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Piracy Built the Romanian IT Industry
An anonymous reader submitted a link to a Washington Post article about a very interesting press conference. Romanian President Traian Basescu stood up in front of international press and discussed the role pirated Microsoft software played in bringing about the IT industry in the country. The other big player at the press conference was Microsoft chair Bill Gates. Gates' company was opening a technical center in Bucharest, and he declined to comment on the president's remarks. Romania passed anti-piracy laws nearly 10 years ago, but nearly 70 percent of software used in the country continues to be of an illicit nature.
Communists are just too poor to buy it legally, and the government encourages piracy rather than help capitalist businessmen.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
Romania passed anti-piracy laws nearly 10 years ago, but nearly 70 percent of software used in the country continues to be of an illicit nature.
It seems to me that much more than 70% of EVERYTHING done in that country is of an illicit nature. Phishing, ebay fraud, virus creation, drive by trojan-installing websites, credit card theft, identity theft, child porn, spamming, boasting about spamming, fake escrow companies, fake banks, money laundering Etc. etc.
The only time I ever hear about anything from Romania it's usually tied to some illicit operation, and the conclusion is always the same: this is the way life is in Romania. Period. Nobody will ever change it. It's aggravating.
While I expect several non-illegal Romanians to chime in that that's a generalist statement, I have a lot of evidence to back all of that up, as do most international law enforcement entities.
Their IT "industry" claims would be awesome if more of it was involved in legitimate business. It's disappointing that even their own government doesn't seem to care about their reputation as an illegal, corrupt haven for criminals of every stripe.
SiL
-- SiL / IKS / concerned citizen
I spent a few months there a couple years ago. I haven't seen any properly licensed software being used. Not once. NEVER!
... it would become clear to you if you spent a couple days walking around the Redmond campus.
People invariably looked at me funny when I even mentioned this. (And, no, I don't mean just home users for whom the $200 that Microsoft wants would represent most of a month's wages.)
As to why MS would open a tech centre in Bucharest
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
i can imagine him sitting their gritting his teeth at that comment "how dare he speak the truth!" blamer probably threw a chair in the background. face it bill, people know your OS is fuckin worthless.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....