Slashdot Log In
Windows 7 Leaked To Pirates By Microsoft?
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Fri Jan 02, 2009 03:55 PM
from the viral-marketing-usually-comes-back-to-bite-you dept.
from the viral-marketing-usually-comes-back-to-bite-you dept.
nandemoari writes "The beta version of Windows 7 has been widely distributed through torrents and other file sharing systems. But now some commentators claim Microsoft deliberately allowed the package to get into the hands of pirates. 'I'm not being critical here, as some Microsoft Watch commenters will surely claim. It's rather smart marketing. Microsoft fills a big news void with something bloggers and journalists will write about. The suspense of stealth downloads from torrents and races to post the best screenshots first make the Windows 7 leak buzz all the more exciting. For other people, there is delight in seeing Microsoft squirm because Seven leaked early. Not that I see much squirming going on.'"
Related Stories
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
tag: hypocrisy? (Score:5, Informative)
Hmm... let's see ... pirated software, where even having it is proof that it's pirated, as it's not released yet. And yesterday's news on WGA convictions. [slashdot.org]
That's not hypocrisy -- that's a trojan horse.
nonsense (Score:3, Insightful)
FTA:
In theory this is bad news for Microsoft: it would represent mass piracy and lost revenue.
Huh? A beta copy of Windows 7 represents mass piracy and lost revenue? The beta expires in July anyway, even if it's production quality. I guess any tripe will get posted on Slashdot if it's anti-Microsoft.
Re:tag: hypocrisy? (Score:4, Interesting)
There's one thing you're not quite taking into consideration: patents. MS can't release anything in any form (including beta) and then file for a patent. They need to file for the patents first, and only once the paperwork hits the US PTO can they release a beta.
They may have a claim here that they didn't really release it, so it probably won't count against them when it comes time to file patents.
Parent
Re:tag: hypocrisy? (Score:5, Informative)
There's one thing you're not quite taking into consideration: patents. MS can't release anything in any form (including beta) and then file for a patent. They need to file for the patents first, and only once the paperwork hits the US PTO can they release a beta.
Another piece of advice: don't rely on random dudes on slashdot for legal advice, including me:
From http://www.bitlaw.com/patent/requirements.html [bitlaw.com]:
In order for an invention to be patentable, it must be new as defined in the patent law. This novelty requirement states that an invention cannot be patented if certain public disclosures of the invention have been made. The statute which explains when a public disclosure has been made (35 U.S.C. Section 102) is complicated and often requires a detailed analysis of the facts and the law. The most important rule, however, is that an invention will not normally be patentable if:
So as long as you file within a year of disclosure, you can still get a patent.
Parent
Re:tag: hypocrisy? (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't that what is happening with Vista right now ?
Parent
Re:tag: hypocrisy? (Score:4, Informative)
They did this with Window 95 as well. If a 16 Bit application checked the version number for Windows 95, Windows returned the version number 3.95. This was because idiot programmers do idiotic things like hardcode version checks. I feel somewhat dirty now having defended Microsoft. Maybe I'll feel better if I call them Micro$oft once. ;-)
Parent
Re:tag: hypocrisy? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why not? It's not like career software pirates are known for their exceptional taste. They'll run any zero-day operating system upload they can get their hands just so they can call themselves 'leet.
Parent
I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:3, Interesting)
The copy which is available has a built-in 30 day time limit and, unlike previous editions of Windows 7, 'enthusiasts' don't seem to have found a way around this yet. While this is pretty normal practice for test editions, it would make it possible for Microsoft to leak the software without it affecting the final product.
Anyone tried to reset the clock yet?
On another note, since virtually all of the market for MS Vista is folks who buy a new computer (that isn't a Mac), what good is it to MS to offer something like this up? Is it in the hope that developers will bite? Is this some attrition for Vista?
