10 Minute Tech

(Please note, in fairness to the other authors here, the opinions expressed in this piece are mine and mine alone, and not necessarily reflective of the entire 10minutetech.net organization. Any comments should be directed to me)

How’s this for ballsy  - Microsoft implemented their new anti-piracy plan in China and the people who are using illegal software are up in arms that Microsoft is violating their rights. Man talk about having a big brass pair.

The program itself is ridiculously mild compared to the normal Microsoft tactics. According to CNN:

Microsoft started a global plan in August to upgrade one of its anti-piracy tools, to make a stand against bogus copies of Windows XP Professional. PCs running either genuine or counterfeit XP Pro will automatically update themselves with an authorization evaluation program. Computers installed with the phony software will thereafter display a black desktop at start-up and revert to black again in an hour even if the background is changed. A permanent notice will also appear at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen warning users to purchase genuine XP copies. However, all programs will run normally

So let me get this straight. The only thing that happens is a little notice is stuck in the corner saying to use genuine copies and the background is black. All the programs work, nothing slows down, nothing is held hostage. This is the penalty they pay for using unlicensed and illegal copies of someone else’s product. AND THEY BITCH??

Of course they did. They complained that XP was too expensive to buy so they had to steal it. What? Does that defense work? Your honor, that Mercedes was too expensive for me to buy, so I took it. Stealing food not to starve is one thing, stealing an OS is another.

Next the lawsuits started. Also from CNN:

A lawsuit followed. On the second day of the campaign’s landing, Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer specialized in consumer rights protection, charged Microsoft with potentially sabotaging private computers. He suggested a billion-dollar fine for Microsoft.

Dong said that the anti-piracy program would “pose a threat to personal information security” and could be defined as a “crime.” “It is equivalent to illegal invasion, or hacking,” he said on Sina, the largest Chinese news portal. Many of the country’s computer societies, IT critics and scholars also stated their agreement with Dong.

Are you kidding me? It’s OK to use illegal software, it’s OK to patch illegal software using Microsoft’s resources (yes boys and girls it costs money to fix software, post patches and pay for the servers\bandwidth to distribute it - nothing is free in life) and it’s OK to materially benefit from the unauthorized use of someone elses property but it’s NOT OK for Microsoft to push an update out to THEIR software that identifies who is legal and who isn’t? You authorize Microsoft to make changes to your OS when you allow automatic  updates. If you don’t want MS messing with your machine, you turn them off. How can that be hacking when you’ve given them permission.

Yes it is true that Automatic Updates are turned on by default and you would have to turn them off if you didn’t want MS to patch your machine. That’s the same with most OS’s these days. That you didn’t know how is no excuse in my book -  you own the tool, learn how to use it.

There are enough mature Linux distributions that could meet all the desktop needs of the majority of people running XP illegally. Arguing that Windows is the only product that fits the bill so people have to steal it is simply not true.  There is no reason someone HAS to steal Windows in order to operate a computer.

This isn’t a debate about whether Microsoft is silly for selling XP or Vista at a price too high for the average Chinese consumer to purchase. That’s a business decision for Redmond to make. Maybe it’s a stupid one. That wouldn’t shock me. At the end of the day, the software isn’t Open Source. It isn’t free. You have no right to it without owning a license. If you choose to use it without paying, no skin of my back but don’t you dare bitch when you get caught.