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Microsoft Calls Today Global Anti-Piracy Day

Posted by timothy on from the pirates-live-for-live-cd-distros dept.

arcticstoat points out an article at Custom PC, according to which: "Microsoft has announced that today is Global Anti-Piracy Day. Launching several global initiatives, the aim is to raise awareness of the damage to software innovation that Microsoft says is caused by piracy. ... As well as educating people about piracy, Microsoft has also initiated a huge list of legal proceedings that it's taking out against pirates. Microsoft isn't messing about when it says 'global' either. The list of 49 countries that Microsoft is targeting spans six continents, and ranges from the UK and the US all the way through to Chile, Egypt, Kuwait, Indonesia and China." Interestingly enough, unauthorized copies of Vista might not be harming the company all that much: reader twitter was among several to contribute links to a related story at Computer World which highlights Microsoft attorney Bonnie MacNaughton's acknowledgement that pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista and Office 2003 over 2007.

57 of 500 comments (clear)

  1. Minor correction... by ivan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    [almost everybody prefers] Windows XP over Vista and Office 2003 over 2007

    Fixed that for you...

    1. Re:Minor correction... by xoundmind · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The jokes/reality just write themselves when it comes to M$:
      Their newest product line is so sucky that no one wants to pirate it.
      Now that's an innovative strategy!

    2. Re:Minor correction... by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      2007 isn't that bad. The effing "x" formats are a P.I.T.A but as per usual, the next Office version is a decent incremental upgrade, which will, in due course, be adopted by the business community at large.

      If they followed the same sort of incremental, professional design philosophy with Windows, they wouldn't spend so much time having their user base frothing in hatred and rage.

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
    3. Re:Minor correction... by g253 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That's true. It feels strange to say this sort of things about Microsoft, especially on Slashdot, but Office 2007 is pretty decent software, and the ribbon is -dare I say it?- a clever and even innovative UI approach. (bye bye karma...)

    4. Re:Minor correction... by JCSoRocks · · Score: 4, Informative

      The ribbon appears to be the "next big thing" in Windows UI design. The Windows 7 screens I've seen have even included redesigned Paint and Notepad with the ribbon. This is a pretty big step considering the last time Notepad and Paint were updated was... ummm... yeah, I can't even remember. I'm not saying Paint / Notepad are going to magically make Windows good again, just that they're really pushing the ribbon.

      --
      You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
    5. Re:Minor correction... by TheLinuxSRC · · Score: 5, Funny

      (Unless you are utterly stupid) Office 2007 is much easyer and you can learn it in less than 5 minutes (I teached it myself).

      Oh, the irony.

    6. Re:Minor correction... by mcgrew · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Once you get over the fact that a few things are in different places

      That's one of my biggest gripes about Microsoft! Why in the hell do they DO that??? How stupid do they think we are?

      Pretty stupid, I guess. They take the same damned program, move shit around, rename other shit, add fluff and eye candy and then expect us to buy the sam load of dingo kidneys all over again and...

      Hell, I guess we ARE that stupid. I mean, I have XP on my box.

      We have Offoce 2000 at work. Does Office 2007 do anything Office 2003 doesn't? Or even anything Office 2000 doesn't? What makes it worth the extra Five hundred dollars per license????

      Could this be contributing to our global economic meltdown?

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    7. Re:Minor correction... by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Informative

      My major problems with office 2007 are found within outlook 2007. Firstly they took the IE HTML engine out, and replaced it with the Word HTML rendering engine, which means the HTML support is now extremely crippled. Also, when you want to print an email, the only way to bring up the print dialog is with CTRL+P. Which is fine, once you figure it out, but completely annoying before you do. The only other way to print, is to find the ultra-tiny drop down arrow where the print button is hidden, but that only prints immediately to the default printer, and doesn't let you configure any other options.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    8. Re:Minor correction... by Trevin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      and the ribbon is -dare I say it?- a clever and even innovative UI approachand the ribbon is -dare I say it?- a clever and even innovative UI approach.

      Would this be a good place to mention that it took me at least ten minutes to figure out what they did with the File menu so that I could convert an OOXML document someone sent me into a different file format?

    9. Re:Minor correction... by Txiasaeia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It took me a few minutes to get used to a mouse back in the 80s, too; now that I know how to use one, it's intuitive.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    10. Re:Minor correction... by Cinnaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem with the ribbon is that it assumes that menus and toolbars are not a quick and easy way of finding what you want.

