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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."
Most of these are simply the same Alpha leak build 4015 that has been available on irc for months.
They do NOT include WinFS, WinFX, and are extremely buggy.
~ Maintainer of the Skajake Projects
"It's not a ready product," [Microsoft attorney Jonathan Selvasegaram] said from Malaysia. "Even if it works for a while, I think it's very risky," to install on a home computer, he said.
So how does that make the pre-release "Longhorn" version any different from, say, Windows XP?
Longhorn promises new methods of storing files, tighter links to the Internet, greater security and fewer annoying reboots, Microsoft has said.
Now that's truth in adversising: New, improved Windows! Almost secure! Less annoying than ever! Wow, whoever came up with that marketing line should get a promotion... to the mail room.
(Hey, someone's going to get modded-up for taking cheap shots at Microsoft. May as well be me!)
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
are, however, cracking down on the use of bad puns.
I'm sure this chaps their hides, as crashing copies of this as-yet-unreleased product are sure to cause dilution of branding.
Yeah, I expect to pay for an official branded crashing product. Being able to get one for free seriously undermines their market position.
So I'm going to run a knocked off version of a pre-pre-alpha with a hacked about XP core and an experimental interface from the company with the worst QA record in the entire universe.
Beep beep.
It seems that the utility of such a release would be limited at best. Perhaps the publicizing of this simply serves as more proverbial "egg on the face" of Microsoft than any other purpose.
StyleChief
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! -M. Python
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
Hey, now there is a price I might pay for Longhorn. Actually the reason M$ picked that name is to deter software pirates here in the U.S. If you steal Longhorn(s) in Texas that is still a hanging offence.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Microsoft advises Malaysians to stear clear of the Windows operating system .... finally some good advice from Redmond.
PUN CONTEST!
Rustlers, Chaps their hide, branding and steer clear.
Are there anymore? Anybody who can think of another pun gets a "Talking about computer hardware made my mother board" t-shirt!
Nuff said.
The Wknd Sessions - Malaysian and South East Asia independent music
Look, if you buy alpha-grade software from ANYWHERE and it starts to crash or behave oddly then you don't get a chance to complain to somebody.
When I played through Half-Life 2 a while back and monsters didn't render I didn't post my disgust to any online forums; I just realised that I was playing an unreleased, buggy version of the software and should be glad for what I saw at all.
The only solution to piracy in the third world is free, open-source software. Many countries being harassed by the various shady trade organizations for piracy, such as China, Brazil, and Vietnam, are switching over to open source as much as possible. There is no way that people who live on a dollar a day are going to be able to shell out hundreds of dollars every year for proprietary, closed-source software, and software companies are foolish to worry about it.
In fact, the Malaysian authorities punishing such persecution, usually at the indirect prodding of US corporations and the US corporate government, will backfire. If there's no persecution Windows is 95% pirated, then Microsoft makes 5% -- if they are persecuted and forced to switch to free software, and FreeBSD gets used for everything, then Microsoft gets 0%. Supporting punishment of third-world pirates, thus forcing them to switch to free software, is actually good for the open source movement.
That's what I'm willing to pay for the next version of Windows. As well, the prototype Longhorn is supposedly buggy and unstable, possibly compromising your system. At least Microsoft is consistant.
Celebrities are like ads, if we all ignore them, they'll just go away.
I mean, the definition of the word "piracy".
It is very obvious to me that this Longhorn system is not something people can use today, as it is. I mean, MS will still work on it for a long while before it can be trusted upon (if then).
So, what use are they except as a "preview" of what MS is cooking ? And, as a "preview", how much different is it from an article about it ? And how much can it hurt ? Everything that looks good will be "wow", everything that looks bad will be "can't wait for them to fix it"!
Quem a paca cara compra, paca cara pagará.
Microsoft have to say "oh, we wish this wasn't happening". If they didn't say that, the west would get annoyed, and complain about unfairness. (because we all know how badly off the west is :-)
Microsoft can get enforcement whenever they want, but in poorer countries, the market saturation is more important. (and that these illegal copies will train people to know Microsoft).
When they want to flip the table, they complain to the US govt, the US govt threatens to put malasia on the 301 Watch List (list of countries where the US aren't happy with "IP enforcement). Once they go on this list, people are afraid to trade with them, the IMF stops loaning them cash, and the World Bank stops rolling over it's existing loans. This happened to Korea already (and it was Microsoft that made it happen).
Add to this that the US delegation to the WIPO summits always contains Microsoft representatives (as "industry experts"), and you have a lot of control, without being visible, whenever they want.
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
If, indeed, the police are treating this issue as secondary to illegal pornography, then I would say they are on the right track.
Not that I am against pr0n as such, but a lot of human suffering goes into producing much of it, especially much of the cheap, street quality stuff. Most of the characters are drugged/coerced into performing by their overlords, any many do it out of necessity, in order to get their square meals. Most of them are prostitutes, who were forced in by pimps/etc.
So, to end the rant, I think the police have their priorities right, if they're more worried about stopping the pr0n racket than protecting the rights of a multi-billion dollar company.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
What is this, Subliminal Cowboy Reference Day on Slashdot?
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
crashing copies of this as-yet-unreleased product are sure to cause dilution of branding
Yeah, I bet they will think twice about buying burned copies of the Longhorn release version, once they see how much this one crashes.
