What Will Vista Piracy Cost You?
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One of the cheapest ways to buy Windows Vista is to steal it. Oh yeah, Microsoft is the seller. |
It's quite a steal, ah deal, actually—and not something Microsoft really publicizes.
When Microsoft introduced its Windows Genuine Advantage program more than two-and-a-half years ago, the company made available lower operating system pricing to victims of piracy. For all the things wrong with WGA, the pricing was right. Customers submitting qualifying documentation could get Windows XP Home for $99 and XP Professional for $149.
But Microsoft didn't initially offer any victim discount for Windows Vista. The company reasoned that there was no real piracy at launch. Microsoft has since made lower pricing available to presumed victims of piracy. Like XP, the deals are surprisingly good compared to the full product versions, although some piracy victims might rightly squawk about having to pay twice for Windows. Is it their fault they got swindled? Why should they have to pay?
I'm pretty sympathetic to that viewpoint. Jack Consumer buys a PC from a local dealer, and it later fails validation. The buyer has two options: Live with Vista warning him the software is counterfeit or pay for another copy. With release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the notices will come hourly, and the desktop color will go to black. Microsoft penalizes that piracy victim for being a victim.
That said, the company does offer attractive pricing for people that want to do the right thing or who are simply annoyed by the persistent counterfeit pop-up messages. Microsoft only sells full versions of the software—no upgrades—but piracy victims can buy up to another version. In other words, a Basic victim could pay $199 for Ultimate.
But yesterday, Alex Kochis, Microsoft's group product manager for Windows Genuine Advantage, told me that few people would buy up version. Most of the Vista piracy is "for Windows Vista Ultimate," he said.
Well, it's nice to know that Vista Ultimate is popular somewhere. It's the pirate's choice. When they steal, they take the best.
That pirated Ultimate version would be a real bargain from Microsoft—half the full version's $400 price. Microsoft may offer the best deal going on genuine Vista, but the company isn't in the business of rewarding casual pirates for their thieving ways, either. Microsoft is looking to ease the burden of would-be piracy victims, who must provide pretty reasonable proof, such as a counterfeit Vista disc.
Burning a copy of a neighbor's Vista install disc won't get many, if any, people a lower-cost Windows version. Besides, the cheapest way to buy legal Windows is the same for Vista as it was for XP: On a new PC.
Related Posts:
- There Is a Good Reason to Get Vista SP1, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 4, 2007
- How Will Microsoft Grow Sales?, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 15, 2007
- What Is the Vista Experience?, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 14, 2007
- Vista Adoption Will Continue at Slow Pace, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 14, 2007
- Vista's Consumer Rocket Ride to the Enterprise, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 8, 2007
- Vista: One Year Later, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 8, 2007
- Microsoft's 'Get Legal' Program, Microsoft Watch, Oct. 2, 2007
- Windows' Genuine 'Crack', Microsoft Watch, August 30, 2007
- You're Not Genuine Enough, Microsoft Watch, August 25, 2007
- Microsoft's 'Big Mac' Pricing, Microsoft Watch, August 6, 2007
- Windows Activation Trojan, Microsoft Watch, May 6, 2007
- One Deactivation Too Many, Microsoft Watch, March 6, 2007
- What's the Worth of Free Vista Tools?, Microsoft Watch, February 20, 2007
- I Was Carded by Windows Vista, Microsoft Watch, February 1, 2007
- Another Vista Activation Crack Appears, Microsoft Watch, December 27, 2006
- Mom's Genuine Holiday Surprise, Microsoft Watch, December 21, 2006
- Vista Anti-piracy Effort Will Drive People to Linux, Microsoft Watch, December 14, 2006
- Vista Crack Means Big Trouble, Microsoft Watch, December 8, 2006
- WGA: Friendly Face, or Saving Face?, Microsoft Watch, November 29, 2006
- My Mother is a Software Pirate, Microsoft Watch, November 14, 2006
Comments (6)
Vista pirated half as much as XP, Microsoft rejoices
http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/04/vista-pirated-half-as-much-as-xp-microsoft-rejoices/
The comments from this link, are perhaps the most telling reaction to Vista from the public I have seen. Some are very interesting.
