Money certainly isn’t everything. But when you’ve worth nearly $50-billion it tends to alter prejudices. In person, Bill Gates might still be a living example of the Super Nerd – gangly, bespectacled, and hugely intelligent with only the pocket protector missing. But unlike most other geeks, when Gates talks, everybody listens. Elsewhere, In an effort to boost sales of Windows, Microsoft has its sights set on its nearest competitor.
New technology wave about to break – Bill Gates
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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everyone except Brazil…. Oh yeah, and how many times has he made predictions that were totally wrong? Or never came to be? more than I can count….
Once he conqueres his security issues, then I’ll take his utopian visions with alittle less salt.
The words “An”, “open”, “letter”, “to” and “hobbyists” come to mind….
>>>Those with unlicensed copies of Windows will be blocked from getting both add-ons to the OS and security patches through Microsoft’s download site (though they will still be able to use the Automatic Update feature built into Windows).<<<
If the automatic updates tool still works… then people will just end up using that service. Who cares if you can’t download Microsoft’s latest random tool for XYZ…. it’s more intelligent to have a diverse software portfolio anyway.
That being said, this “crackdown” seems more likely to tick people off who would otherwise stick with their illegitimate copy of windows. If they didn’t feel it was worth paying for by now, i doubt forcing the option upon them will be more convincing. I see maybe 2% of the crowd buying licenses… 94% sticking with what they’ve got, sans the *other* updates… and the remaining 4% switching to a competing OSS system….
+/-2% margin of error. =)~
“The company is testing a program in three countries in which those who are found to have an improperly licensed version of Windows can get a legal copy at a discounted price.”
So you could (if you were feeling underhanded) go out and grab a pirated copy if you want a cheap, legit copy… 😉
I think the “Windows Genuine Advantage” program should be how they distribute their anti-spyware software. They already have the option to verify your copy of Windows, but I assume that once it’s out of beta they’ll require it. It would be a nice value-add for those who actually pay for their software.
Despite the risks, though, the potential increase in sales by cracking down on piracy is hard for Microsoft to ignore.
I don’t know where they get these figures, but I predict a big move away from MS in response to this stance, particularly from the average home users, who simply want to surf, send email, IM, and type up a few docs, and/or manage their finances.
I know of many home users who have pirated copies of Windows… How do I know this? Because I’m the one who gets the calls when they get too fed up with the slowness and bugginess of their system (typically caused by way too many virii and spyware installs). I know that in the future when I get these calls and people are whining about how Windows Update no longer works for them, I’ll be steering them toward Windows alternatives vs. reccomending that they buy a legit copy of the OS!
Why? For one thing, I think that the Mac Mini is a much better PC for the average home user (after you up the memory, of course), and it’s a lot safer, from a security standpoint.
Another reaso though is that I can fairly succesfully argue that after paying for a copy of Windows, paying me toclean up their old system, and install a new one, that they’ll be a lot better off buying a Mac Mini now, and saving the money down the road by not having to call me every 6 months or so to repair their f’d up windows-based PC.
And if they don’t want to switch, my alternative will be Linux. Hell… If people are too scared to learn a new system, you could even throw the XPDE window manager on top of Linux and set them up with some initial settings. Again, most typical home users and students don’t want to go outside their little “box”, meaning that they just want to type documents, send email, surf, etc.
MS may get some corporate licensing out of this, but I think they’re shooting themselves in the foot. Once the average home user realizes that they have to pay more money for the same buggy OS that they’ve been bitching about for the last few years, an begins looking at alternatives, the market for that alternative platform will quickly expand. And with market share come the software developers.
And soon MS will be offering even cheaper products tring to win the average Joe sixpack back. I for one look forward to such a switch. 8)=
What’s that? Oh, I think I remember, my computer guy at worked mentioned people should go it at home. It was really slow so I didn’t bother.
This will have about zero effect, since most people don’t bother to update their systems as it is.
I don’t mind if they crack down on piracy. Piracy is theft. Microsoft has every right to expect those who use their products to pay for them. I wouldn’t steal a loaf of bread at the grocery store, and I wouldn’t steal my software either.