    11. Re:Minor correction... by plague3106 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, hopefully they are going to replace Paint with Paint.Net. That alone would be a huge step in the right direction.

    12. Re:Minor correction... by xant · · Score: 3, Funny

      What irony? This person is clearly a poster child for Office 2007 being easy to use.

      --
      It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
    13. Re:Minor correction... by dotancohen · · Score: 3, Funny

      It took me a few minutes to get used to a mouse back in the 80s, too; now that I know how to use one, it's intuitive.

      On the internet, nobody know that you are a kitten.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    14. Re:Minor correction... by theaveng · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm still using Office 97. I'm just a little bit behind in the times. (Or too cheap to lay-down $200 on a pointless upgrade.)

      >>>Microsoft Calls Today Global Anti-Piracy Day

      Ironically, even as I read this article, I am downloading Stargate Atlantis season 4. What I've seen so far (401-410) was crap, so I'm glad I tried it before wasting money on the stupid DVD. I guess I'm not really feeling the "spirit" of this day.

      --
      FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
    15. Re:Minor correction... by gtall · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, the housing crisis was largely the result of above the board legal activity, that was the problem. There plenty of blame to go around, let's assign it:

      1) American People: those saints who decided it would be wonderful to flip houses, get second mortgages, get mortgages they couldn't afford, take the equity out their houses and piss it off.

      2) The government: created Fannie Mae in the Depression as a response to the gutting of the housing markets. They created Freddie Mac in the 1970's. They also gave these two institutions a virtual monopoly in securitizing loans...which they proceeded to do in wild abandon starting in the 1980s.

      3) The government again: they (in the guise of deregulation) thought the Depression era restrictions on Commercial and Investment Banks was soooo Depression, the U.S. needed a modern banking system.

      4) The Banks: they found they could get in on the housing crisis by making bad loans, creating way over-leveraged "assets", making their books opaque so that than even banks don't now trust each other.

      5) The insurance companies who though credit default swaps were just like house and life insurance. They were wrong...in a very leveraged way.

      6) The Federal Reserve: kept the interest rates waaay too low for waaay too long.

      7) Foreign countries and institutions that thought it would be better to get in on the feeding frenzy rather than keeping their powder dry.

      The list goes on. The problem due to shady or illegal deals was minor. It was all there in black and white.

    16. Re:Minor correction... by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As in I work in IT and it took me 10 minutes to find the Save As option the first time I used the beribboned Office ...

      I use OpenOffice because I can find things on the Menus ....

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    17. Re:Minor correction... by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The story behind the ribbon:

      After each version of Office ships, Microsoft asks a selection of users which features they would like to see in the next version of Office. When they did this after Office 2000, a large percentage of the features users suggested were already-implemented. When they did this for Office 2003, even more already-implemented features were suggested. The conclusion was that Office isn't lacking features, but the UI is so arcane that nobody could find which features it had, or how to use them.

      That's the problem the Ribbon is intended to solve. In actuality, it removed a few features from Office (dealing with custom macro toolbars, IIRC.) I think that it's definitely a move in the right direction. It might not be right for every application, but for programs like Word and Excel that:
      1) Are used by myriads of untrained people
      2) Have craploads of features
      I think it's the right move. For something like Photoshop, point 1 doesn't apply, and for something like Notepad point 2 doesn't apply, so it's not right for every application.

      --
      Comment of the year
    18. Re:Minor correction... by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes,but you seem to be missing the bigger picture. IMHO Office 07 is a perfect example of how MSFT has lost its way. MSFT was first and foremost a business software company. Ever since Ballmer has taken over they have lost their focus because Ballmer wants to be Steve Jobs so bad it hurts. Just let me give a couple of examples: Vista Business-Resource sucking hog and Aero 3d crap on a business OS? WTF? Office 07-great for home users who haven't used Office suites,but for the business users that have been using Office since the days of Office 95 it is simply confusing,and is there even a way to make it go back to the classic menu system? If there is I haven't found it.

      They have seem to completely forgotten since Ballmer took over that businesses are their bread and butter. Businesses are the ones that buy volume and enterprise licenses. Businesses are the ones who pay support contracts. And what folks use at work is what they are going to want at home.IMHO there is a good reason why businesses are skipping Vista,and that is because it simply isn't a business OS. And I have noticed many are skipping Office 07 too,though not as many as Vista. So I hope that MSFT gets the message and makes a Windows 2009 Professional,because if they keep trying to force a home OS on businesses they are going to end up losing a lot of their customers to Apple and Linux. Of course firing Ballmer would be a good idea too,since he seems to want to work at Apple and not MSFT.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    19. Re:Minor correction... by darkpixel2k · · Score: 3, Funny

      I've been putting Ubuntu on anyone's computer who asks me to "fix" it for quite some time now.

