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Microsoft Launches Comical Effort to Fight Piracy

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the don't-copy-that-floppy dept.

theodp writes "A week before the release of Vista, Microsoft is expanding its fight against software piracy with a new educational effort that includes comics. Making its U.S. debut Monday, the Genuine Fact Files campaign aims to make Microsoft's message more accessible to a broader audience. BTW, Vista's Software Protection Platform (SPP) can put unvalidated copies of the software into a reduced-functionality mode. From the article: 'Microsoft plans to draw attention to it through banner ads on its Web sites and promotional material that it will hand out through partners. By using comics, the company aims to make the message more accessible to a broader audience. They are black and white, in a style similar to newspaper comics.'"

21 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. So uncool by udderly · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't it peculiar that when someone (an individual, gov't or corporation) tries to pander to the hip or "kewl" crowd, it actually comes off as even more contrived and lame. This Microsoft comic reminds me of junior-high school health classes about drugs or sex.

    Besides that, Microsoft has to walk a fine line with software piracy. If they could eliminate it entirely, that would be when you would see a more mainstream adoption of FOSS.

    1. Re:So uncool by TodMinuit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If they could eliminate it entirely, that would be when you would see a more mainstream adoption of FOSS. ... That makes NO sense. If FOSS applications were equal to that of the closed source realm, people would be using them regardless of whether piracy was possible.

      --
      I wonder if I use bold in my signature, people will notice my posts.
    2. Re:So uncool by MindStalker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What he means is that there are a LOT of people who are using pirated versions of Windows who would switch to something free if they couldn't pirate windows anymore. There is a huge percent of the population of the world who simply can NOT pay $200+ for an OS for their personal computers. Most of China for example, and plenty of places in the US as well. Nowadays you can get a computer for $400 or so from Dell with Windows installed, but in the past when building your own computer was cheaper, there were a lot of people who the $200 difference in adding an OS would have simply opted to have no computer at all.

    3. Re:So uncool by clickclickdrone · · Score: 5, Insightful
      That makes NO sense
      I'm not so sure. There are a lot of reasonably savvy people who are basically just lazy. Got a new PC? Off to your fav. appz source to grab the latest MS Office, XP Pro (probably Vista RTM now), Nero, Photoshop CS etc. If suddenly it becomes impossible to find those, they'll be happy with 80-90% of the functionality at 0% of the price by doing a bit of research, hunting around then grabbing the closest equivalent free versions.
      There are a significant number of people who used pirate software through collage when they're broke, get used to them then when they're financially better off, start to buy the real thing. You'll start losing those sales if they start off with free software right from thr word go.
      --
      I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
    4. Re:So uncool by Divebus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It will be just as effective as the FBI warnings on all DVDs. That's not a deterrent. Shutting off your OS remotely is a deterrent for the user - a deterrent from using the OS to start with, that is. I wonder which Einstein® thought this one up?

      --

      Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
    5. Re:So uncool by paeanblack · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My wife is a perfect example of someone who *doesn't* need Windows. She logs on in the AM to check her Yahoo mail account, checks the local news, buys some stuff from Amazon or eBay, then heads to work.

      That's not a matter of not needing Windows, that's a matter of someone not needing a desktop PC at all. Imagine a cell phone cradle that supported a keyboard/mouse/monitor console. She has one console at home, has one at work, and she carries her "desktop" in her purse.

      I'm still curious why we are still years away from practical products like this.

    6. Re:So uncool by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful
      If Microsoft, and the rest, reduced their prices by an order of magnitude, they'd find a lot less people getting their software from illegitimate sources.

      I might be the most anti-DRM/anti-Intellectual Property person around here, but this argument that a company should lower its prices to discourage stealing is ridiculous. You're saying that because Rolex charges $5k for a watch, then it's OK to steal one.

      Microsoft can charge what they want for a product and you can decide whether or not to buy it. Or, you can decide to pirate a copy, but please don't justify stealing by presenting yourself as a crusader against high-prices. [by the way, I'm not saying necessarily that I believe using a hacked version of Windows is stealing]

      I'm also not one of the "free-market" types, but the best way to get Microsoft to lower prices would be to have some competition in the marketplace that competes on price-point (which leaves Apple out).

      Linux does that to a certain extent, but it's not enough.
      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    7. Re:So uncool by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a huge percent of the population of the world who simply can NOT pay $200+ for an OS for their personal computers.
      But yet they can pay for the computer?

      --
      500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
  2. I don't understand! by Ythan · · Score: 4, Funny

    But are they black and white like newspaper comics?

  3. A _real_ feature... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Vista's Software Protection Platform (SPP) can put unvalidated copies of the software into a reduced-functionality mode

    So you can avoid bloat and annoying requesters by not validating a copy?

  4. Good for them! by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Funny
    Microsoft Launches Comical Effort to Fight Piracy

    Awesome! I can see it now. Popeye eating some spinach and tying an octopus' legs around three unshaven guys with eye patches. Brilliant!