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:5, Interesting)
Also the fact that literally nothing was in the same place as it was in XP meaning there was a learning curve right out of the box in finding where the settings have been moved to. I know I got a bit more than frustrated when I tried to actually do anything in Vista. It wasn't because it was slow, (I didn't really notice it being "fast" either) but everything was renamed and/or moved around so much it made changing things a bit of a hunt and peck routine I haven't had since Win95.
Parent
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand, I was _pleasantly_ surprised to see that they'd changed "Documents and Settings/.../My Documents" into "Users/../Documents", finally making it unnecessary to deal with those damn spaces in every single file path in the home directory. *huge* improvement, or rather, finally a fix to a rather annoying screw-up (imho).
(sure, software should be able to handle the spaces, but if you do any amount of work on the command-line i'm sure you'll agree sometimes it doesn't seem worth the extra effort required)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
drivers and software in general. Vanilla vista ran pretty well on old or budget computers, give or take some crappy intel GPUs that made even XP lag some... But OEMs would bundle it with anti-virus softwares that had known performance issues in Vista, versions of Nero that were incompatible, same with codecs... it really trashed the performance. AVG, one of the more popular free anti-virus, had serious issues with Vista back then (not sure about now, didn't hear anything about it in a while). That really hu
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:5, Interesting)
I've never yet had to use Vista myself, but in my limited experience helping friends who do use it, the "budget laptops" issue looks to be a serious one. A friend of mine was given a budget laptop for work, but he couldn't get wireless networking to work and asked me for help.
The first thing I noticed was that it took something ridiculous like 10 minutes to start up, and was incredibly slow even when no applications were running. So I went to the "System" control panel, and discovered the laptop had only 384MB of RAM.
So...it's a new laptop, that ships with Vista, and it falls short of Vista's minimum RAM requirements? I never did figure that one out.
I finally told him that the first thing he needed to do before I could help him was to get a laptop that met or exceeded Vista's minimum system requirements. I didn't hear anything about it after that.
Parent
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:5, Insightful)
Chances are, it meets Vista's physical RAM requirement of 512, and is just taking that much for video.
Parent
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:5, Interesting)
More of an addendum than anything else... XP released at a time when 32-128MB of RAM on a system was fairly standard. XP required 64MB as a minimum to install, and didn't really start running very well until you had at least 256MB, which happened at large in the consumer market about 6 months after XP hit the shelves.
Vista released when 512MB-1GB was fairly standard. It runs poorly on anything less than 2GB. It's the same problem that XP had when it first released... now that new computers are generally coming with 2GB at a minimum, and 6 or 8GB is available from most major manufacturers, Vista's performance has reached acceptable levels.
I think the problem is that Microsoft has been providing its developers with very powerful workstations to design software on. Maybe for the next major releases of Office and Windows, they should replace all the workstations with '486 DX/66 with 16MB of RAM.... Hopefully then they'll learn the meaning of lean code again.
Parent
Re:I guess thats one way to get Beta Testers (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
If authenticode is cracked this time, there will B (Score:4, Interesting)
I wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole, even if they were reviewed file for file for viruses and you ran a firewall that blocked outbound connections like Comodo or Zonealarm, because if they want to create a zombie machine, they'll do it using SSL for the control channel.
Windows 7 can't be patched online yet, but after release if these sites have copies that can be, then I doubt Microsoft would be so happy.
As to whether or not this is some MS developers idea of a viral marketing campaign: we give those guys in redmond too much credit. I don't think they like seeing it in the wild, esp. with the comments flowing in about how it's no better than Vista.
Re:If authenticode is cracked this time, there wil (Score:3, Funny)
Wait.. I thought windows 7 WAS window vista; It was a trick to get some dumb model/actors to actually try it and say nice things on "hidden" camera.
Win7 commercial... with more knowledgeable people. (Score:4, Funny)
Joe SixPack: Sick!
Soccer Mom: Oh, my God!
Joe Average: Wow! It's like, you know.... Stuff!
Barbie Doll: Totally!
Announcer: The new Windows 7 will revolutionize how people use PCs. The system has been designed from scratch to run smoothly on a mere 4 Gigabyte of RAM!
Joe SixPack: What's that?
