There’s been the odd rumour here and there that Microsoft is colluding with copyright holders from time to time. One rumour suggested that Longhorn, now known as Vista, would not play unlicensed content. Of course, rumours like that eventually fell apart sometime during the release of the OS. This is what makes the notion that Windows 7 is designed for piracy.

The report comes from Wired via CNN where the author put together 7 reasons to use Windows 7. One of the reasons to switch to Windows 7? Piracy will now be a breeze:

Yarr! We know there are plenty of you out there downloading pirated digital booty, especially in Windows land. But it’s never been convenient to be a pirate compared with being a paying customer. For example, if you’re a legitimate buyer purchasing movies off iTunes, you can easily stream your media to your legitimately purchased Apple TV. If you’re a pirate, you’d have to go through roundabout programs and hardware to re-create the experience.

Windows 7 is an OS practically made for pirates. Want to display your movies, photos or music on your TV? Bam! Windows Media Player will do that out of the box if you have a Wi-Fi enabled TV, or an Xbox. No extra programs to install: Windows Media Player seamlessly communicates with your Wi-Fi device to display your illegal content in all its glory on your fancy HD TV.

And sharing media is easy, too. Want to download all of your brother’s music? Bam! HomeGroup, an easy networking feature included in Windows 7, will make that super easy between computers running the OS. Immediately upon plugging in to your network with Ethernet or Wi-Fi, HomeGroup will ask if you wish to join the group on the network, allowing you to set up easy file sharing in minutes.

It’s more than likely that this reason is a little tongue and cheek, though it’s doubtful groups like the RIAA would be laughing. Still, some Windows supporters in the past have suggested that Microsoft continues to dominate in the OS market, in part, thanks to not actually proving the rumours that there would be a form of trusted computing that would quash all forms of unauthorized content.

It’s unclear how Microsoft would actually handle the label of Windows 7 as being a Piracy Operating System, but content being shared between computers isn’t an entirely new thing for Windows given the shared directory has been part of a Microsoft Operating System for quite some time now – not to mention the whole concept of networking computing.

Regardless, it’s hard not to see the humour in the idea that Windows is “made for pirates”. We can already see the sales being higher than expected already.

Have a tip? Want to contact the author? You can do so by sending a PM via the forums or via e-mail at drew@zeropaid.com.

The calculation is based on Microsoft’s public statements that the company pays over $100 million each year in legal fees alone to protect itself from some 35 to 40 patent lawsuits. Recently, Microsoft has forked over significant sums to other technology companies to settle patent disputes: $1.25 billion to Sun, $536 million to Novell, and $1.52 billion to Alcatel-Lucent are just some examples. The total payouts over the last three years add up to more than $4 billion dollars.

SFLA took the total of $4.3 billion dollars in legal costs for Microsoft from 2001 to 2004 and divided it by estimated sales of Windows XP over the same period—approximately 200 million copies—to come up with the $21.50 estimate. The organization added that North American and European customers, who pay more for Windows licenses than customers in other parts of the world, actually ended up paying more of this “patent tax,” and that people who pirate Windows pass their share of the tax on to paying customers.

The study concludes by pointing out that Linux, as a free and open-sourced operating system, has no “patent tax” at all, and suggests that this be taken into consideration when choosing operating systems for deployment in places such as schools.

Robert Scoble writes the Scobleizer web log, one of the most-read sources of technology commentary on the internet.

He owes his status to the three years he spent at Microsoft, where he was given free rein to comment on the company’s affairs from the inside. The Economist magazine has credited Scoble with playing a significant role in softening the software giant’s former reputation for monopolistic bullying.

In the past, Scoble has tended to be sympathetic about Microsoft’s failings. However, he was provoked into stinging criticism last week after a series of triumphalist remarks, including some disparaging comments about Google made by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive.

At a “global summit” of its most-valued software developers, Microsoft repeatedly declared that it would “win” in search and other parts of its Windows Live internet strategy.

READ REST OF ARTICLE….

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SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

As part of his keynote address Sunday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, Gates is showing off Windows Home Server–a consumer device to serve as a central storage place for digital photos, music and other media. The first products are due out later this year from Hewlett-Packard and others. The goal is to get devices that can cost less than $500.

In the first of a two-part interview, Microsoft’s chairman talks with CNET News.com about why the average person wants a server, why they won’t need a degree in computer science to run it and what hurdles remain before consumers reach the true digital home.
special coverage

Coming Monday, in part two, Gates talks about the changes that are coming with Windows Vista, the legacy of Windows XP and what he has planned for the next makeover of his own digital living room.

That’s what we have with Windows Vista, the new computer-operating system from Microsoft that debuted last week for businesses and, next month, for consumers. There has been so much buildup for this moment that you would expect Vista to cure cancer.

It’s been so long in coming that I’ll just be happy if it does the job and doesn’t present me with a daily dose of the Blue Screen of Death. Already experts are predicting Vista may be the last of its kind. Obsolete before it’s out the door? Geez, we haven’t even had a chance to open our wallets yet.

“Suddenly, the market changed and competitors started delivering technology at the speed of the Internet,” said James McQuivey, professor of market research at Boston University. “In some cases, they do it for free, and that’s painful for Microsoft.”

This pair of glasses also works with mobiles that have an AV output. Direct connection to the iPod video with plug and play and direct connection to the Zune player, too. Fully charged after 2 hours on a USB, this setup will keep you going for quite some time.

The glasses run $250 USD and they are fully compatible with 5th generation Video iPods, 4th generation iPods with video out (Photo/Color), Microsoft Zune, compatible with any device with AV output such as Portable DVD Players, Sony Playstations, Microsoft Xbox, and the Nintendo GameCube. Take your gaming love to extremes and play with a huge screen.