      You must run into the occasional irate friend or family member, huh? "I wanted you to fix the margins on my word document you little shit--and here I come back an hour later and you've got this Ubuntu crap on my computer? How come I can't open my finances? Where's Microsoft Money? That's the last straw. I have no son!"

      --
      There's no place like ::1 (I've completed my transition to IPv6)
  2. If it weren't for piracy by BPPG · · Score: 4, Funny

    If it weren't for piracy, there'd be a sizable amount of people that would never even try Vista.

    --
    What's the value of information that you don't know?
    1. Re:If it weren't for piracy by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 5, Funny

      I find it funny that Microsoft feel they have to educate people about piracy. I'm already well aware of the many benefits thank you, Microsoft.

    2. Re:If it weren't for piracy by Ngarrang · · Score: 5, Funny

      I find it funny that Microsoft feel they have to educate people about piracy. I'm already well aware of the many benefits thank you, Microsoft.

      Maybe this Microsoft's way of fighting global warming? By educating more pirates, we insure a healthy planet for our children's children.

      --
      Bearded Dragon
    3. Re:If it weren't for piracy by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm not sure who modded you funny, or why, because you make a very good point. Actually, in the absence of piracy, Windows would have a substantially smaller market share, especially in emerging economies. Microsoft has actually admitted this in the past, and made a pathetic attempt at releasing a shareware version of Windows that could run 3 processes at a time in order to compete with the pirates. Microsoft has to tread very carefully when they try to combat piracy, because the fewer pirated copies of Windows and Office people use, the more copies of Linux/BSD and OpenOffice.org/Google Docs people will use. On the other hand, if Microsoft does not make sufficient efforts to protect its trademarks (and to some degree, copyrights), it could lose them, and that would spell trouble for them too.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    4. Re:If it weren't for piracy by SCHecklerX · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually, if it weren't for piracy, Microsoft would never have dominated the market in the first place. People buy at work what they have used at home. I can't justify paying $500+ for software I use only when re-writing a resume every few years or so.

  3. Is it September 19th? by davidwr · · Score: 3, Funny

    Arrgg!

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Is it September 19th? by flosofl · · Score: 3, Funny

      If it's anti-pirate day, wouldn't that mean today is really Stalk Like a Ninja :)

      --
      "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
  4. RRRRrraaaaa by sxltrex · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does that make it "Talk Like an Anti-Pirate Day?"

    1. Re:RRRRrraaaaa by brouski · · Score: 3, Funny

      !!!!rrrray

      --
      Proud member of the American Non Sequitur Society. We might not make much sense, but boy do we love pizza!
    2. Re:RRRRrraaaaa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually it makes it 'Talk Like A Ninja Day' but /. can't participate since it still doesn't support unicode.

    3. Re:RRRRrraaaaa by basscomm · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you knew who he was, he wouldn't be much of a ninja.

      --
      http://crummysocks.com
  5. For once I agree with MS by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pirates seize Indian vessel with 13 crew members off Somalia

    An Indian cargo ship with 13 sailors on board heading towards Africa was hijacked by armed pirates off the northern coast of Somalia, even as suspense persisted over the fate of Indian crew members of the Hong Kong vessel MV Stolt Valor.

    Somali pirates boarded the ship which was heading to Somalia and hijacked it south of Socotra island over the weekend, an official of the International Maritime Bureau said in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

    The whereabouts of the ship and the fate of the crew members was not known as the maritime bureau received the distress report from a third party on Monday.

    "We are still verifying the time and date of attack," the official said.

    The hijack pushed the number of attacks by pirates this year in Somali coast to 74. A total of 30 ships have been hijacked and 10 remain in the hands of the pirates along with nearly 200 crew members.

    A concerned Indian Government has dispatched a powerful stealth warship to the area as momentum has been growing for coordinated international response to the spate of hijacking being unleashed by Somali pirates using speed boats.

    So I agree, piracy is a terrible problem. Our hearts go out to the families of the missing sailors.

    However, I would think that Microsoft would be more concerned with copyright infringement that piracy. Are they planning an anti-copyright infringement day? September 19th might be appropriate.