Barbie Doll: 4 Gigabyte is like, 2 gallons or something.
Joe Average: Feels faster than my AOL.
Announcer: Dont take our word for it. Visit Win7.MojaveProject.Microsoft.com and test drive the new Windows. Experience what so many other people have already experienced!
Parent
Re:If authenticode is cracked this time, there wil (Score:5, Informative)
I may be misunderstanding you, but Authenticode is a technology used to verify the publisher of binaries so that there is some assurance "lol32.exe" is worth running.
As such, Authenticode isn't an anti-piracy feature insamuch as its an anti-malware feature. As and end user, you'd not want want this to be busted.
You may be thinking of WGA and WPA, the former being the "Genuine Advantage" stuff that Windows Update and MS Download center look for, and the latter being Product Activation [that cares about keys and key activation, etc].
The latter two are most certainly anti-piracy features and confer no functional/usability advantages to the enduser who isn't concerned with the legality/legitimacy of their installation.
Parent
Re:If authenticode is cracked this time, there wil (Score:4, Interesting)
You're a little too paranoid.
I trust the pirates and torrents FAR more than the software companys.
One works to screw me over all the time. The other has never let me down.
Parent
Re:If authenticode is cracked this time, there wil (Score:4, Insightful)
One is a public entity that needs consumer trust to stay in business, and can be brought to court if they harm their users.
The other one is under no obligation to you the user, is anonymous and unfindable, has demonstrably shady ethics, and can only make money from their work by doing something like bundling malware with it.
I'm not saying all cracked software you find on torrent trackers includes malware, but about half the malware infections I clean off of friends' computers got there through installation of NoCD cracks or pirated software that included a Trojan.
Parent
Windows 7 Rap (Score:4, Funny)
But they ain't wrigglin'
Cause they leaked 7 on the Bay
Seen sunshine and made hay
Now bloggers are talkin 'bout
That the new OS is out
But I see a frown
Cause their computer is down!
Forgot something... (Score:5, Funny)
Burma Shave.
Parent
I'll take you on... (Score:5, Informative)
Dat win dose's still crapin',
N' all the bloggers yappin',
Then watchin' pr0n n' fappin'.
Looks like Microsoft has grown a pair,
Taken on to torrents outa despair,
Thus the new OS' come to be,
The great Windows 7 conspiracy.
Some say 't looks similar to KDE,
N' other things based on BSD.
But I really dun give a shiz,
'Bout Aero, Aqua OR Compiz.
Just wanna have all my apps,
Run smooth as ass on x86.
peace
Parent
Re:Windows 7 Rap (Score:4, Interesting)
Metamoderation seems to be broken. All I ever get is a bunch of unmoderated comments, with poorly-defined +- options. If the comments are not yet moderated it is hardly metamoderation.
Parent
Well, I'm convinced. (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't doubt they did leak it on purpose...but TFA gives no evidence...save some personal projecting.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Well, I'm convinced. (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean a journalist whose sole job is to report on Microsoft is making a baseless claim to get attention and traffic to her website? I'm shocked!
Parent
Re:Well, I'm convinced. (Score:4, Interesting)
The kicker is that the baseless claim she made was that Microsoft did something to whore attention without any fundamental basis ("performance improvements"!?! Where is that new filesystem we were promised back in 2001?)
OH THE IRONING!
Parent
then why (Score:5, Informative)
would microsoft send me a take down notice to remove windows 7 files uploaded onto our hosting servers by one of our customers last week?
Re:then why (Score:5, Funny)
would microsoft send me a take down notice to remove windows 7 files uploaded onto our hosting servers by one of our customers last week?
Because this is supposed to be black ops. Not even Microsoft knows they're doing it.
Still - this is all just hot air. There is no way we will ever know whether MS leaked 7 on purpose or not.
Parent
Re:then why (Score:5, Interesting)
Because the clever marketing people who 'leaked' the beta do not communicate with the licensing and piracy teams.
