Subject: Re: A2 Trade/Swap ... site ...
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From: "Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
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Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 18:25:26 GMT
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Paul Schlyter <pausch@saafNOSPAM.se> wrote
> >
> > What happened to Mircrosoft's interest in ebay.  They estimated some
large
> > percentage of software sold on that site was pirated.  I can't imagine
the
> > cost of trying to track down every single seller that would go through
> > ebay and trying them in court.  The cost in lost revenues must be quite
> > large.
>
> Oh, poor poor Bill Gates.  Will this force him to beg in the streets
> and sleep under bridges?  (sob sob)    <evil grin>
>

As I've commented before, Microsoft takes some minor steps against pirating
of their software, but doesn't go nearly as far as they could, or as other
businesses do.  I've seen a variety of ingenious copy protection schemes
that require a phone call and password, or a modem call that causes your
account to be billed each time you use some feature of the software.
Microsoft doesn't even have it's software on CD check to see if it's being
installed from a CD.  So you have to wonder. Why is Bill Gates the richest
guy in the world, if his products are so easy to pirate? Shouldn't he be
destitute, sucked dry by pirates?  I think that he's figured out that a
certain level of piracy is to his benefit. Better to have a smaller slice of
an enormous pie, than an entire miniscule pie.
You can't argue with success.
-Paul