Microsoft's High-Tech Crusade Against Piracy

This is the type of piracy that really needs to be stopped. It's the one that actually hurts software companies' income. Where those who deliberately pirate software can argue that they would never have paid for it anyway and thus it is not a lost sale, counterfeit software is often paid for. The customer is willing to pay money and that money went elsewhere. That's a lost sale. People who pay for a product have a reasonable expectation that they are getting a genuine product. Dodgy system builders, who often install pirated copies of software and sell it with their overpriced gaming PCs on eBay, need to be locked up along with these factory owners.

Piracy, TH? You're looking at counterfeit, piracy is what people do on their uTorrent clients with no gain or loss.

So they're stopping counterfeiting.... not piracy. I approve of this.

And for me, you guys start news early in the morning. =p

@dragunover: since the counterfeited software is also cracked and illegitimately copied, it's both:
- cracking of legitimate software (piracy)
- distribution of illegitimate copies (piracy)
- lookalike distribution media (counterfeiting)
- lookalike ancillaries: booklets, certificates of authenticities (counterfeiting)

Torrent-based piracy is small-scale, generates no revenue for the guy distributing copies (except those selling passwords to encrypted archives, but that's marginal) and even has a tendency to increase revenue for the original content's editor (those who download stuff would probably not have bought the content at all, and may end up buying the real thing after trying it); counterfeited pirated software, on the other hand, deceives the buyer who may then think he has the genuine article - and is, instead, ripped off. So, it hurts the original editor and the final user, and has a purpose of generating illegal revenue.

Keep in mind that software piracy was counterfeiting with the intend to sell illegal copies first and foremost; it's only when content editors started shouting 'Pirates! Pirates!' at everybody who made a copy of their content that some groups, tongue-in-cheek, started calling themselves 'pirates' instead of 'crackers' (the major difference is that crackers always advertised that the version they distribute is not genuine, that the crack was made because they enjoyed both the challenge and the software, and that if you liked it, you should buy the original).

They can track it on optical disks, but how are they stop p2p networks? MAFIAA has tried again and again but bitten dust. They want to reduce piracy? I suggest they lower their prices to more reasonable levels at least in poorer countries which could attract customers because of the support legal software comes with.

Stopping P2P networks is not their aim. They are trying to protect would-be legitimate customers from buying counterfeit software. Well, to be more precise, they are trying to protect their revenue streams from these customers

It's been shown several times that lowering prices doesn't stop P2P piracy, so don't bother bringing up that point. Some people pirate because they can, and that's it. Of course they come up with every justification under the sun but in the end it's really because it's so easy. I have more respect for those who admit to piracy for honest reasons and not some fanciful dream about sticking it to the man or being so poor that they can't afford to buy a copy of Windows for their $2000 gaming rig

I bet The amount of money they spend on these campaigns, is much more than the loss due to piracy.

Thats simply not true.., i think, that for somebody, who lives in a normal/rich country, it is hard to imagine, that when you make 500Euros a Month, and that is a pretty good Wage, where i live (Slovakia), that then you are not able to spend 50Euro on a Game. If ti would cost 10-15 Euro, then i am sure, that at least here, it would lower the Piracy tremendously. 2000 Dollars gaming Rig?..thats just a myth, i for example have a Computer, in wich i invest annually around 300 Euro, and still can play all Games, at maximum Settings, (Phenom IIX4 965. 4GB Ram, HD 5870), and i never had to pay 2000 Dolars for it....

Epic fail

So this one was $2 billion saved, plus all the others that they take down.

Yup, that's a good way to go about it, for the first time I think some of the agencies have shown some sense in their MOI. But it makes me wonder, since tracing will go to the stamping machines, and since that is the problem, the counterfeiters are just going to go back to writers, thereby increasing computer an duplicators sales....
Wonder which one would be easier to stop.... 10 Stamping machines dishing out 1 Million disc in 10 days, or 15000 Duplicators placed all over 200000 sq kms???

If this is true, why do people pirate music that you can get for $9.99? People will pirate because they can. Until they get nailed with harsh punishment they will continue.

As for using your countries economy as an excuse: If you do not have the money for it do not buy computer games, the latest MS products, etc. In any case, i do think they adjust the prices to be relative to the average wages percentage-wise.

$1500 - 2000 is a good reference number for a completely rebuilt high end gaming rig. Since you only upgrade your costs will be less, but so then will your performance.

