Microsoft's High-Tech Crusade Against Piracy
What steps are big software companies taking to combat piracy and counterfeiting?
Piracy is a huge problem for software companies and it's one that is becoming increasingly difficult to combat. However, Microsoft has a way to trace counterfeit discs to the factory where it was produced, and as a result, the crime syndicate responsible for it.
BusinessWeek this week carries a report on Microsoft's 10-year-old anti-counterfeit unit, and details the testing that takes place in the company's Dublin-based crime lab. Senior forensics manager Donal Keating uses a custom-built microscope to take 72 high-resolution images the disc in question, and then uses the abrasions and grooves on the stacking ring to match it to other fakes. Keating can then trace it to the factory where it was produced. Once he figures that out, he alerts the police.
According to BusinessWeek, this kind of testing is just one part of a massive campaign to stop counterfeiting. Microsoft has eight more labs besides the one in Ireland, and also employs 75 investigators, lawyers and analysts – many of which have gleaned experience from narcotics and mafia cases.
It may seem like overkill, but the unit has been successful on several occasions. BW reports that in 2007, Microsoft helped Chinese authorities take down a syndicate that had generated $2 billion in fake Microsoft products. Last December the Redmond-based company aided Indian police in a raid on one of the country's largest resellers of Microsoft products, which was selling a mixture of genuine and fake products.

And for me, you guys start news early in the morning. =p
And for me, you guys start news early in the morning. =p
- 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).
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
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.
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.
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.
Because Linux users dont torrent files or duplicate disks?
A little naive?
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.
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?