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
    1. Re:For once I agree with MS by AKAImBatman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Damn you. You beat me to it!

      To be serious for a moment, does anyone else feel that Microsoft's crusade on software piracy is simply insensitive in the recent wake of high seas piracy? A lot of good men and women are out there getting killed just so companies like Microsoft can deliver their product around the world. Rather than displaying their global conscience and supporting the cause of defeating real piracy, they're worried about a bunch of 12 year olds who harmlessly steal software for kicks! Meanwhile, the vast majority of consumers who use Windows have actually paid for Windows. Repeatedly.

      But that's not good enough for Microsoft, is it? They want to squeeze blood from a stone. Get every last nickel out of those horrible people who miscounted their licenses by one, or the people who load Linux/BSD/Solaris/Plan9 on their machines. (Because, obviously, anyone using Linux is ACTUALLY pirating Windows!)

      You know what? I can't bring myself to care, Microsoft. In fact, I hope your company BURNS for those practices.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    2. Re:For once I agree with MS by ajs · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think you got it wrong. They're talking about the idea of privateering. They're opposed to hiring pirates as mercenaries to fight other countries by proxy. I, for one, am glad to see Microsoft take a stand on this serious issue! In fact, I'm going to go give out duplicated copies of Windows XP to all my friends to show my support!

  6. and... by Dzimas · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm declaring today "Anti Microsoft Day." There. We're even.

    1. Re:and... by houghi · · Score: 5, Funny

      Anti-anti-piracy-day-day

      That'll teach-em

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  7. Well, I'm glad to see Microsoft... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...invest heavily in warships to help protect our shipping lanes. Nothing could be a better use of their money than helping stop the violence inherent in piracy on the high-seas. Already, many American warships are in stand-off confrontations with merchies taken over by pirates. I--

    Sorry, what? This is about software? How Microsoft is concerned about companies who are missing one or two licenses out of 5,000 or 12 year old kids bragging that they got XP off of I13|<p1R4Cy.com? Pfff. In that case, screw 'em.

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  8. Working so far (for me). by Piranhaa · · Score: 4, Funny

    I pledge I will not pirate anything... today

    1. Re:Working so far (for me). by Lobster+Quadrille · · Score: 5, Funny

      I pledge to pirate 3 times as much, to make up for you slackers.

      --
      "The cup is in turn designed for holding hot or cold liquids, and has an open rim and closed base." --US Patent #5425497
  9. sweet by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Know my favorite part of Anti-Piracy Days? The parades. I mean, the parties are nice, and seeing the kids put out the Anti-Piracy decorations, but the parades are what are really great.

    1. Re:sweet by deniable · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey, I hear the '30s are coming back into fashion. There's a buzz on Wall Street.

  10. Fighting software piracy? Excellent idea! by 2muchcoffeeman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Prevent Windows piracy: Use Linux instead!

    --
    Prevent Windows piracy. Use Linux instead.
  11. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  12. Really Sad by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Insightful

    pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista and Office 2003 over 2007

    Its really sad when even Pirates don't like your crap. That's like making a movie which even the pirates don't pirate.

    Think about it, people who can get it for free, don't want it, even as it is free. This is not boding well for Microsoft.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  13. Jumping on the Bandwagon by PinkyDead · · Score: 4, Funny

    After the success of last month's "Talk Like A Pirate Day", this is just Microsoft just trying to cash in on the whole pirate thing.

    Parents can't be expected to shell out for every single pirate related holiday. Enough is enough.

    Anyway, don't Microsoft already have April 1st.

    --
    Genesis 1:32 And God typed :wq!
  14. I pledge... by neowolf · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that I will not pirate Vista. Ever.

  15. FTFAFY by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny
    TFA

    reader twitter was among several to contribute links to a related story

    Should read:

    several readers, all of whom were twitter, contributed links to a related story.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  16. Re:Can they do that? by cosmocain · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why not? You can do that, too. Just stroll around and tell everybody you meet that today's...

    - "Think of the children"-day,
    - "Bad car analogy"-day,
    - "Robotic overlord"-day,
    - "Natalie Portman"-day,
    - "In Soviet russia"-day,
    - "Insensitive clod"-day,
    - "Goatse"-day,
    etc...

    The fact that nobody'll listen to you will just make you feel like MS today. But if they don't care - why should you?

