Free Now, Pay Later: Microsoft Turns Piracy into Profit

[peanutchopper]

Is this guy retarded? Pirated software is almost always sold and/or given away under the radar. Do you honestly believe pirates are going to do away with pirating online software for free just because they have a sufficient amount of funds to purchase it? LOL.. Good luck with that one bud.

[cdubmeyer]

@peanutchopper no its true, I have been pirating and selling software for about 2 years now and I feel like now my conscience is wanting me to pay for it...the fact is, is that I do feel like i want to pay for it, the software i get is great. Besides that, this guy is not going to just come out and say this without facts, and it is a fact that overtime some ppl do end up paying for it because they had the chance to operate with it without paying for it....they got the change to try it out first.

[peanutchopper]

@cdubmeyer My conscience doesn't make me money. Therefore, I don't play by it's rules :).... Good point however, I'm glad you commented.

[cdubmeyer]

@peanutchopper thats because you are still young probably and dont fully understand, i am not agaisnt piracy, but bill gates does make a profit off of pirating, its a national fact and if he didnt then why would all these comemtaors come out and say this, its because he does...ppl dont like the fact that they have to pay for it and then not be able to return it if they dont like it...torrents make this possible and the ppl that do care will give something to those companys eventually

[peanutchopper]

@cdubmeyer I can understand where the publicity aspect comes into play, however, you are dead wrong Microsoft profits directly from online software pirating. Indirect benefits may suffice for the equivalence of direct profiting, but it's certainly not something any software provider wants to speak about. This interview is another example of greedy capitalists covering the matter with a bunch of bull shit hoopla to try and create a deceptive perception for the general public.

[cdubmeyer]

@peanutchopper I didnt say they didn't make a profit, I said and know they DO make a profit, I dont know which track you are on as of this moment. What I do know is that if you are not losing anything and then someone turns around and starts paying for it then you then make profits, its that simple, this shouldnt be a huge discussion and trying to put full force intelligence on this matter lol. If you wiki piracy you will see Bill Gate's statement about gaining profits, there is no argument

[peanutchopper]

@cdubmeyer To be honest, I haven't understood a single post you've created as of yet. Apparently, you don't have the knowledge, nor intelligence to have a civil conversation. Do us all a favor and get a high school diploma and college degree, Ok? Good day.

[cdubmeyer]

@peanutchopper lol, i have a diploma in high school and have an associates in business and I am self employed, I have a computer repair business and also a power washing business I have ran since I was 18 there buddy. How about do us all a favor and quit thinking every thing is a damn conspiracy and try living in the real world son.

[peanutchopper]

@cdubmeyer First, let me make myself very clear, I am not your "son." Secondly, I doubt you could navigate yourself out of a cardboard box, let alone establish a successful business. This conversation is over, as I have already trumped every single theory you've thrown my way. Good day.

[cdubmeyer]

@peanutchopper lol, that was quick response their little one, sorry I got to you son. Young retards like yourself who think they know everything never make it...grow a personality and try putting peanut butter on your nuts and see what happens, maybe that will calm you down

[cdubmeyer]

@peanutchopper and by the way, its better to use a legit serial key and change the host file for Adobe products and so your ip will ping then use a serial fix or a crack. cracks dont last forever and plus its just better using the host file edit. You learn something new everyday son, learn live it and do it.

[peanutchopper]

@cdubmeyer I'm sorry to disappoint, but a modification of a dll file is much easier than altering the host file and using a "cracked" serial key. Almost all cracks severely slow your system and are never guaranteed to work. The dll file change we utilize is guaranteed a lifetime, on any system, for ANY Adobe product. Beat that bud.

[cdubmeyer]

@peanutchopper I can beat this easily there bud lol, first of all I didnt say it was easier, it has nothing to do with being easier, it works longer because an update later on my be able to notice that crack, second of all editing a host file is not hard lol, editing one ip address in it so it bounces right back to your ip is not hard, especially when all you have to do is just open up the edited host file in notepad and save it lol. Third of all, its not a cracked serial key im talking about.

[cdubmeyer]

fourth of all, you dont need to use a cracked serial key lol, if you edit that host file and use any key that anyone has ever used regardles of its status adobe's program will take it..its not till you open it up and it then connects with adobe's servers that the key is recognized as one that's been used before...that's where the host file comes in handy. Fifth of all, a modification of the dll file is a crack idiot, Cracks do not serverly slow systems, I have tons of them installed

[cdubmeyer]

sixth of all, I'm not going to waste anymore time writing limited words on stupid ass youtuube explaining to you and teaching more than you know. I have sold hundreds of torrents to people for years for now, and I know more than you little one, so go back to your room and study more or I will embarass you with your lack of knowledge of torrents. lol, didnt even know that a replacement dll file is a cracked file and that's where this ends, your messages will be not be read and instantly deleted

[peanutchopper]

@cdubmeyer Awwww... looks like I hit a nerve. Go back to your mother's house and crawl in her womb. That's the best place for you right now little boy.