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
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.
Anyone who thinks $1.58 is a good deal for a pre-alpha Microsoft OS deserves that "experience"
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?
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
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)
Longhorn promises new methods of storing files, tighter links to the Internet, greater security and fewer annoying reboots, Microsoft has said.
Fewer reboots, what a feature. I got a good laugh out of that. Imagine if GM claimed to sell you a car that would 'start more often'.
People who make $200/week are not going to have to pay $200 or more for Microsoft's latest product....
eat shiat and bark at the moon
The Microsoft PR juggernaut is hitting full stride. "Any PR is good PR!"
I think somewhere, a Microsoft employee (or contractor) leaked this pre-release copy out to the web just to get some free testing.
It makes sense... leak it, and just listen. Learn what the rest of the world has to say.
Let's say that the programmers/contractors want to know what the world thinks: If they release a pre-alpha, the news media might not like it, MS would see their market value take a hit. If the pirates don't like it, too bad... but it's not a loss, it's a learning situation.
Secondly, MS, if they were just a bit smarter, could put some positive spin on this event by saying, "Hey, Longhorn is so good that pirates are making $1.50 on pre-alpha copies... just wait until we get a few more bugs worked in... I mean out."
One last thought:
Anyone stupid enough to pay $1.58 for a pre-alpha release has probably gotten exactly what they deserve.
-- No sig for you!
Six months before it's released, they'll change the name to Windows 2006 or whatever and all of the bad press goes away. Sheep consumers hear Windows 2006 and think, "Well, it's not that Longhorn version I've heard so many bad things about, so it must be okay." They buy it up because they're too scared to try anything else even though the new EULA says that MS can turn on your webcam and watch you any time they want.
The latest build is 4051 not 4015. It was launched at the PDC two months ago.
Here is a little review I wrote: http://www.betaone.net/index.php?showtopic=29402
I didn't read the article, but it sounds like typical bullshit for the DMCA/RIAA crowd to butter up their claims that "The Steaks are High!" and "Just Cownt The Money We're Losing!", where in reality, nothing could be fodder from the truth. Or as recently herd on Slashdot ... "Moove on -- nothing to see here."
...
That said, I do think taking the bull by the horns and running with Longhorn is a an udderly bad idea, even in Singapore.
Should have really posted this as anonymous cow-ard instead of trying to milk this thread
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
Enough puns already! Let's put this out to pasture before we all step in it.
I had a dual boot machine at the time with OS/2 and Win 3.1, all my school assignments, code, etc. all unprotected and un-backed-up on my one-and-only machine. Gee, Fred, can you see this one coming?
So, I spent hundreds of hours over about 2 weeks downloading all the various floppies from the BBS, which was one of the first GUI BBSs in the area. But all that time was SO worth it when I saw that Chicago logo as I installed to a new partition on a 1 or 2 gig drive.
About an hour and a half later, the install was complete, and I was ready to boot for the first time. I held my breath and rebooted. BSOD! I rebooted. BSOD again! I rebooted several more times, each involving a BSOD!
So, I huffed and puffed and tried to get into the partition from OS/2 - no such luck. OS/2 wouldn't boot.
Uhhhhh.
But it was on another drive! Still, both my drives were unbootable toast.
I called several computer stores, the guy at the BBS, and several friends. No one had a solution for me. I tried booting back into Win 3.1 with floppies, but it could no longer read from the drive, either. Finally, I gave up on the conventional and tried calling Microsoft. I came up with a good excuse about how a student friend had "borrowed" my computer and brought it back in this state. I managed to finally get through to a technician, and I explained the error codes I was getting from the bluescreen. He didn't believe me, and thought I should just re-install. He said, "Those aren't Windows error codes. Are you sure that's on the screen?" Finally, in a huff, I gave up and cracked a beer open. About halfway through my beer my phone rang. It was "Tim" from Microsoft. He was an Engineer, and one of the Tech guys had followed up on my problem with him, a developer of Win 95.
Uhhhhh.
Tim was REALLY interested in how I had gotten ahold of the copy, and could he please have the name of the friend? When I balked, he threatened to have MS attorneys look into it, as "corporate espionage" (as he put it) was serious business. He threatened to get the school involved, and once again threatened with the attorneys before I hung up on him. I unplugged the phone for a few days, and magically, never heard from him again.
Oh, yeah. A good copy of Slackware fixed my problem, btw. Great lesson learned about stealing software, and espeically about how a real OS works...
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
> XP laptop that has never bluescreened
I already admitted that I have seen several machines without stability problems.
> That's true of any OS.
I'd say yes, the variability itself (the range) is pretty wide on any OS. But I'd wager a guess that Windows' stability with respect to each computer has an approximately uniform distribution (any level of stability ranging from unstable to stable is equally likely)* over {computer1, computern}, while other platforms have different distributions.
This is speculation, but I'd suspect that Mac OS X has a distribution looking more or less like a normal curve, with its left tail at about 60% stable and its peak at 95% stable, plus a little spike at "0% stable" to account for those Macs with really sick OS installs, and the occasional freak issue (e.g. nuked FW drives).
I'd peg Unix in general as probably about the same.
*I say this because the various (at least 50) Windows XP installations that I've used have been approximately all over the map in terms of stability. Many very good, many very bad, many at varying degrees in between.