Microsoft to Hit Pirates in China
China is notorious for pirating software and Windows 8 is no different. Microsoft announced they will go heavy on 16 resellers of Microsoft products with pirated Windows 8.
Despite Microsoft’s attempts to talk some sense into some Chinese resellers, piracy still continues, and Microsoft is determined to take legal action.
At a meeting of US president Barack Obama and Chinese president Hu Jintao last year, Steve Balmer claimed that only 10 percent of Windows in China are fully licensed. Microsoft makes about 5 percent of revenue comparing to US market with almost identical sales. Microsoft’s vice president Nick Psyhogeos in China earlier today revealed that 91 percent of Windows offered in China today had some sort of malware. 72 percent of computers in China with pirated Windows have browser settings altered in a way to lead unsuspected users to ilegal sites in attempt to fish for financial data and other sensitive information.
Windows 8 is of course new and more secure OS, therefore harder to crack. Psyhogeos added,
” … we are aware though that software pirates are smart, and they have a way to react and respond to any technological advancement we might introduce.”
Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft will try something that has not been done before. It will try to appeal to Chinese people and their sense or right and wrong. This will not be an easy task as bootlegged software market is three times as big as legitimate one. Microsoft is also asking HP, Lenovo and Acer to carry out their own inquiries and step hard on their fraudulent distributors.
Apart from Legal action against the retailers and distributors, Microsoft will handle business and government on a subscription basis.
“It’s incredibly hard to use software illicitly in the cloud model, so for us particularly in jurisdictions where we have a high degree of piracy, it’s an opportunity we are very excited about,” said Mark Taylor, Microsoft’s general manager of DPE for the Greater China Region on the sidelines of a conference last month.
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