The blogs in question were giving them free advertising.
That is completely besides the point. Hiding behind "good" intentions usually does not give you the right to break a law on purpose.
The blogs might be giving the albums free advertisement, but maybe the record labels don't want that. What if you have a paedophiliac nazi site giving "free" advertisement to the latest Disney movie. I doubt Disney want that.
Ask the owner before using their material. It's that simple.
This part 'She went home and searched on Google for it and thought she found the website, filled typical registration information, and downloaded OpenOffice.org 3.0.' is what I'm worried about.
If you go to google.de (or google.com) and search for OpenOffice, how in the hell do you get to a scam site without trying any of the numerous download links on the first page (where most of them point to openoffice.org)?
If someone sells a product that purports to protect you against criminals,
As a poster above has already said, Microsoft never sold Windows with the declared intention of stopping criminals. They've added various features which help protect the average user, but that is not the same.
I'm sorry, but why did you buy a door with a lock on it if not to protect against thieves?
I suppose people buy doors for different reasons, but it isn't the responsibility of the average door maker to ensure that every door is burglar-proof. You buy special doors or extra locks for that. Similar to an OS where you either get a special OS or buy extra anti-malware software if you worry about security.
The article would also be true if every instance of MS Word were replaced with OpenOffice. Or the name of an OS. Or a console. Or anything else in the world.
Slashdot Mirror
The blogs in question were giving them free advertising.
That is completely besides the point. Hiding behind "good" intentions usually does not give you the right to break a law on purpose.
The blogs might be giving the albums free advertisement, but maybe the record labels don't want that. What if you have a paedophiliac nazi site giving "free" advertisement to the latest Disney movie. I doubt Disney want that.
Ask the owner before using their material. It's that simple.
This part
'She went home and searched on Google for it and thought she found the website, filled typical registration information, and downloaded OpenOffice.org 3.0.'
is what I'm worried about.
If you go to google.de (or google.com) and search for OpenOffice, how in the hell do you get to a scam site without trying any of the numerous download links on the first page (where most of them point to openoffice.org)?
If someone sells a product that purports to protect you against criminals,
As a poster above has already said, Microsoft never sold Windows with the declared intention of stopping criminals.
They've added various features which help protect the average user, but that is not the same.
I'm sorry, but why did you buy a door with a lock on it if not to protect against thieves?
I suppose people buy doors for different reasons, but it isn't the responsibility of the average door maker to ensure that every door is burglar-proof.
You buy special doors or extra locks for that. Similar to an OS where you either get a special OS or buy extra anti-malware software if you worry about security.
I didn't know that, thanks. Amazing that MS doesn't mention it.
No, what is amazing is that you didn't even try to use the built-in search functionality (which you knew existed) before flaming Vista.
The article would also be true if every instance of MS Word were replaced with OpenOffice.
Or the name of an OS. Or a console. Or anything else in the world.
In other words, the report is garbage.