Microsoft Unconcerned About VISTA Piracy
Not to make light of IP abuse in China, which is rampant and discourages innovation by reducing the rewards associated with creativity, but it is safe to say Microsoft can sleep well knowing no one will be buying fake versions of Vista.
About two months ago I bought a new computer, and even considered switching over to Mac, primarily because they don’t sell computers with XP anymore. In the end I bought a Toshiba, which has been great…except for the operating system.
I feel like a computer expert could explain to me why Vista is better. However, there are no advantages I have been able to detect. My computer has crashed several times, and the only neat part is that I can log on using my fingerprint. But to be honest, typing in a password isn’t that hard. So it’s one of those deals where people tell you the new product is better, but as a consumer it seems to be clearly worse.
Then the other day I was on the NY Times website and saw an ad making fun of Vista. My interest was piqued and when I clicked through (as Vista froze up, almost as if it knew I was going over to the dark side) I discovered it was an ad for Mac’s Leopard operating system. I suspected it was part of a broader campaign, and managed to find the TV spot:
Needless to say, it’s a brilliant campaign, and I haven’t met any Chinese people rushing to steal Vista’s technology.
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Yuefei responds:
Posted: December 17th, 2007 at 4:42 am →
Microsoft Research Asia contributed a great deal to VISTA. Kai Fu Lee who is now the President of Google China started the research lab and today the lab has become a very important source of innovation for the company. See more on the research lab here:
http://research.microsoft.com/research/china/MSRAOverView.aspx
If you’re interested in China’s homegrown OS initiative:
http://english.pladaily.com.cn/site2/columns/2006
While most have exited the OS market, its good to see others enter the market. As most would agree, I think there are still innovations out there that could make a computer easier and more productive. I wonder if it supports English?
Concerning piracy in China, over the past couple of years in Beijing, I have come across fewer and fewer stores blatantly selling pirated software. In 2005, you could walk into most computer markets and see a library of pirated titles. Not the case now.