Posted by chips | December 5, 2007 7:07 PM
I know you folks don't like hearing it because you would prefer to live in a fairy land of wishful thinking and denial but if Microsoft does not obtain permission to use VCSY's patents 6826744 and 7076521, their future on the internet is sealed and we now see Apple is fully prepared to finish them off while MSFT competitors take the internet market away.
Is there any way you people can see Microsoft offering an integration of their applications across other platforms with the internet as the conduit in any other way than through the methods described by VCSY's patents 6826744 and 7076521?
And, in case you haven't bothered to read them, here are some copies:
(link at url)
System and method for generating web sites in an arbitrary object framework
Where "arbitrary" means any code on any platform.
(link at url)
Web-based collaborative data collection system
Where "collaborative" means across any platform with any code.
Not a pretty picture for Microsoft as their technology presence is smothered by competitors as Ballmer and his legal staff play chicken with the family car.
http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_M/threadview?m=tm&bn=12004&tid=1320600&mid=1320739&tof=1&rt=1&frt=1&off=1
Posted by I-Man | December 5, 2007 8:31 PM
So, to make things simple...
First, what happens if the court appointed Mediator fails to assemble a settlement between VCSY and MSFT by March 7, 2008?
Well, his report goes to the judge who begins the process of determining the claims of the patent and the allegations of infringement against those claims. An injunction at that point is a potential remedy the court may apply.
Som this is my argument as to why VCSY will gain an injunction against MSFT during the Markman hearing in early 2008 once VCSY proves to the court material discovered from Microsoft that shows MSFT infringing on patent 6826744. #3 will also have to take into account MSFT is struggling with Software-as-a-Service (after earlier dismissing the concept as inferior to the MSFT Software + Services) as VCSY continues their advance at the forefront of Service-as-a-Software technology which is a major tenet and prediction of patent 744.
>>1. * The plaintiff has demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of the case (i.e., that the patent in issue is valid and infringed).>2. * The plaintiff will be irreparably harmed if the injunction is not issued.>3. * The threatened harm to the plaintiff outweighs the harm the injunction may inflict on the defendant.>4. * The injunction will serve the public interest.<<
Industry reviews of Microsoft SaaS claim MSFT SaaS performance is poor. VCSY technology will provide healthy innovation and increased competition to the software industry, the telco industry, business productivity, efficiency, economy and user richness.
(more at url)
http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_M/threadview?m=tm&bn=12004&tid=1320962&mid=1320962&tof=1&frt=1
Posted by I-Man | December 5, 2007 8:44 PM
"Besides, the cheapest way to buy legal Windows is the same for Vista as it was for XP: On a new PC."
That's probably the best way too. Vista is such a bloated hog it probably wouldn't run well on an older PC anyway. For many, the true cost of Vista is the license fee plus the cost of a new PC.
Now THAT is truly a bad deal.
Posted by Maddog | December 6, 2007 2:25 AM
I don't think that microsoft are so pissed off on pirates as they say they are. This is how they keep their monopoly. Those who can not afford to buy their software will move to OpenOffice and maybe Linux
Posted by dan | December 6, 2007 3:34 PM
in an earlier comment I linked to this topic:
Vista pirated half as much as XP
Which means that some of us, actually remember that Steve Ballmer said that the reason Vista was not selling so well, is because it was being pirated;
http://valleywag.com/tech/vista/steve-ballmer-vs-vista-pirates-237862.php
Steve Ballmer vs. Vista pirates
Quote:
"More interesting was Ballmer's claim that software piracy was to blame for slow(er) sales, particularly in highly buccaneered markets like China and India. Ballmer predicts stronger numbers in those markets due to Vista's impregnable new anti-piracy defenses, which will no doubt cause pirates to reluctantly hang up their cutlasses and start purchasing site licenses en masse. Just like DRM has eradicated music piracy and gotten everyone to start buying CDs again."
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Thanks Steve B. for that amazing insight. LOL
Posted by chips | December 11, 2007 5:21 PM