnesty program.

I disagree. It's yet one more approach to combating piracy. It doesn't eliminate criminal prosecution for copyright violation.

[jpsb]

You must be right cause VB is pretty popular.

Last month I had to put Windows 2003 Server on one of my computer and do some Active Directory proto-typing. I was impressed, very nice Operating System, but at a thousands bucks the OS is alittle pricey.

[Kornev]

Linux is communism based. Everyone works for the heck of it. Windows is capitalist based.

Let's see. Which will win over time. hmmmmmm...

So far I've heard the 'Linux will be easier than Windows' talk for about 10 years now. Maybe Linux needs to run on 5 year plans.

[Bush2000]

Which version did you get? Most companies can use Windows Small Business Server 2003 ($439 to $585 street). Here's a pretty good overview: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winserver2003_sbs.asp.

[Bush2000]

[Kornev]

I wasn't being literal, but the models are certainly similar.

[jpsb]

I used a 30 days evaluation CD, I was at Comp USA and looked at the price, $999.00. I do not have to buy OS's, one good thing about MS is thier policy of allowing folks to install software they use at work on thier home computers too. So I run Windows 2000 proffesional at work and at home. Windows 2000 is also a nice OS. NT was the first useable OS MS offered and I still run it on one old obsolite box that I can not upgrade RAM for. Windows 2000 is fine with me and I think I will hang with it for a while, I am not going to move to Linux or XP. I will investigate freeBSD, looking for a good OS for my Web Server, it runs fine on Windows 2000, but the OS uses to must RAM for a box deicated to a web server and nothing more.