BusinessWeek Advocates Microsoft Piracy

xzvf writes "In a lengthy editorial, BusinessWeek advocates allowing users in China and India to pirate Microsoft software so that it can obtain the same level of market share there as it has in the US and Europe. From the piece: 'If Microsoft succeeds in discouraging piracy of Windows in China and India, it is far more likely to drive the user of the pirated software into the Linux camp than it is to steer them into the land of paid-up Windows users. Microsoft's IP management strategy in China and India should instead focus on securing the victory of Windows on the desktops of all PC users. That may require deliberately lax enforcement efforts against pirated copies of Windows for the short and medium term. Only after the Linux threat lessens might Microsoft have the luxury of tightening up piracy protections, as it is now doing in the West. Microsoft can afford to be patient.'"

Comments

Microsoft has already said this

[puck13]

This isn't news. MS has already (unofficially) said they'd rather India and China used their software illegally than use the competition.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.j html?articleID=198000211

Whew, my hopes are confirmed

[WebCowboy]

..it pays to R past the end of TFA sometimes:

Henry Chesbrough is Executive Director of the Center for Open Innovation at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is the author of Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape (Harvard Business School Press, 2006). He is an authority on open innovation, open business models, and more open approaches to intellectual property management.

'twas a masterful troll Mr. Chesbrough. Jonathan Swift would be proud.