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Technology Stocks Microsoft: Windows 97

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To: Roger Tabry who wrote (62)	2/19/1997 8:18:00 PM
From: Mike Magarahan	of 74

Anti Trust nonsense, like the interference that made the INTUIT buyout too much hassle. Boy, that would have been something. You probably know this but let me say it anyway for those who don't, Microsoft didn't give a hoot for Quicken's budgeting, Bill was after those electronic banking contracts.

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To: Robert Scott who wrote (38)	2/19/1997 9:07:00 PM
From: Mike Magarahan	of 74

Robert: I agree with you that the Java issue is anybody's guess, but "most of the world would like to see their dominence disrupted and toppled"? Certainly that part of the world that trys to compete with MSFT, which is growing as MSFT expands into new markets, but there are still far more who ride their coattails and cheer them on. And rightfully so, because they have done more to advance the U.S. as a dominant force in world computing than IBM has done in the last 20 years. Without MSFT we would all be using PS2's with proprietary this and proprietary that. Ya know what's really exciting? The information age has not finished forming yet, there's more to come. We're going to have Web terminals in residential kitchens that read us our mail as we fix that first cup of coffee. We need a strong leader to forge ahead and set standards where there were none previously compatible with everything else. That's the real bridge that we are building to the 21st century.

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To: Jay Rommel who wrote (49)	3/23/1997 11:33:00 PM
From: damniseedemons	of 74

Hey Jay, Have you recieved any of the email I've sent you???

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To: damniseedemons who wrote (65)	3/23/1997 11:42:00 PM
From: Jay Rommel	of 74

Of course not ... I have 3 e-mail addresses ... I know you are sick and tired of hearing this, but as soon as I start my new job, I will e-mail you, Thomas and Jim ... BTW, this might be old news to you, but did you hear of anyone getting the demo copy of Office 97 and modifying a DLL to make it (Office 97) act like a retail version?

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To: Jay Rommel who wrote (66)	3/24/1997 12:24:00 AM
From: damniseedemons	of 74

Wait a sec, didn't you give me your address a while ago (unlike Thomas and Jim)??? Who is all that mail going to? RE: Office97 Hack....Yeah, and did you hear that MSFT is suing that guy for it? He's in deep sh_t....

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To: damniseedemons who wrote (67)	3/24/1997 8:30:00 PM
From: 8bits	of 74

Sal, They caught the guy who hacked the .dll control file in Office97? Good sluething on their part or they rounded up one of many suspects, it's not that hard to crack. I can see why MSFT would get cranky considering how much revenue is expected from OF97. Nick

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To: 8bits who wrote (68)	3/25/1997 1:08:00 PM
From: damniseedemons	of 74

Yeah Nick, they caught him, and they're suing him. He did something very illegal, and made things worse but trumpeting it all over the WWW.

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To: damniseedemons who wrote (69)	3/25/1997 6:00:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	of 74

Sal, you're overstating the case here. The Kinko's hack was all over usenet. Who knows they might sue me, I posted something on the Micron group when people were complaining about the $29 upgrade price. I pointed out the Kinko's trial version and said somebody would probably hack it. Boy, what a stretch that was. Turns out there's an almost legal hack too, though a bit more costly- if you buy a word or excel upgrade, then install Kinko's office on top of it, it won't get disabled after 90 days either. Here's a ref and a quote: pcweek.com:80/news/0317/18esuit.html Fazendin said he had found a few cracks, or code that cracks security codes, on Usenet and posted them on his Web site two weeks ago. He took them down early Tuesday, after he was served by Microsoft's lawyers. He did not think Microsoft would sue him and believed that if they came after him at all, it would be with a cease-and-desist letter, which he would have complied with. "I get the impression I'm sort of being made an example of," he said. "It's so easy to find this [material]. All you have to do is run a search. I'm really surprised they went after me." Editorial aside: I don't endorse piracy, but going after some random 22 year old who got the hack off usenet doesn't particularly impress me. And I checked, it is indeed available on usenet. Microsoft whining about piracy in general doesn't impress me when they are trying to drive Netscape out of business by giving stuff away, or paying people to take it. Of course, that latter couldn't possibly be predatory pricing, because software has 0 cost of production. Cheers, Dan.

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To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (70)	3/25/1997 11:28:00 PM
From: damniseedemons	of 74

Dan, I know the hack was at usenet. The advantage of people who do things there, is that it's all anonymous. Fazendin is a fool for posting the patch at his personal web page. I agree that they're using him as an example, and I agree that they should use him as an example. >Microsoft whining about piracy in general doesn't impress me when they are trying to drive Netscape out of business by giving stuff away, or paying people to take it.> Two important points: 1) The software belongs to Microsoft, and they can do whatever they want with it. For IE, they want to give it away for free. For Office, they want to charge money for it. It's not up to users to choose not to pay for Office and rationalize that by saying IE is free. 2) Pirating software is explicitly illegal. Cut-throat competition is not illegal (and questions of ethics don't come into play here).

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To: damniseedemons who wrote (71)	3/25/1997 11:50:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	of 74

Sal, first of all, you said they "caught the guy who hacked the dll". Some random guy who posted it on his web page is not, by any reasonable use of the language, "the guy who hacked the dll". Second, predatory pricing comes under antitrust law. You can say cut-throat competition is not illegal, but that's for the courts to decide. Just as it's for the courts to decide whether somebody putting some usenet post on their web site is illegal. Is Microsoft sueing DejaNews? Of course, for DOJ to investigate Microsoft is "unfair", but for Microsoft to sue some poor, naive, perhaps foolish, 22 year old is just nifty, eh? As to what is explicitly illegal and what isn't, excuse me if I don't take your word for it. And, of course, Usenet is by no means anonymous, although it is possible to post anonymously. Just like it is here. But of course, I'm sure you'll come up with some tortured reasoning how you're right and I'm wrong. Whatever. I know you may follow the Reg line that business ethics, like military intelligence, is oxymoronic. That's fine. You don't believe in antitrust laws, I don't believe in drug laws. I'm not particularly concerned about software piracy, in this case anyway. If Microsoft wants to do something about it, it shouldn't be spreading around office 97 CD's for $5. It was totally predictable that it would be hacked. You think that's a big ethical flaw on my part? Fine, enjoy your nike profits and don't think too hard about who makes those $180 sneakers, and where the ghetto kids get the money to pay for them. Cheers, Dan.

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