You’ll see the videos on a 35″ screen but it will only be 2 meters away! Comes with an eyepatch to block out external lighting so that even in the most lighted conditions you can utilize the video setup. Laying down, standing up–it doesn’t matter. You get full video and sound capabilities on all compatible devices.

Comes with USB charger, video glasses with lithium battery, built-in stereo earphones and AV input cable, eyepatch to block out external lighting, bander, USB charger, AV Cable (Female RCA – Yellow/White/Red), AV Cable (Male RCA – Yellow/White/Red), and an AV Cable (Dual 3.5 Split Video/Audio).

Specs for the glasses are:

* Video Signal : NTSC / PAL
* Display : 2 TFT LCD Displays
* Colour Depth : 24 Bit

* Image Size : 35″ Virtual Screen (2M far)
* Resolution : 320×240 (230k pixels)
* Aspect Ratio : 4:3
* Viewing angle: 26°
* Built-in Battery : 480mAH Lithium-ion battery (4-5 Hours)
* Voltage : DC5V

Product Page

Article submitted by Amorfelina, one of ZeroPaid’s occasional news/tech contributors.

Opening an hourlong demonstration and press conference at the Nasdaq Stock Market, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that Windows Vista should have been out long ago.

“I should probably say it’s an exciting thing to finally be here — and that’s all I’ll say about the past,” Ballmer said, before adding: “This is the biggest launch in our company’s history, that’s for sure.”

Businesses that buy Windows licenses in bulk have first crack at PCs with the new operating system or at upgrade discs for installing Vista on existing machines. Consumers won’t be able to get Vista on home PCs until Jan. 30.

According to the terms of the deal, Universal Music is set to garner a much larger share of the profits from the partnership than it does from the one it currently has is in effect with Apple’s iTunes. Unlike its deal with Apple, Universal will also receive a royalty on each mobile media device, the Zune, that Microsoft sells. This is in addition to a percentage of the digital music download revenue.

The deal is most likely a hardline attempt by Universal to increase the amount of money it makes on digital music downloads after being met with such a firm stand by Steve Jobs earlier this year to maintain the status quo.

Despite the best efforts of music companies to raise the price of iTunes downloads above 99 cents(USD), Steve Jobs stood resolute and successfully rebuffed their attempts. He rightfully argued that doing so simply pushes people back into the illegal P2P and file-sharing conundrum from which many of them came. They service must be cheap and easy to use if it is to be successful.

Unfortunately for Microsoft it had very shaky footing upon which to lobby Universal for the use of its music. Universal knew that in order for the Zune player and its Urge digital music download service to be successful, Microsoft had to have decent selection of music fro users to choose from. Universal leveraged this fact into getting a cut of Microsoft’s Zune player, which is not the case with Apple’s iPod and may possibly spell trouble for its financial future later on down the road.

If all things are considered equal, the royalty payment on Zune sales could potentially inhibit Microsoft’s ability to compete on a level playing field. Luckily for Microsoft Apple’s contract with Universal expires next year and could allow for a more competitive atmosphere between the two.

With recent reports that a mere 5-10% of the music stored on iPods was purchased legally, music companies have been trying to figure out a way to recoup their losses.

David Geffen, former head of Geffen records notes:

It’s a major change for the industry. Each of these devices is used to store unpaid-for material. This way, on top of the material people do pay for, the record companies are getting paid on the devices storing the copied music. It certainly changes the paradigm.

Universal Music’s chairman, Doug Morris furthers:

I’m hopeful that technology companies and creative companies will understand how each other’s futures are intertwined,” Mr. Morris said last night. “It can only work if one doesn’t try and take advantage of the other, and so far we’ve come out on the short end.

With current federal legislation covering only outdated audio devices like digital-audio tape machines and not the new digital music players, the royalties that music companies receive on music recording and playback devices has decreased significantly. Taking this along with the continual decline in CD sales, music companies have been scrambling to secure new revenue streams to make a profit, if not to simply contain the hemmoraging.

In any event Microsoft had to approve the deal or otherwise risk the success of it so-called “iPod killer.” With Universal Music accounting for a third of all all new album sales in the U.S. it was left with little choice.

I think what it will mean for all of us in the end though is higher prices on digital music players and downloads. Costs, as they always are, will be passed onto the consumer and either push many back into the world of file-sharing and P2P networks or simply discourage many from purchasing as much as they might normally be inclined.

After seeing the billions that Steve Jobs made for Apple, everybody now wants a slice of the iPod Apple pie.

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

Microsoft, upon release of this information, is allowing many to assume that the software is bug-free and suitable for distribution, but we all know that will probably be seen after the actual release. Proven wrong or right, many have waited for this release and plan on utilizing the software as soon as possible.

In June, Microsoft pushed the release of the Office 2007 software upgrade to later in the year and many are eager to install the program. I have a feeling there will be bug fixes for download fairly quickly, just based on Microsoft’s history with software releases. Either way, Microsoft knows that Windows and Office account for more than half of the company’s total revenue and nearly all of the profit they bring in. Knowing this, hopefully they will take things fairly seriously and this pushed back date of November 30th will be on target.

Microsoft will also make the new Windows Vista operating system and 2007 Exchange e-mail server available to business customers on the same day, and said all the products will become widely available to consumers in early 2007.

By announcing the Microsoft Office 2007 suite was ready for “release to manufacturing,” it signals that the product is relatively bug-free and suitable for wide distribution.

“We’ve crossed the development finish line,” said Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft’s business division, in a statement.