Back in my earlier days I used to run pirated software, mostly because I couldn’t afford to buy it. Later I realized that I didn’t have to steal to use my computer, that there are alternatives. Now that I have a decent job and could afford to buy the software, I choose not to because I object to Microsoft’s business practices and chose to “put my money where my mouth is” (or rather, not to put my money in a specific place).
Whether I object to their business practices or not, though, they deserve to be paid for the software that people are using. The sticky point is, of course, that because of the ubiquity of Microsoft software, halting security updates to the (let’s face it) VERY large number of machines running pirated copies of Windows makes the entire internet less secure.
Apparently, the reason why they are doing this crackdown is because they are running out of revenue streams. But what happens when this well dries up? What are they gonna do next? It’s funny to watch these corporations who are making billions upon billions every year get in a panic because they have maxed out their profit margins, and so they get deseperate and go right for the juggular. But, pretty soon, these corporations are going to find that they have bled the public for as much as they possibly can and have exhausted every resource possible, and there’s nowhere to go but down.
BTW: On an unrelated note, seeing as how they had to resort to this, doesn’t this prove that the stupid product activation is absolutely worthless and should be done away with?
“doesn’t this prove that the stupid product activation is absolutely worthless and should be done away with?”
People will find a way around pretty much anything that you can come up with. Product activation did help them cut down on piracy to a point, since a large number of people who had pirated copies of W2K or Win98 just grabbed the cd from a friend and got it installed. It’s a bit tougher to get a pirated copy of XP than it was for W2K or Win98, since any copy of those could be pirated without any modification.
Now they’re just taking the next step. Like I said in an earlier post, I don’t have a problem with cracking down on piracy. Piracy is theft.
Says who? Bill?
one never-ending sales pitch.
and the more they crack down on pirated copies of windows, the better. when people actually have to pay for the crappy software they’ll actually consider alternatives.
“It’s funny to watch these corporations who are making billions upon billions every year get in a panic because they have maxed out their profit margins, and so they get deseperate and go right for the juggular.”
Boy, you said it, Darius. You know, I don’t blame Bill for all the sneaky tricks and all the backstabbing his done (and especially how they played IBM) because that’s the way of the business world, isn’t it? If you can get away with it, do it. Even if you can’t get away with it, you might still beat it with good enough lawyers. More telling is the fact that he’s supposed to be the most admired CEO in a poll amongst business execs despite all the questionable activities. Guess that’s all well and fine, but when people start talking about business ethics, I’ve have to try hard to hold the laughter in.
MSN Search – useless, bloated, manipulated results for commercial interests
Tablet PCs – what? I’d never take with me something so big. It’s like intermediate between a PDA and a notebook.. i’d get one of those small vaios instead.
XBox – beating Sony? yeah right
Let the man dream
The writer seems to think it’s a good idea to ski all the way to Davos to hear the latest product cycle demand creation politics from the “bouncing ball” set. Thats what Gates does, sell the next upgrade with promises of “new and improved”. BTW, Warren Buffett is in the business of selling razor blades, sugar water, and ice cream cones in emerging consumer markets. He’s got Pentagon/CIA operatives blazing the trail for him and American taxpayers foot the bill for it. I’d much rather hear what Gosling has to say when it comes to economics or tech-stuff, he’s certainly better qualified than any money person or kowtowing media punter/Ivy League worshiper.
“you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as it’s legal and/or you don’t get caught.”
Definitely. Fine and dandy that Bill wants to crack down on piracy, but I wonder if he’s ever expressed any remorse for some of his and the companies less than finer moments. Something about casting stones in glass houses, isn’t it?
How is TabletPC an intermediate between PDA and notebook? It’s a notebook with extra features!
How exactly is MSN search bloated? Have you even used it? It actually gives you better customization options than Google does at this point, and has a very minimal UI.