    Oh, wait... did the OP mean copyright infringement? Then why did the OP use a term that means armed taking of actual property?

    1. Re:Good for them! by Zonk+(troll) · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh, wait... did the OP mean copyright infringement? Then why did the OP use a term that means armed taking of actual property? <corporate_asshat>
      Because downloading a torrent is exactly the same as attacking a ship, killing it's crew and doing random raping and pillaging. Only dirty hippies that hate America can't see that.
      </corporate_asshat>

      Copyright infringement != piracy
      Copyright infringement != theft
      Copyright infringement == Copyright infringement

      Doesn't make it right, but be accurate when using a damn word.
      --
      "The Federal Reserve is a fraudulent system."--Lew Rockwell
      End The FED. -
    2. Re:Good for them! by Speare · · Score: 4, Informative
      Give up the fight, man, the word "pirate" in this usage is hundreds of years old.
      There was very little trust in the print medium when it was first developed--it was seen as unstable and subject to piracy and fraudulent copying. Authenticity was hard to guarantee: indeed, the term "piracy" was first used by John Fell, Bishop of Oxford, circa 1675, to describe certain pernicious practices of early printers and booksellers. A "pirate" was someone who participated in the "unauthorized reprinting of a title recognized to belong to someone else." "Stationers" eventually emerged as the trusted practitioners who were placed in charge of various aspects of publishing--practices we would now recognize as printing, publishing, editing, and bookselling. Stationers worked out the conventional practices of making books, and thus made printing a viable economic enterprise with the elaborate complexity of producing a book eventually invisible to all but the practitioners in the trade.
      --
      [ .sig file not found ]
  5. Children Must Be Educated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I agree with Microsoft's campaign here. Piracy is rampant with kids nowadays, and they should be educated that downloading or illegaly copying software is wrong, and deprives hard working people of money that they should have been theirs.

    I understand slashdot tolerates and even condones piracy, but it is illegal and kids should know they risk the punishment of law enforcement if they get caught.

  6. Typo in Headline by shadowknot · · Score: 5, Funny
    The headline should read: "Microsoft Launches Comical Effort to Fight Privacy"

    Easy enough mistake to make.

  7. I've heard of this... by staticdaze · · Score: 4, Insightful

    can put unvalidated copies of the software into a reduced-functionality mode Why is this news? This has been done for a while; it's called crippleware. Microsoft just seems to have implemented their own version of it, which will probably suffer the same fate as all other protection mechanisms.
  8. Give us more than ONE FREAKIN KEY by PrescriptionWarning · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Paying 200-300 bucks for a personal installation of windows for only ONE computer is incredibly lame. That may have been fine back in the days of Windows 95 when most households only had one computer because they commonly cost an average of 1500-2000 dollars. Nowadays they are going for less than 500, so it seems more common for families to have 2 or even 3 PCS. Why charge nearly 1000 dollars so they can all "upgrade" for a single house? If they ever expect to sell Vista in the magnitude they desire and get the software behind it in a reasonable timeframe, they NEED to include at least 3 personal keys for each $300 vista license, otherwise they'll have to wait for people to replace their PCs with storebought Vista computers.

    Of course after saying all that, vista upgrades will be so uncommon, buying a new PC will be pretty much the only guaranteed way most people will have Vista at all. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

    1. Re:Give us more than ONE FREAKIN KEY by soft_guy · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is precisely why Apple makes MacOS X, iLife, and iWork available in family packs that cost only marginally more.

      --
      Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
    2. Re:Give us more than ONE FREAKIN KEY by Technician · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why charge nearly 1000 dollars so they can all "upgrade" for a single house?

      A simple site license would be fine. MS office was a couple hundred dollars a copy a few years ago. Novel's Star office was less than a hundred dollars and came with a home site license. Needless to say, I ran Star Office at home for a while until Open Office became better and replaced it.

      In keeping the budget balanced and avoiding piracy, many people find alternatives with better terms. We have more than 1 PC. A single PC license is to be avoided if at all possible. This requirement alone has introduced me to Free Open Software as an affordable replacement to the by each PC a copy model.

      The latest casualty is Light Factory. They went from a Registeration name model to a single PC locked registration. In the process, it broke the hot spare for a live performance. I upgraded to Freestyler in its place.

      Is free software the only ones who get a SOHO network and a cheap site license?

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
  9. What is interesting to me... by HairyCanary · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... is that they think the issue is education. Everyone I know of that pirates software does it quite knowingly. Even my parents, who are 60-70 years old, are fully aware that they are running pirated copies of Windows.

    Does Microsoft (and along the same lines, the RIAA, MPAA, etc) believe education is really the problem? I think it's just marketing to justify the draconian measures (DRM and the like) that they want to use to control as much of our daily lives as they can get away with. If it were really about piracy they'd just correct their business model.

  10. Re:Don't Copy that Floppy! by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 4, Funny

    That campaign was a roaring success: you don't see anyone copying floppies now, do you?

    --
    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.