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Malaysian Police Not Roping Longhorn Rustlers
Artifex writes "CNN/Reuters reports that an early release of Microsoft's next operating system, 'Longhorn,' is already being sold openly in markets in Malaysia, with local police doing little to stop it. Microsoft's response, of course, is that consumers should steer clear. I'm sure this chaps their hides, as crashing copies of this as-yet-unreleased product are sure to cause dilution of branding."
Maybe this will cause the price of microsoft products to drop, just like we saw with Playstation in China.
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
More than likely, it's simply a case of pirating whatever comes their way. So far as I can tell, the basic process for pirating stuff in SE Asia consists of making a good cover for the product with as many possible logos (DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, VCD, Windows, Microsoft, Logitech, Abercrombie, etc.), some misspelled/grammatically incorrect English, and then burning as many copies as the market will sustain. In my experience in the middle east, the copies were actually burnt on demand for customers. I don't think extensive market research and a serious analysis of product utility has much of a place in the business plans of pirates. Or of Microsoft for that matter.
Head down, go to sleep to the rhythm of the war drums...
Well, what will happen if some folks already use Longhorn and a new worm attacks Windows and Longhorn as well. Of course Microsoft is NOT going to provide a patch until Longhorn is officially released. I guess this will become a serious problem any time soon.
I heard that the reason longhorn won't come out til 2006 is because there was a judgement in 2000 that Microsoft had to share certain source code with certain companies for 5 years (ie until 2005) and that they dont want to write the bulk of the DRM in until after that? Can anyone confirm or is that total crap?
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Hey, at the very least they won't have to do any further testing to make sure it works as expected...
.dll that does essentially the same thing and call it bar.dll? If the code is different, but it does the same thing, is it still IP infringement?
In all seriousness, though, WHY would anyone want such a thing. The ONLY reason I would be interested in something like that is if it ALSO came with enough source to compile. After all, that would put a monkey wrench in things.
Imagine if someone who got (however) access to the source, then wrote a paper on what would be necessary to implement compatibility, and then someone else, upon reading it, then wrote a description of that paper (but with enough detail to be useful). Now imagine if someone then implemented the description. What is their level of liability (having never seen the source, or even the paper by the guy who wrote it)?
Even so, it would probably be easier to just do it the way we are--from scratch. Another question though--are the names of certain files copyrighted? That is, if I know program X wants bar.dll, can I make a
Just questions, don't flame me because I am asking--I really want to know.
"We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
The secret to Windows 98 stability is to install it and not install a bunch of crappy drivers. My Windows 98SE never crashes. It always shuts down and I've never had to reinstall. I use it for MM Fireworks/Photoshop/Mozilla/Flash Development. All that in 96MB on a 200 MHz P1. A bit slow, but it works. Connects to my Samaba box with no problems.
I know of at least one rewritten .DLL, for Windows9x, the folks at wininternals rewrote the VCACHE functionality with some better self-management and memory compression. Apparently they did accomplish a working replacement to the Windows VCACHE system, but without full-disclosure the performance and reliability were limited. In the end the speed was the same as the old VCACHE, and the compact/compress parts didn't seem to be all that useful.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
I live in Thailand, and can say that, although there are quite a few books in the local store teaching desktop linux, the 60% pre-installed figure (it may even be higher. I don't know) really doesn't trtanslate into anything, because the customers just go home and wipe the disk, installing 98SE like they have for years.
The other 40% (or less, maybe) are almost completely sold with a "thirty day trial" of XP Home (which we all know doesn't exist. These are also replaced with pirated copies. The government puts the rate at over 90%.
Microsoft dropped their prices on only the government low-cost computer, which was set to put (best Dr. Evil voice) one million machines with desktop Linux on the street. The other prices remain about 80% of what they were last year. This govenment program is credited, however, with destroying MS' "one price around the world" policy oncee and for ever.
Put identity in the browser.