[coliwood]

Bill Gates is a genius. He knows the drug game; There first hit is always free, because you'll be back for more.

[ClickKopf]

@coliwood I love repeating what the highest rated comment just said too

[KnightChatX]

To put it simple, Microsoft made great choices when it came to opening up the doors to creativity, this has helped in itself millions worldwide to do things normally they couldn't before, and trying to maintain the latest quality development tools before was a nightmare and that quality is reflected in applications people develop, without those newer updated tools to work with development is hindered and more bug filled.

So Microsoft has helped people and people in return helped Microsoft.

[KnightChatX]

To me, the price of software should not go above a certain level, if it costs as much to buy software as to buy a car you can bet most people will be looking for alternatives elsewhere, or to actually make their own technologies which offers similiar.

When Microsoft released some of the previous versions of Visual Studio, the price became unreasonable for the majority, while other companies offered free alternatives. When they changed to offering free Express it made things better all around.

[KnightChatX]

Perhapes also a main thing to consider is that when you develop software, it must be reasonably accessible and known about in order to build a userbase, and if the product is actually a good one it sells.

For businesses or individuals to constantly buy upgrades to everything hardware and software every few months or years it gets to be pricey. More and more people today have more than 1 device, some businesses hundreds.

If software is $10,000 you'd rather get a new car.

[KnightChatX]

Well it's not just that, access to software means people can actually try it and use it and offset possibley certain areas where they may be lacking certain productfulness. If we were all stuck using thew old style DOS only for everything today and very little graphical interface, no video playback, high quality sound and video with modern computer hardware it just wouldn't make sense.

[rainin]

the business model is simply genius.great strategy

[angelwhite]

"If you're going to use free software" ... sigh, poor Stallman probably got a chill down his back.

[marsCubed]

Microsoft's visual studio express is a good model IMO.

Users can get hold of the development environment from Microsoft for free, they can develop applications, and when they are ready to launch, contracts can be enhanced with trust certificates and fees.

Microsoft gets users who want to learn the skills to generate their own incomes, at which point Microsoft can enter into a business relationship.

Macromedia did something similar with dreamweaver, many of it's releases all used the same key!!!

[DNATS]

good for MS

[allgoo19]

Microsoft learned it from the drug pushers(or the tobacco companies) on the street.

They give the free sample then have them come back for more. Before they know it, they'll need a daily fix and can't live without it.

[ArchNME]

They just want to kill the real free software. Think how awesome linux could get with a billion chinese working on it..

[mermadeinheaven]

Exactly!~

"it is possible to produce digital content at almost no cost. AND what are the consequences of doing that?"

Well, there are no consequence for the ordinary person, only for greedy corporates. What i see eventually happening is that everyone will be producing their own stuff and sharing it freely over the net, which means that the greedy ones wont be able to control the distribution of knowledge/information and parcel it out to make large profits for themselves.

[Mastikator]

Not being complete assholes is good PR.

Too bad not all corporations take that approach.

[gizmo2084]

I also take issue with the title. Seems a bit Orwellian.

Instead of "Free Now, Pay Later: Microsoft Turns Piracy into Profit"

It should read, "Free Now, Pay Later for some and still free for everyone: Microsoft Turns Piracy form of advertisement and makes Profit on contracts with small business (lock-in) but Piracy still continues!"

Shame on you ForaTV!

[Mastikator]

Why did you respond to me?

[eskimosurferdreamer]

well the thing is you cant really kill piracy. MS is brilliant though because they figured out a plan to use it to their own advantage. its bloody brilliant!

the question is not how can we stop something? but how can we get it to work for us?

[gizmo2084]

Of course it's not if you can stop something. That's my point. They realized it was futile. Two factors: Too many people to sue everyone (or enforce) and too many people that would have never bought their product. It's bloody obvious. So, they are making the best of a bad situation. It's either that or continue to try and force people to follow the old model of one-for-one physical sales (which worked before the internet).

[Adipatus]

Thats how it was with me.

I started out stealing MS.

I've been a paying customer for many years now.

[Adipatus]

love it

[gizmo2084]

The reason Microsoft "adopted" this model was because they had to. The draconian model fails. You can't force people to pay for something they can't afford. All this guy is saying is as populations gain more wealth they can afford things. Uh, duh! And this doesn't exclude it for any products which include Apple products (iPhone/iPod/iMac) and and even the open source software that is out there anyways. As well as Red Hat services (also paid for).