Why would it? That's 10-15 Euros more than a pirated copy. Now I'm not saying that games aren't overpriced in general because they are. You use Windows for 3-5 years and yet it costs only 2-3x what many AAA games cost while the games provide 5 hours of gameplay and repetitive multiplayer for another 100 hours or so. But I don't believe for one second that lower prices would make a significant difference to piracy rates.

Yes and these costs are passed onto the consumer, another reason to use Linux.

I am talking about poorer developing countries here. Rings a bell? They don't have $2000 gaming rigs. Even games from developers like EA are sold at half their USA prices in some countries. I was talking on these lines.

Make games cost $10 euros in poor countries then ppl like me will just ship games from there. Why would I pay $50 cad or usd here when I can pay 10 euros plus 5-10 shipping?

Because Linux users dont torrent files or duplicate disks?
A little naive?

Microsoft is better off tolerating piracy because it'll tie the users in with Windows. The more users use Windows (legal or otherwise) the better it is for Microsoft.

And guess what, they still get pirated. Why? Because free is cheaper than half price. There's nearly always alternative software which is free (libre), you don't always need the expensive stuff.

Anyway, this article is about counterfeit software which can never be justified.

everyone including software companies a sk yourself this: If the whole world was stuck with dial up, would piracy still be easy?

"2000 Dollars gaming Rig?..thats just a myth"

I have 900.00 bucks just in water cooling and 1500.00 just in video cards. Then lets talk about the 300.00 MB and the 700.00 ram or wait the 800.00 hd and the 650.00 ssd??? How can you say a 2000 gaming rig is a myth?

ok, maybe what he meant to say is 2000 dollar gaming rigs are a waste of money since you begin to hit severely diminishing returns at the 1500$ mark.

Also, 900$ in water cooling? Seriously? Unless you are using Swagelok or some other high end 316L compression fittings then you got severely ripped off. Hell even then that is crazy expensive. Just run 10 feet of tubing or so to a bomb tied to a recip pump and trace it with glass insulating tape. I guess if you bought some ridiculous pump to push it then you could hit 900$.

The $2000 was (so I thought) an obvious exaggeration to make a point. If you can afford a decent computer at all then you can afford the software to go with it. If not, there's usually alternatives which cost nothing at all.

DONT EVEN GIVE EM THAT IDEA.

I think, there mast be a law that obligate all households to pay 50$/year to Microsoft. Even if Microsoft products are not used (BBC does so).

Actually I beg to differ even further, what people do on uTorrents isn't piracy either, it's file sharing. They don't wear eye patches, the don't ride the high seas, and unlike pirates they don't take away anything from others. Pirates tend to steal your possession, the only copy of said possession, for either personal gain or re-sale. File sharer's merely make copies and share them with others willingly, without duress or threat.

Honestly I file share, and I would also like to own a legit copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, but not at a price tag of $320.00US/full version. Way to expensive for me, especially in a ever changing environment. Microsoft and the like have a other revenue streams, mainly PC makers, and corporations, they shouldn't milk the general public as well.

So don't buy the "full" (retail) version. Get the OEM one, it's under $200.

If MS or any other big consumer product company wants to stop confeits, then thay need to have teams operate in third world countries instead of western countries. Of course this may mean some people getting shot at. This is why citizens of western countries get the brunt of big companies efforts and not the places where counterfeiting is the norm.

What an ignorant answer. So if someone can't afford it, make it cheaper for them? How's that fair? I pay full price for my copy of Win 7 Pro, but since you're poor, you only have to pay $10? If that's the case, call me poor to then, so I can pay a fraction of the retail price. If you can't afford something, they shouldn't have to make it cheaper just for those who can't, especially with something as non-essential as software. If we were talking medicine or food in a third world country, that's something different. But the world isn't a giant flea market.

I guess every little thing is a reason to use Linux to you.

"This just in, Microsoft's user booklets cost money to print!"
Yet another reason to use Linux.

"Microsoft uses colors in their logo."
Yet another reason to use Linux.

It just sounds to me that you simply prefer Linux. That's all well and great, but that Microsoft is spending a bit of cash (of which it has a lot) on combating counterfeiting and piracy of their own product, and doing a good job of it, doesn't sound like a reason to use Linux to me. Windows still costs as low as $75, and that's not bad at all.

Even with costs going up, when you can finally get ahold of something it would be nice to have a legal legit copy not to have to deal with any legal involvement or busted software.