Monday, June 19, 2006

Help Microsoft, get smacked for it


In a week were we have seen the two sides of Bill Gates exposed by the press ad nauseam, it is refreshing to see Microsoft do some of the stupid things why we love them for. The Beta version of the long-awaited/feared/loathed Windows Vista has been released to testers, with Microsoft sending large numbers of DVD-ROM discs to beta testers, or having them wait long times for downloading. A couple of enterprising guys decided to help out Microsoft and set-up a Windows Vista torrent, so that the effort of downloading the large files could be distributed and shared across the network. But that won't do, how dare these people share a microsoft product without permission? Enter Microsoft's lawyers:

"Microsoft has received information that the domain listed above, which appears to be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed copies of, or is engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted works published by Microsoft."
It seems to me like a boiler-plate take-down notice. , but what is more worrying is that this is not something done by hackers, crackers and/or pirates, it was done by members of the Windows beta-testing community willing to help Microsoft with the new operating system. Their statement says it all, really:
"As long-standing members of the Windows community, we would have much rather worked with Microsoft directly on this matter than to have circumvented established protocol. We have plenty of Windows Vista Feedback to share - and our feedback list gets longer by the day. We want to encourage all Microsoft Windows users to obtain the software through safe and trusted distribution channels."
*SIGH!*

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