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$500M Piracy Ring Busted In China

Blahbooboo3 writes "Reported by several news organizations, pirated software worth more than $500 million has been seized by authorities in China as part of a joint operation run by Chinese police and the FBI. Microsoft estimates that the software piracy of an international counterfeiting syndicate, over the past six years, cost the company at least $2 billion in lost software revenue. Microsoft said that key information in the investigation came from its Windows Genuine Advantage program, an anti-piracy system that can check whether an OS is legit. It's generally accepted that Microsoft has done well out of software piracy: it helps products become widely used, and as the market matures, people start to pay for their software. And this has been a major factor in Windows beating Linux in China, as Bill Gates has admitted."

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  1. Re:How convenient by this213 · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    To the mods: How is this redundant to the article? "And Microsoft's own prices have dropped so low it now sells a $3 package of Windows and Office to students." Maybe you should read before you just go pushing buttons