Microsoft spooks software customers about dangerous pirates One in four people surveyed by Microsoft think that pirated versions of software are as “safe” to use as the legit copy. Of course, Microsoft didn’t shape its latest opportunistic “piracy is bad” press release in quite such a negative (for Redmond, at least) way. Instead it preferred to say that – of the 38,000 peeps in 20 …
...it is possible to pirate software there too. And you appear to have confused a kernel with a software movement. Linux tends to be synonymous with "open source" and that does not mean "free" (although it often is).
Furthermore, if one did switched to F/OSS (assuming an analogue existed for whatever MS solution was being replaced) there have been issues with F/OSS code held in the repositories (e.g. Unreal IRCd) as well as known exploits for F/OSS software.
That said, F/OSS tends to be pretty open about bugs/exploits and that at least allows people to respond to them (good and bad people...)
The feckless wasters will always get caught out no matter what system they are on.
And as for "safety", it's more about the people. People pick the tool, people configure the tool and people use the tool. They need the correct training and knowledge.
"One in three people surveyed by Microsoft think that pirated versions of software are as “safe” to use as the legit copy."
And those one in three people are right 99% of the time. Most pirated software is just a straight copy of legit software. Some pirated software is used as a blind to distribute malware, but it is in the minority. Funnily enough it's attempts at copy protection that have made the situation worse. For example, it is fairly easy to bypass a lot of copy protection by preventing the software from calling home. Do this, however, and you may make it impossible for the software to receive updates. This is a downright stupid move on the part of the software houses. They need to realise that software will always be pirated and preventing pirated software from accessing security updates *will* increase the propagation of malware. It's no good saying it's the fault of the pirates, the fact remains that by their actions the software houses are causing the propagtion of malware.
No, you won't need a copy of Powerpoint, legit or pie-rat.
MS offer viewers, for example:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=048dc840-14e1-467d-8dca-19d2a8fd7485&displaylang=en
Otherwise, there's always OpenOffice, which is probably fine to see the doubloons, parrots and pieces of eight, even if the rendering isn't always perfect.
I bet Microsoft used the typical stereotype of a spotty heathen in a tracksuit flogging Windows 7 copies in the pub, when in actual fact it's most likely going to be cousin Dave or Carl from Currys, who's never there when you want to complain.
Pirates keep the world going round, they're people who stand up for the concept of a free internet, whether right or wrong.
MS claimed that the respondents offered “resounding support” for government and industry officials to take action against pirates.
Respondents of various questionnaires would certainly offer "resounding support" for any pea-brained scheme coming from any cammarilla of Armani-dressed government/industry officials. They would even happily wear a brassard to show their allegiance.
Three-to-one is not the inverse of one in three. It's the inverse of one in four.
So if you're going on the statement in MS's press release ("By a three-to-one margin, consumers agreed that it is not as safe to use as genuine software."), then you meant to say that one in four consumers consider counterfeit software "safe".
The "real danger" quote is misleading too: to retain the same meaning you should have quoted "see real danger" as this is a survey of perception, not any form of empirical study. I'll grant, however, that Microsoft deserves a hefty share of the blame for that latter one, as it appears from their presentation that they're trying to pass of a survey of consumers' perceptions as something other than a useless pile of ... meaningless numbers.
I have been in the computer industr both software and hardware for 30 years, and I can honestly tell you that you are in far greator danger of Identity theft and abuse of personal information by registering software, that you would ever be by using pirated software.
Corporations such as microsoft sell this information to other parties, and cross link it with your internet activities because there is money to be made for them. But that money is being made at YOUR expense. You have to deal with the telemarketers, you have to deal with the spam, and the pop up advertisements and YOU are the one paying for the eloectricity, and internet connection.
Everytime you are asked to provide your personal information to a store, or any other company so they can "better serve you" and maybe reduce your bill by $20, keep in mind that your personal information equates to roughly $3000 in value.
The best thing to do is purchase the software, but to use a pirated copy, so you can at least prove you paid for it. and ALWAYS remain anonymous on the internet. It's the only way to protect yourself.
So, yeah, a 3:1 margin is not 1 in 3, it is 1 in 4. It's shocking to me that people are that ill-informed. Honestly, I'm sure AC is right, most of the software on the sites is perfectly safe, at least as much as the properly-paid-for version is.
I'm with John G Imrie though, people ask me about Office, I point out OpenOffice is free and open source, and point out that means not only free in cost but also that anyone can make improvements to the software, make copies for friends or whoever they want, and so on. If they want Windows (usually to go from some out-of-date version of Windows to a newer one) I point out Ubuntu (and point out the free & open source, as well as that it has not had the virus problems, software updates itself so there's not like 20 different programs asking you to update them, it's faster, and so on.) . If they still want Office or Windows, I then inform them that Office or Windows costs $100s, and that no, with alternatives that are both better and free on the market, I won't help them find a "free" copy, it's $100s and they can get it in the store if they want. So far every one of them has gone for OpenOffice instead of Office and been pleased with it, and a few have upgraded to Ubuntu (with the rest staying on whatever obsolete Windows version they already had). A few of these people actually DID think Windows or Office was free, it really gets them pissed at Microsoft when they realize how much of the cash they thought was paying for computers was actually hoovered straight into Microsoft's bank accounts.
MS' stuff is pretty straight forward to install, as some have pointed out, but some software houses push legitimate users into obtaining cracked versions of their products due to their overtly obtuse copy protection.
Adobe were one of the biggest offenders. I remember trying to perform an automated install of Photoshop CS2 in a school from Group Policy Management. This should have been a simple, quick and painless process. Instead, the software insisted the serial being entered POST install, and then attempted to dial home on a port number that was blocked by our schools ISP (East Mmidlands Broadband Consortium provided this weird quasi ISP/intranet service over which we had no control).
All this resulted in the software popping up a screen with a whacking great long code and a phone number, insisting that you ring Adobe to register. Naturally, I'm going to run round 420 computers phoning up Adobe? Yeah, right.
After spending the best part of 2 days wresting with msi re-packaging software, I went home, downloaded a cracked version, and brought that into the school. After thoroughly virus checking, a few minutes with an msi editor, and it worked like a charm. We’d paid for 420 licenses. We'd successfully deployed dozens of other packages in the same manner; therefore the installation system was clearly not fit for purpose.
It wasn’t even fit for the purpose of preventing piracy, since clearly some coder had stripped the crippleware from the installer in less than an hour. But like so many pirated versions of legitimate media, it isn’t just free, it’s a superior version!
Only had a dial-up modem and Steam wanted to download about a GIG worth of "updates". What's worse is that games such as these don't warn you of the downloading overhead required when registering legitimately. They want your money. They don't give a rat's ass that you might live in a country with expensive or non-existent broadband.
And that run has been quite long, I have a feeling Microsoft has gained more on "allowing" piracy than seriously trying to prevent it. And I think Microsoft is the pirate number one in forcing Windows on every damned PC you can find.
And bye the way a "software customer" sound like one who has paid for the software.
Perhaps the problem is customers who feel "take three, pay for one", is the thing to consider, but then again, what kind of "piracy" problems would such a customer have.
Perhaps, one day, and I look forward for that day, Microsoft will offer Windows as a free download like IBM with SMERCH or was it SMAK or something, I cannot remember.
And a download was what ever it was then, floppy or CD, perhaps.
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