Microsoft Steals Code From Microblogging Startup 315
Readers davidlougheed and TSHTF both let us know that microblogging service Plurk reported today that Microsoft China not only copied look and feel from its interface, but also copied raw code from Plurk's service, when it released its own microblogging service called MSN Juku (or Mclub). In instances of the code released on the Plurk blog, the layout, code structure, and variable names were very similar or in some cases 100% identical. The story has been covered in multiple media sources. The software theft is hypocritical, given Microsoft's past threats against Chinese software piracy."
Re:It's a difficult problem for MS (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not someONE. A company of the size of Microsoft doesn't have the same person doing the UI design and the coding. Yet here they very clearly stole both the UI design AND the code. It's very clearly Microsoft China that is responsible. They don't get to lay the blame on some rogue coder.
Re:at least they open sourced it (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Of course being in China, (Score:3, Interesting)
- The US has illegal wiretaps.
- China subjugates Tibet and the Uygur and threatens to annex Taiwan.
- The US subjugates every nation in Latin America, and simply depopulates [wikipedia.org] places that it decides it wants.
- China's police often behave like little more than Jackboot thugs.
- Anyone seen footage from how the authorities handled Katrina? (Unedited footage I mean, not the sanitized stuff for TV).
- China polices its culture pretty closely with state organizations.
- In the US government and the media maintain an ostensible distance, but for all intents and purposes, are one and the same.
Good Lord, don't lay on a spiel about your cosmopolitan sophistication, and than lay out sophomoric statements like that. You'll give readers whiplash.
You're basically making errors of scale. Comparing wiretapping to the attempt at national censorship? Comparing sanctioned violence in a police state to foulups individual officers made during a crisis situation? Comparing the annexation of Tibet with, what? Panama?
That's like comparing a shoplifter with a murderer. Show some sense of perspective. It's not like YOUR government doesn't wiretap; it does... and I don't even need to know where you live.
Off topic but... (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course it's not really Microsoft that copied it, it was someone within Microsoft, who clearly didn't think things through and is probably rather unlikely to be employed there much longer. Of course that doesn't mean it's not Microsoft's problem since they now have to do damage control due to the egg on their faces.
Sorry, this is off topic but hopefully still interesting...
I've often wondered how language shapes how we think about corporations. In the American dialect of English corporations tend to be treated as nouns where as in the British/Commonwealth dialect of English they are treated as collective nouns.
E.g. Microsoft is doing something - we're talking about the legal entity Microsoft vs Microsoft are doing something - we're talking about one of the company (employees) of Microsoft doing something.
It's a small but, I think, interesting difference. At what point would can a corporation be blamed for the actions of it employees? This case involving Microsoft will probably be sorted out without much fuss but in other, more serious cases, such as corporate manslaughter it's a much stickier issue.
Re:Of course being in China, (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not the first time. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm referring to the original theft of CP/M code that went into PC-DOS 1.0.
Ah yes, the sensational claim that there is a hidden command that prints Gary Kildall's name, but nobody will disclose the name of that command. That sounds plausible. Nobody has even attempted to prove that any copying has occured. And there had been, it would have been done by Seattle Computer Products and not Microsoft.
You may be right about stacker...
Don't worry, it is a common myth about code copying. I believed it myself until recently.
The Apple code theft I'm referring to is the Quicktime code that they stole to start Windows Media
It is not exactly a smoking gun that you make it out to be. A third party takes some code that they ported for Apple (or maybe it was new code that they wrote as part of that process) and they used it for another job that they did for Intel. Microsoft joins later on. Who knows if they knew where the code originated? It certainly wouldn't be the first time that a consultant has reused work that they had done previously for another client.
To top it off, the link you provided in another message refers to some analysis [sonic.net] where some of this copied code has an Intel copyright on it. It really is a stretch to say that this is code that Microsoft copied.
Re:Speaking of hypocrisy... (Score:3, Interesting)
LOL! Code is work but music isn't!
Come on, admit it. This one touches a nerve because computer programmers take ownership and pride in their software; they recognize the inherent value because they know how much time and mental effort goes into making software, scripts, and tools. However, those same individuals cannot ascribe the same value to a music file; they either blame the companies the artists work for (artists don't get more than a penny per download!), or that they aren't hurting anyone because music is just a digital file nowadays. All excuses, software making and music making are the same thing, and yet the attitudes towards 'sharing' are significantly different.
Re:Speaking of hypocrisy... (Score:1, Interesting)
I think that most of the users of this site are against for-profit copyright infrigement.
I have no idea if Chinese law calls this stealing or not.
Re:Speaking of hypocrisy... (Score:3, Interesting)
You talk as if downloading latest Red Hot Chilly Peppers album is the same as ripping the said album, repackaging it as "Raga aginst teh muchine" and selling it.
Re:Speaking of hypocrisy... (Score:3, Interesting)