Piracy cannot be stopped: Microsoft

Microsoft concedes that stopping piracy of its products is impossible.

Microsoft’s local director of intellectual property, Vanessa Hutley, said that Microsoft will never be able to stop people from getting pirated versions of Windows.

A recent global piracy study, conducted by analyst firm IDC, found 28 per cent of software used in Australia was illegally obtained.

The impossibility of stopping individual pirates has led Microsoft to target resellers instead, with employees at the software firm making “trap purchases” on eBay.

Microsoft got involved with legal action last month against three eBay users who sold pirated versions of Windows XP and Office 2003. Earlier this year Microsoft filed suits against 21 resellers, seven of which paid damages to the American operating system giant.

Hutley urged pirates to consider their actions in a broader sense, claiming that a 10 per cent reduction in piracy would create almost 1000 jobs a year for the next four years in the Australian IT industry. Pirates are also hampered, with illegal copies not receiving the benefit of newer patches.

Source: SMH