Apparently, the reason why they are doing this crackdown is because they are running out of revenue streams. But what happens when this well dries up? What are they gonna do next? It’s funny to watch these corporations who are making billions upon billions every year get in a panic because they have maxed out their profit margins, and so they get deseperate and go right for the juggular. But, pretty soon, these corporations are going to find that they have bled the public for as much as they possibly can and have exhausted every resource possible, and there’s nowhere to go but down.
Fact is software piracy increases the cost of the software i want to buy. If the volume of legitimate software sale were to increase the costs would go down. Not only that software piracy in the western world is not near as big a problem that it is in places like the middle east or Asia where you can buy whatever software you like in countless stores for $2 a CD. Microsoft doesn’t owe anyone who pirates their software anything!
Apparently, according to the conservative mindset, yes. Afterall, business is business. God forbid if two gay guys want to buttslam each other in the privacy of their own homes, but when it comes to business ethics, you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as it’s legal and/or you don’t get caught.
I don’t care who you buttslam in your own home why you think conservatives somehow do i will never understand. Business is business you would be a liar if you told me that you wouldn’t do the same for the success of your own company.
Everybody may listen to Gates, but IMHO he had nothing important to say (at least this time). Or…
It mentioned something – the biggest competitor for Microsoft. Not Linux, not Apple, even not pirated Windows (as second article states), but Google.
Seems that Microsoft has lost its world-controlling position (if it had this position at all, what is questionable of course). Well, they control most of desktop PCs, they attempt to include more control into new Windows (media control, software control, document control – DRM), but they do not control internet.
To the contrary, Google is gaining control over internet. You may listen Gates or not, but I’m sure you (we) all use Google. We’re nicely surprised, when Google logo reflects christmas or valentine day. We’re happy, when we find something useful with Google. We’re satisfied, when Google toolbar blocks popups (well, this is for IE only – but alternate Firefox includes Google search out-of-box, thereby things are in balance).
We even don’t notice, when Google turns something off.
Probably you’ve heard of KazaaLite (hacked Kazaa) – in one day KazaaLite didn’t exist anymore. Why? No search in Google for KazaaLite didn’t give results – nothing more.
This is power and control over internet.
No Microsoft product can do similar things. There’s not surprizing that they want same power, using MSN Search. They are some years behind, but somehow feels that we’ll see battle of the giants in some future.
If we only notice that…
So if Google don’t list Kazaalite all the other search engines remove it too? Seems weird. If Google did something stupid like remove all reference to one item then people would switch to other search engines wouldn’t they? Just because Google doesn’t list it doesn’t mean I stop looking.
Msft is were it is because msft sets the standard. The more everybody uses msft, the more everybody else has to use msft.
As I understand it, msft has been overlooking the massive piracy in Asia, because msft doesn’t want Asia looking to other OSes.
If people can’t pirate windows, they may just go to another OS. And if enough people go to other OSes, then HW/SW manufactures may have to develop for those other OSes.
What was that from starwars? “The more you tighten you grip, the more it will slip through your fingers.”
Isn’t this the same guy who came late to the Internet party? Who came late to the Search party? Who is poorly copying Apple on the digital home strategy?
Visionary Billy G is not.
They should let their ego’s rest and know their place in the IT world. Being the Walmart of the IT world is good money. Hell, great money. But why do they need to tie their egos to something they are not?
It reminds me of Dell talking about his company being innovative. He even bragged about the number of patents they file. Of course, the patents were all operationally related.
> XBox – beating Sony? yeah right
Refer to
http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:fFUC6RtC_DMJ:www.mercurynews.c…
Microsoft started gaining early last year when it cut hardware prices ahead of Sony. That trend continued during the year with the Xbox beating the PlayStation in hardware sales for the fourth quarter, a first since Microsoft launched its console in 2001.
“We won the holiday no matter how you slice it,” said Maroof Haque, Xbox business manager. “If you look at who is growing, we had a phenomenal year.”
As the old saying goes… “Resistance futile”…
All you need to do is ask someone who works in a corporate environment that buys new computers from Dell, then re-image those machine with their 2000 installation, for the XP disc. You see alot of people selling these XP discs all the time at computer shows and in garage sales for next to nothing. Half the corporations I have performed installations for generally throw those discs out since all they will do later for an upgrade to XP is image a machine with their corporate key, not the key on the package.