Parent
Re:then why (Score:4, Interesting)
1) It's Microsoft. Frequently, left hand and right hand are barely acquainted. And in this case, they've probably deliberately been kept apart.
2) Like a magician, they're making a big show to distract you, so you don't notice what they're up to with their other hand.
3) They have to be SEEN to be doing the right thing, even if they're not. And they wouldn't be alone in this, there's a lot of ot about. Can somebody remind me of the fairly well-known American band whose album got leaked before release to torrent sites last year, causing takedown notices aplenty, only for it to transpire that the person who leaked it was their manager?
Parent
I RTFA (Score:4, Insightful)
And there is about zero substantiation. No unnamed sources. No evidence.
Slashdot -- speculation for nerds and rumors that matter.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's obviously a slow news day here, and I'd much rather see rumors than more idle.
If you come here for the quality journalism, well... I've got some bad news for you...
PR (Score:4, Interesting)
Leaked videos! (Score:5, Funny)
Here is a link to leaked videos of the KDE 4.2 beta!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg0ma-qKHrM [youtube.com]
There are numerous of those on that site, Youtube.
It should by posted under "Threats for '09" (Score:5, Funny)
Windows 7 has been widely distributed through torrents
Does that qualify as a distributed virus attack?
This is so exciting! (Score:5, Funny)
Waiting for Windows 7 is like waiting for the new Ford Taurus to come out!
-jcr
Ha, I've practically had it foisted on me (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway, that's what I heard from one of their employees. But it's not a new thing, I've known a lot of folks who would tell me, off the record, that they know they're a little too "carefree" with their software for many years. The general thought there is that they'd rather have their stuff pirated than not used, but the business folks and shareholders wanted the WGA crap inserted to make themselves feel better. While taking a very broad shot at the pirates that were burning, repackaging, and reselling their stuff. Those are the types of pirates that pretty much anyone can agree are assholes.
Welcome to the internet (Score:4, Interesting)
I am seriously amazed this is news. This has been happening almost as long as piracy has been around. I used to release for several groups, and helped run sites. We had several people who were friends with industry people (sometimes software producers (but this was rarer), mostly movies/music/tv). This is how we got PRE's ages before the movie/album/show was released. There were instances of people stealing the property, but this was unsustainable and so those people were only able to provide us with 1 or so releases. The people who continually delivered were often from the marketing/producers/execs from the big parent companies and similar. However, there were some people who worked in development, or at cd presses, however this was a much smaller subset of releasers, as this section always got the most scrutiny on security.
I am perpetually amazed by how little people actually know about the scene. It provides us with so much awesome, yet very few people understand it.
History repeats itself--think back to Win95... (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, Windows 7 needs to deliver just like Win95 did in terms of app compatibility, drivers, and improvements...
Oh, and for the guy above who said that Vista's driver issue has improved--it really hasn't. People just replaced their older hardware, so the improvement is mostly perception.
Common tactic (Score:5, Informative)
This appears to be a common tactic for television producers. Around pre-season times there is an inevitable leak of almost all new shows that would appeal to the demographic that would know how to download them. This is in fact quite smart because they probably realize:
1)If these people will download a pre-air, they're probably going to download the regular show too, so downloading now or later has the same effect
2)People are going to talk about the show and give feedback
3)Leak it early enough and you might have a chance to tweak some things
now a TV show and operating system are in different places all together..but the concept is the same..
Buzz?!?!? (Score:3, Funny)
Did they leak the beta intentionally? Of course they did. It's a great way to generate buzz about the new OS for virtually no cost.
Buzzz?!?!? You get excited about Windows?!? ... Pervert!
Re:Buzz?!?!? (Score:5, Funny)
Perversions make this life fun :)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
if you s/Darwin/Microsoft/, (or stop reading after the first half) this comment would be +5 insightful.
Summary: Theory: Microsoft intentionally leaked windows 7. Since it's not verifiable, it's garbage and should be ignored.
Re:That's no leak (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, the interior of a watermelon is very nearly black until it's cut open. Light has that strange effect, you know.
Parent