Who Cares How Many Discs Counterfeit Operation Could Have Made?

from the why-focus-on-that? dept

Information Week is reporting on two men who were sentenced to jail for what is being called the "largest CD and DVD pirating scheme to be prosecuted in the United States." From the evidence, it certainly sounds like these guys were counterfeiting all sorts of music, movies and software, so there's nothing wrong with them being caught, found guilty and punished. What I do find interesting, however, is how the various industry associations have been spinning this story (and how the press is accepting it without question). Since these guys were arrested, the story has been how they had equipment that could have made 300 million pirated CDs and DVDs. Note the "could have" part. Because, in reality, authorities only seized a bit less than half a million. It's still significant, but it's less than 0.2% (not 2%, but 0.2%) of what's going in the headlines. In theory, any DVD/CD burner could produce millions of counterfeit discs -- but that's not news. Why is it news in this case?

Of course, this is par for the course for the industry. Remember when the RIAA wanted to count high speed CD burners as multiple burners in trying to boost the size of a bust it made? Or when the MPAA claimed they seized $30 million worth of DVDs when in turned out to only be about $10,000? It seems they like to blow these things out of proportion with big, totally unsubstantiated numbers. Of course, that lets them make the laughable claim that each of these busts is "a significant blow" against piracy when nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, as we've seen, all these CD/DVD counterfeiting shops are facing a much more "significant blow" from the competition from free downloads. Yet, of course, the Information Week piece carries a quote saying that "It cannot be understated how significant it has been." Actually, I'd say it's been significantly overstated.

Filed Under: cd, copyright, counterfeit, dvd, movies, mpaa, music, riaa, software
Companies: mpaa, riaa

Cursed By Its Name: Office For Mac 2008 To Be Released In 2008

from the another-delay dept

Microsoft has recently said that it has no plans to discontinue its tradition of large-scale, heavyweight software offerings, like Office and Windows. Seeing as these two franchises continue to be huge money makers for the company, its stance is understandable. But if it has no plans to change its business model, then it needs to fix the problems associated with its current one, such as long development times and quality control. So far, anyway, these problems don't seem to be going away. The company has announced that its forthcoming Office for Mac 2008 will be released late. The company had hoped to have it ready by the coming Christmas season, but it will now be released in 2008, which is appropriate, given the name. Despite their high profile, Macs still make up a small share of the overall computer market, so it's likely that Microsoft isn't devoting a tremendous amount of resources to this area. Still, the delay is indicative of the ongoing problems facing the company.

Filed Under: office, software
Companies: microsoft

Microsoft To Release Free Ad-Supported Productivity Suite, Sort Of

from the whatever-works dept

For obvious reasons, Microsoft is extremely reluctant to touch the business model of its money-spinning Office suite, despite the fact that competition from free, web-based services is increasing. Not only is Microsoft unlikely to introduce a web-based Office anytime soon, the official line from the company is that software-as-a-service isn't what customers want, but that software+services is the ideal model. Of course, nobody else in the industry seems quite as excited about software+services as Microsoft is, which probably has something to do with the fact that such a model would leave the company's overall business model intact. That being said, the company has apparently released a new ad-supported version of its Microsoft Works suite, the company's low-end productivity suite. However, the company still isn't delivering it over the internet. This is sort of an odd compromise. For one thing, consumers won't be particularly enthused by ad-supported desktop software. Faced with a choice between this and Google's productivity offerings, they'll likely choose the latter. If Microsoft were to make Works the backbone of a web-based offering, it'd be a different story. The fact that the company isn't doing this sort of makes you wonder whether Microsoft is really fearful, to use an old cliche, of validating the market. Perhaps it believes that by releasing an on-demand Works, it would draw attention to this whole area, thus benefiting the competition. If so, this strategy can't work for long. It's only a matter of time before consumers learn more about the options available to them, and it's up to Microsoft whether it wants to follow the direction its customers are likely to go.

Filed Under: saas, software
Companies: google, microsoft

Criminal Charges For Using A Slot Machine With Faulty Software?

from the could-happen dept

We've had a few stories over the years of casinos refusing to give out slot machine prizes claiming software glitches on the slot machines. But how about charging people with a crime for using a slot machine with faulty software? Slashdot points us to a story about prosecutors debating whether or not to charge a bunch of people with criminal charges for using a slot machine that incorrectly credited every $1 as if it were $10. Now, clearly, the maker of the slot machine and the casino itself need to take some of the blame here, but prosecutors are saying (correctly) that if people knew the slot machine was doing this and used it on purpose for that reason, that's fraud. Even if that may be correct from a legal standpoint, it still looks bad. Caesars and the slot machine company should have tested the machine, and either way, charging people for criminal behavior for simply using your faulty machines can't be good for publicity.

Filed Under: casinos, slot machine, software
Companies: caesars

Predicting The Future Is Still Really Tough

from the the-silicon-crystal-ball dept

Across many disciplines, it's common for experts to make bold forecasts about what the future may hold. Ostensibly these forecasts are based on science or sound models, but in the end, nobody can confidently predict the future. Even those forecasts that turned out to be correct don't say too much, because the forecaster could've just been lucky. For some time, software companies have been pushing software to help make accurate predictions of future patterns, but it's not clear how effective this really is. A recent study takes issue with this technology, particularly as it relates to predicting human behavior. Although models can attempt to paint a picture of how people will behave on the aggregate (as a group), they can't say much about the actual individuals that comprise the group -- human behavior is simply too variable to be reduced to an average or a smooth bell curve. What's more, decision makers don't know how to use or understand the data that they receive, which further compounds the problem. Predictive technology will remain an interesting area of further study, but it's foolish to think we're getting to the point that we can see the future.

Filed Under: forecasting, randomness, software

How Strategic Acquisitions Go Awry

from the small-deal dept

The software space has seen quite a bit of consolidation over the last few years, with Oracle's aggressive acquisition spree standing out. Just today it announced the purchase of yet another company, this time in the security space. IBM has made a number of deals as well, as it looks to bolster its high-margin software business, the unit that's largely responsible for its continued profit growth. Yesterday, the company announced the purchase of Data Mirror, which will bolster its business intelligence offerings. The purchase is not so much about growth, but about adding functionality to its existing offerings. But as Rick Sherman points out, there's a downside to these small, "tuck in" acquisitions: they create complexity. It's not so simple to just buy a line of software and meld it into an existing product, as any major enterprise software vendor can attest. Therefore, it's entirely possible that the customers of Data Mirror (or any company in a similar boat), could look for another simple, lightweight solution that isn't tied into some larger, behemoth.

Filed Under: m&a, software
Companies: ibm

Microsoft: The Heavyweight OS Is Here To Stay

from the great-vistas dept

Considering all of the tumult surrounding the release of Vista, not to mention the lukewarm reaction to it, there's been a lot of discussion over whether or not Vista represents the last Windows operating system of its nature. On top of everything else, the emergence of web-based software is rapidly reducing the significance of the client-side operating system. But Microsoft insists that Windows as we know it here to stay and that the successor to Vista will be another "heavyweight" system. It's not surprising that Microsoft would have this attitude, as it has little choice but to continue feeding the Windows cash cow. The question for Microsoft, then, is whether it can do a better job of pushing out the next operating system than it did with Vista. Has the company identified why the product development cycle went so far awry, or can customers expect multi-year delays, once again? And can it address other complaints, such as the prodigious amount of computing power that it takes to run? It seems pretty safe to say that unless it addresses these issues, it's unlikely that the next version of the operating system will see any more success.

Filed Under: software, vista, windows
Companies: microsoft