  17. Damage to software innovation caused by Microsoft. by TractorBarry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > raise awareness of the damage to software innovation that Microsoft says is caused by piracy.

    Which fades into insignificance when compared to the damage to software innovation caused by Microsoft !

    --
    Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
  18. Bill Gate's Pirate Name by capnkr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Putting "Bill Gates" in the name field here returns "Smugglin' Hubert Cutler" as the result, appropriately enough... :) Even better, though, "Steve Ballmer" becomes "Sea Monkey Baird"!
     
    Sea Monkey! lol
     
    Hey! Is that a flying chai.. OOF...
     
    ;)

    --
    "...there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can." ~ Mark Twain
  19. Re:Open source games instead of Xbox? by uglyduckling · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "...whenever possible."

  20. Even pirates don't want Vista by elfguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know you have problems when even pirates don't want your software!

    1. Re:Even pirates don't want Vista by ivan256 · · Score: 5, Funny

      You've got that wrong.

      Clearly what's happening is that they made the DRM so good that it's reducing piracy. Right?

  21. Only one day? by Mr_Icon · · Score: 4, Funny

    In contrast, the rest of the world celebrates the remaining 364 piracy days.

    --
    If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
  22. Microsoft calls Global Anti-Piracy Day by David+Gerard · · Score: 3, Funny

    REDMOND, Indian Ocean, Monday - Microsoft has announced that today is "Global Anti-Piracy Day," with the aim to raise awareness of the damage to software innovation caused by robbery and murder on the high seas.

    "Robbery, rape and brutal murder on the high seas is just like people copying that floppy," sobbed billionaire Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "You wouldn't steal a patented software process, why would you steal a cargo ship?"

    Piracy off the coast of Somalia has made these the most dangerous waters for software development in the world. The pirates use hacked zombie PCs, sometimes impounding codebases and programming staff at the point of their Heckler & Koch MP3s and demanding warez before they are released.

    A famous attack late last year against one luxury system was foiled when the crew scared the pirates off with the Righteous Mathematical Stentor, an ear-splitting acoustic device developed in Massachusetts as a "non-lethal" free software advocacy weapon.

    Somali clan leaders have agreed to end over two decades of Unix wars in the country and have made attempts to address the piracy problem. But the tremendous lawlessness off the long eastern Somali coastline reflects the difficulty of controlling the flow of information on the Internet.

    In one breakthrough, pirate chiefs have resolved that they will never pirate Windows Vista or Office 2007. "Not even with your dick."

    --
    http://rocknerd.co.uk
  23. How about Tax Anti-Piracy Day? by ILikeRed · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think someone needs to put together a special day (today would be good) called the Global Tax Anti-Piracy Day!

    Tax Piracy is when you have a company in one country, but then setup a sham company in another country so you can avoid paying your fair share of taxes. These Pirate companies plunder the benefits of the real country of origin, taking advantage of all the infrastructure benefits such as schools, roads, and police - but pay for very little or any of what they take by loopholes in their real country's tax system!

    Just think of the billions of dollars lost by honest companies, and their lost innovation because of these Tax Pirate Companies. Think of the increased taxes that honest companies must pay. Think of the children who can't go to good schools because Pirate companies plundered the public coffers! This is a threat that must be stopped, and the pirate company's officers punished!

    --
    I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress -J Adams
  24. Ribbon not the solution wanted by zooblethorpe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    After each version of Office ships, Microsoft asks a selection of users which features they would like to see in the next version of Office.

    As nabsltd noted above, menus are pretty standard for all other MS-based software -- except for this ribbon garbage in MSO 2007. Now, while I'm generally a fan of software companies listening to their users, the question MS asked and the answers they were given, funnily enough, had nothing to do with completely reworking the menu UI. So basically MS *wasn't* listening. Had they asked instead, "should we completely rework the menu UI?", I rather suspect that most existing users of pre-2007 MSO (i.e., the vast bulk of the potential market for MSO upgrades) would have replied with a resounding "hell, NO!" in consideration of all the time and energy *already* put into learning where the heck everything is. I mean, sheesh, with MSO 2007, they could have at least offered an easily-findable obvious option to toggle back into the older menu structure.

    That's the problem the Ribbon is intended to solve.

    But, sadly, it is not the problem the users faced directly, nor is it the solution they wanted. Which is why so many folks are not a fan of paying through the nose for an "upgrade" that offers no appreciable new functionality while simultaneously guaranteeing hours of frustration as users try to find things again. Whee.

    Cheers,

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."