# How Microsoft is Turning Piracy into Profits



## lotuseclat79 (Sep 12, 2003)

How Microsoft is Turning Piracy into Profits (Video).

*Wired's Chris Anderson explains the recent phenomenon of making lots of money by charging nothing.*

-- Tom


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Couldn't get the player at that link to work.

I did find another video by Anderson....but he's not claiming MS turns piracy into profits.....he's addressing how MS provides a product that users would pay for and competes with software that is offered for free.
Quite a big difference in concept to the title you posted.






Worth watching, imo and realistic.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

The first link plays fine for me.


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

I get to the play button in the center and nothing happens from there on.
I did search for a video at youtube by the same title and nothing came up.
The link I posted is the closest match that I could find.


edit: just found the element in NoScript that I need to check off on and am watching the video currently.


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

I see the concept Anderson was addressing.....but it's unique to China in that it's building a market that will eventually be able to afford their software.
It wouldn't apply to a business model, like in the US, where there is already a mature market and a consumer base able to afford a MS product.

The link I posted would be oriented to such a market as the US.


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## Mumbodog (Oct 3, 2007)

That has been Microsofts philosiphy for a long time, it worked here in the USA very well.

Its kind of like drug dealing, let them have if for free, get them hooked, then make them pay, can your say WGA, I knew you could.

Genius marketing that does not cost a dime in the long run.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I agree, Microsoft didn't make any efforts to prevent piracy until XP was well entrenched. It was very easy to copy all the previous versions of Windows and use all the capabilities. It was only after they had a lock on the market they decided it was time to start with the big profits. Office was the same way, prior to Office 2003, you could pretty freely copy and install it with no issues.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Now the game plan seems to be to change the looks of the GUI ... Move all the tools around .. 
And start an Ad campaign to convince everyone they must have the new version and pay for what should have been a free SP.

When's the next new version due after W7 ??? ... Two years ???


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I may stick with W7 for some time, I've had all the change I can stand.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

I've played with Vista and have a couple months looking at W7.
More Toys n Gadgets .. Less Tools .. With each new version ???

It looks downhill to me ... I'm sticking with XP.
I just don't understand the game plan ????


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## win2kpro (Jul 19, 2005)

Microsoft has not pushed the pirated software issue in developing Countries to keep people from going to Linux as an alternative.

About 3 years ago MS came out with a stripped down version of XP called XP Starter Edition to get people in developing Countries accustomed to MS software. XP Starter Edition was sold in developing Countries for $5-$10 USD.

MS pretended to ignore Linux, however the fact that a number of Countries that were switching to Linux was really a thorn in the side of MS.

http://linuxologist.com/linux-general/10-governments-running-linux-you-probably-didnt-know-about/

I recall reading an article a couple of years ago (I didn't save the aricle) but MS found that the Government of Thailand's agencies was using pirated MS software almost exclusively. At that time MS made a deal with the Goverment of Thailand that MS would validate all the pirated MS systems for $1 USD to stop Thailand from switching to Linux.

Even in the U.S. MS was fighting hard to retain their hold on MS Office since it had always been a "cash cow" for MS and more and more people were switching to Open Office. In the past MS had always been very protective of student/teacher version of office, but I don't know if anyone noticed, but Dell and other mass producers were offering the Academic version of office in their retail configurations, and they sure as hell wern't checking to make sure that the Academic version of office was strictly being used by students and teachers.

Even today Newegg is selling the Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Licensed for 3 PCs for $129.95 and even as late as August 2009 Newegg was selling that version for $79.95

MS will now do whatever it takes to continue to try to hold on to their market share.


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