Hope for China and IP yet.... or maybe not.

[jmw]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...Microsoft-from-selling-operating-systems.html

In essence, China has imposed this ban because MicroSoft is allegedly using Chinese character fonts designed by a local Chinese company and which were only licensed for Windows 95.

So there are some copy-write issues and Intellectual Property rights that China respects?

Or is it a case of protectionism?
Perhaps China is fishing for a joint venture agreement that would give it a slice of Microsoft's revenue stream?
Perhaps there is some other aspect that is more interesting to them such as Chinese versions of Windows 7 with special security features?

Is it putting Microsoft between a rock and a hard place Microsoft might be made to compromise some of its applications to suit the Chinese state's concerns about freedom of access to the internet, site visit tracking and reporting etc.?



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[NomLaser]

MS will just hire someone to create a new character set that's a pixel wider.

 

[cranky108]

Gee why don't they market special character sets as add ons. If you want it, you pay for it.
Same with special securty requirments. If it's required in China, then charge Chinase customers extra for it (with full knoledge the hackers won't copy that).

 

[jmw]

Nomlaser, you are probably right, MS could simply design a new set. I doubt it would cost that much and probably, in Win 95 it was expedient to buy in rather than create.

It shouldn't need to be sold as an add on. Just visit the MS office download site and get the character sets and dictionaries you need as per usual and at no cost.

So I doubt it is a commercial thing in that sense but it could delay roll out in the Chinese market and that would make a big dent in the MS cash flow and open the door to pirated software sales that would get around this and they would not be addressed by the government.

In point of fact, why is the Chinese government getting involved?

In countries with IP protection, it is the owner of the Copy-write who is responsible for protecting his IP, not the government, though some political antics can be involved where there is a major rip off. But would this qualify?
I doubt it.
So based on my imperfect understanding of these matters, especially in China, I begin to suspect there may be a political dimension to this and not a commercial or IP issue at all.

The security thing I was referring to was the State's concern that its people should not be able to access certain external web sites and on which they allegedly did a deal with Google and may now want to leverage a deal with MS.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[NomLaser]

I'm sure that there is an underlying reason why China is doing this. Whether it is to leverage a deal with MS for cheaper PC's or something else, we'll just have to wait and see how this develops. More reason to go *Nix and GNU.

 

[ewh]

According to the last line of the article, it wouldn't be that much of a blow to the bottom line.

Although Microsoft is trying to expand its market share in China, its sales in the country remain a very small part of its overall business.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[GregLocock]

There is an ongoing trade war over Chinese tire and steel exports to the USA. What is funny about the tires is that they aren't competing with American tire companies so the nete effect is that the consumer buys Korean or Malaysian budget tires instead and pays a bit more for them.

I imagine this is tit for tat.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[jmw]

ewh,
all that means is that someone at MS reckons this is the big growth market. So there is a lot of virtual money at risk.
Of course, what it also probably means is that most of China is running pirated Windows. I can't think they are all using Linux and open office.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[Dtuck]

Microsoft advertised Vista heavily in China in 2007 and it was taken up and used very heavily by millions of people. At one point, they had recorded only 244 legal sales of the software. I won't get out my calculator but I think you can probably smell the $$$ problem at the root of this whole thing. Anyone for AUTOCAD 2010 on a flash drive?