Problem of legit copies solved.
The potential challenger to MSN/NBC camp would probably come from “$100 PC”(1) camp.
Reference.
1. http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11203
AMD, Motorola, Google, News Corp, Samsung.
I don’t care who you buttslam in your own home why you think conservatives somehow do i will never understand.
I live in Texas, and they recently struck down an anti-sodemy law here. The fact that the law was on the books in the first place is a good indicator that somebody cared. And the reason why this case was brought about in the first place is because two guys that were doing this very thing in their own bedroom had their door busted in by the cops and were hauled off to jail.
Business is business you would be a liar if you told me that you wouldn’t do the same for the success of your own company.
No, I would not. Fortunately, I was raised better than that. If it is a written rule that you have to lie, cheat, and steal to run a business successfully, I’d rather not do so.
Fact is software piracy increases the cost of the software i want to buy. If the volume of legitimate software sale were to increase the costs would go down.
If that is true, since Product Activation was added to WinXP and since apparently this has helped to stop ‘casual pirating’, how come the price of Windows XP hasn’t gone down? Do you think they will lower the price of Windows if this move increases sales?
You can count the days till pirates figure out ways to get around the activation crap that Microsoft has set up. Meanwhile it is an annoying frustration that’s benefits will likely not trickle down to the consumer. I amused myself by answering ms’s survey after browsing their site on Gentoo.
As far as msn search is concerned, I still say that ms has yet to learn proper gui design. Not to mention, that I still have better results searching with google and yahoo. And while Gates rants about how it is going to be great in a couple years, that doesn’t mean that the competition won’t improve to match/better it. Remember folks, butterflies are still just bugs.
>>>Fact is software piracy increases the cost of the software i want to buy. If the volume of legitimate software sale were to increase the costs would go down. Not <<<
If this were a hardware market, I’d agree. But the price of software isn’t controlled by manufacturing cost vs demand — it cost almost nothing to manufacture once developed. And Windows is a monopoly — with no competitors, even against themselves, they have no incentive to keep prices down.
It’s the lack of competition that keeps prices up. As long as they believe they’re competing against their own pirated stuff, they have a little downward pressure on their regular product.
What’s REALLY going to lower prices is the rise of Linux. Work for that!
We’ve been given the line again and again that software piracy increases costs. Maybe it’s true, maybe not. The fact is that when piracy is controlled or reduced, we never see a price drop.
Nintendo, Playstation and X-Box games are pirated far less than Windows games, but the cost is equivalent. Why isn’t it lower?
Product activation is being used increasingly in products, but the prices aren’t dropping below previous versions. Why not?
I can’t recall a single case when the price of a piece of software has dropped after piracy measures were implemented. Instead, we suffer dongles, activation schemes, anti-copying technology… For what? We, as paying customers, get absolutely no benefit from these things and we never have. Dedicated pirates are not affected either.
I understand the need for protection of intellectual property, and I’m fine with *unobtrusive* methods of implementing this. Even the WinXP activation was straightforward and easy enough to be a non-issue for me. Hell – I don’t even mind leaving my game CDs in my laptop drive. I just want to see the rhetoric of pricing matched by actions. Anything less gives the lie to their words.
Piracy is sometimes theft, but other times it is willfully ignored to allow growth of market share. That was Windows of the past.
I totally agree with comments that MS is trying to squeeze margins with this….same with XP’s pricing. $320 or so for a full version, non OEM….if I didn’t need it on this one computer at work, I would damn well have used Linux. In fact, I immediately bought a old P3 to get up to speed on Linux, I don’t wish to shell out money like that too often!
That is not very true actually. The rise of GCC/G++ and FreePascal DID NOT keep Borland from raising their prices for commercially licensed programming software to Qt/commercial levels.
I read a lot of comments complaining about MSN’s search. I’ve never used MSN for search, because I don’t use MSN for anything else, so I can’t comment on the current state of it.