[Slug99]

Yes, MS basically had to take this non-aggressive approach and for obvious reasons. What is so special about is that the business model is basically "Don't worry they'll pay us later", something which simply goes against everything you're taught in economics classes around the world. The idea that giving out your entire product, not just a small part of it, FOR FREE is profitable, is completely counter-intuitive for most people who've even glanced at economics.

[gizmo2084]

Well, he's trying to tell the "dino-nomics" business majors and owners to forget their past ideas and a adopt new ones. But the old model was doomed from the start since it dealt with non-copyable widgets. Basically, change or die a slow death. It's kind of like going to the King of England and tell him the world is not flat. And over time you finally convince him with proof. It's best not to fight the current but go with it. Freeware and shareware have been doing this for years.

[gizmo2084]

The "FOR FREE is profit" is basically a form of advertisement. Which all copiable tools and info share the same venue (the internet). No longer it's the guaranteed sales over the counter. But rather a speculation of future customers that choose to pay. Because even if someone has the ability to pay they still have the option to copy and not pay. This wasn't the case in the tangible widget world of the past.

[Slug99]

Yes I know that, but you're taking it for granted that everyone should know this which is what I took issue with. "Allowing piracy = increasing future profits" is not something which everyone just knows from childbirth and if they do it's generally hammered out of them by the time they get to economics class.

[gizmo2084]

Yes, its true the old dinosaurus economics teachers need to learn a new trick. But what I'm also saying is that the phrase "Allowing piracy = increasing future profits" is incorrect conclusion because it's speculative. What they are really doing is "Not suing hundreds of millions of Chinese pirates because MS would lose profits doing so."The "increase" you talk about is really just removing a negative loss and speculating on a future gain that would have happened even if there was little piracy.

[gizmo2084]

It would be like a chemical company was dumping toxic waste into a lake in order to save money and started to get sued by the citizens of that state. Then after much pressure stops dumping toxic waste into the lake because if found that the saved cost was lost due to the increased overhead of legal fees. Then ForaTV post a video stating (lol): Chem Company increases profits by going green!

[Mrmoc7]

lololol win!

[kshackleton]

Bill gates does what crack dealers do.....the first few hits are free....then you pay.

[mermadeinheaven]

lmao

[Mrmoc7]

I am extremely enthusiastic about Microsoft's progressive stance on piracy; I wanted to know, is this generosity extended to broke students who may also be pirating some of their software as well?

-:)

Who, me? I don't do pirating! I don't even know how to spell bit torrent.

[ls1z28chris]

Search for win741 (dot) com. If you have a valid student email address, Windows 7 will be $30.

Most schools also license software so you can get it at a hugely cheap price. My school does Office for $15, the cost of shipping and handling. I'm waiting for Office 2010, but that's another story.

[Mrmoc7]

$30!?!

Nice! Thx dude.

P.S.: For anyone worrying about the site's legitimacy, yes, it is legitimate; the windows blog team themselves announced it.

[ls1z28chris]

No problem.

The name "win741" is some retarded scheme cooked up by the same people who brought us the Windows 7 release party videos. You're supposed to pronounce it "win seven four one" and it means "WIndows 7 For One." It is talking about how the operating system is made just for you! Stupid, stupid marketing people at Microsoft.

[trumasamune]

Another thing they did recently is offer people pretty much a 1 year free trial of Windows 7.

They are going to make a killing selling the retail version around March next year when machines with it installed start shutting down.

I think it's a great marketing strategy. Plus they get feedback from millions of people so they can apply the final tweaks basically for free.

[Aaberg123]

Yeah, you could really feel that the beta-testing of the "7" helped them a lot.

It's a win/win situation: We get to have fun with an OS/get a less crappy one when it's done; and they get free error testing.

[wheresurhat]

Brilliance is.

[WierdmanProductions]

nice

[theberzerker0]

Or they could get used to not paying and piracy will be worse than ever. Just a thought.

[Mrmoc7]

It'll be kind of awkward not paying for a product you're using when you're an established company with reputation and a desire to have others *pay* for *YOUR* product. Bill Gate wins, you FAIL.

[theberzerker0]

When I said they I meant those downloading the pirated product, not Microsoft themselves.

[Mrmoc7]

That's who I meant too; the start up companies downloading the product, then becoming established eventually.

[gizmo2084]

Yep. They have "gotten used to it.". MS is being forced to find new ways ot maintain the old revenue stream - which wont happen. All this is is trying to make the best of a situation in which there will be less guaranteed sales (over the counter sales; physical media, non-copiable).

[WW3hasalreadybegun]

Interesting video, thanks

[notToast]

true but i prefer cats, they are much cleaner and independant than dogs

[charleshoskinson]

Good luck when you're trapped unconscious in a fire with only your cat to save you.