It sure does seem like a lot of people use Google. I’m one of the ones that do not. I use Alta Vista. I’ve been using Alta Vista for years. Every so often I compare my results from Alta Vista with Google (and various other search engines). Every time Alta Vista beats Google hands down. I can find what I’m looking for faster and receive better results using Alta Vista every time. Actually, Google usually rates lowest on my list if I test several search engines. I’ve just never been impressed with the Google search engine.
If the article is true where it says the the core team that created Alta Vista is creating the new MSN search engine, then I can’t wait!
As far as I’m concerned Microsoft is one ocmpany that really has NO RIGHT to talk about software piracy. They were BORN through such practices as “dumpster diving” for old copies of copyrighted material and STEALING computer time at Harvard University for ILLEGAL PROPRIATARY COMMERCIAL PROJECTS based on successful “dumpster diving” and have been the world’s WORST software pirates ever since at the source code level.
I’ve heard twenty years of promises from Microsoft. The price of XP at Best Buy is $300. For Office another $300-$400. Firefox and Opera both out perform Explorer. Open Office serves my needs. Thunderbird is just fine. Google has never promised me anything and it has always delivered.
I’ver heard it all before…….
Piracy: Robbery on the high seas; the taking of property from others on the open sea by open violence; without lawful authority, and with intent to steal; — a crime answering to robbery on land.
Note: Robbery, in a strict sense, differs from theft, as it is effected by force or intimidation, whereas theft is committed by stealth, or privately.
Theft: The act of stealing; specifically, the felonious taking and removing of personal property, with an intent to deprive the rightful owner of the same; larceny.
Note: To constitute theft there must be a taking without the owner’s consent, and it must be unlawful or felonious; every part of the property stolen must be removed, however slightly, from its former position; and it must be, at least momentarily, in the complete possession of the thief. See Larceny, and the Note under Robbery.
Copyright: The right of an author or his assignee, under statute, to print and publish his literary or artistic work, exclusively of all other persons. This right may be had in maps, charts, engravings, plays, and musical compositions, as well as in books.
License: Authority or liberty given to do or forbear any act; especially, a formal permission from the proper authorities to perform certain acts or to carry on a certain business, which without such permission would be illegal; a grant of permission; as, a license to preach, to practice medicine, to sell gunpowder or intoxicating liquors.
Because that would level the playing field. In the moment it is like you can get Windows for free (illegal) or Linux for free (legal). If you have to pay what MS demands more people would take a look at linux.
In effect, even the pirated copies of Windows (and MS Office) have enormous value for Microsoft, because it is what enables their ignorance regarding open standards and open formats.
You want to work out a contract with a customer, sending back and forth a document? Use MS Office or do not get the contract. Simple for MS, isn’t it?
Once people at home get used to OpenOffice.org they will start to see other possibilities than MS Office. If OOo gets to a market share of 20% businesses will start to ask which format the negotiations should be made in. MS Office will not be taken for granted anymore.
Businesses will settle more and more on OOo because it has no licensing costs attached, hence if one company says “we use MS Office” and the other says “we do not have MS Office license” they will be installing OOo as second Office suit at the first company and use OOo for the negotiations.
I am sick of hearing how brilliant Bill Gates is. He may be a superb businessman but his intellectual prowess is grossly exaggerated.
In his youth he was a capable programmer…like thousands of others students.
BG was a rich kid who spent a few months at Harvard. Steve Ballmer scored scored higher in his SATs than Bill Gates.
To compare Gates with the truly outstanding minds of the century is ludicrous and deeply offensive. Steven Wolfram of ‘Mathematica’ fame had a PhD from MIT at the same age that Bill entered Harvard. Alan Turing in his short and unhappy life contibuted infinitely more to computing than Gates ever has.
As for Bill Gates ability to predict the future of technology I would say he has been wrong far more often than he has been correct.
I just installed Windows XP SP3 on my unlicensed copy of Windows. It is sold by Novell and seems to solve most windows security problems. Somewhere on the disc it says SuSe 9.1 Pro.
I don’t get why they say this. I’m sure tons of Apple fans would simply STOP using the computer if Microsoft bougth Apple.