Taiwan Forces MS To Cut Prices, Unbundle Software

bev_tech_rob writes "This article from ZDNet reports how Microsoft has agreed to cut prices on their software after a backlash from the country's effort to crack down on piracy. Seems the citizens were forced to obtain pirated copies due to the high cost and having to buy software they did not need to get the parts they DID need."

High cost of software

[ferrous oxide]

"Seems the citizens were forced to obtain pirated copies due to the high cost and having to buy software they did not need to get the parts they DID need."

Gee, this sounds awfully familiar. Not a problem unique to Taiwan. I wonder if (and hope) it will ultimately have implications for the US market.

'bout time someone started fighting back

[Kethinov]

Not just MS, but software making companies all over the world charge way too much money for software. The number one reason there's so much pirating is because software simply costs too much. But reduced prices or not, I'll still favor Open Source over anything else.

Possible?

[grub]

Assuming the software in Taiwan is a lot cheaper than in North America and Europe, what's to stop someone from buy^H^H^Hlicensing MS' software in Taiwan and using it here? Do the licenses actually have clauses against that?

Re:WAR3Z

[Evil-G]

Possibly, but I have a feeling that microsoft would probably remove all comments from their source code and make the variable names all meaningless. Then it would be nigh on impossible to understand how windows works.

I don't say this because i think they're evil, but it's common sense for them if what you suggest might happen did happen. Their source code is a close secret, and I dont think they would even want a government of any country to see it.

but...

[tx_mgm]

....i thought it was integrated and couldnt be sold seperately??? wasnt that part of their argument at the monopoly trials? if they can break it up into components for those guys, why the HELL can't they do it for us here in the states? seems unfair to me...i dont want to pay hundreds of dollars for an operating system that is only nessessary for games, yet here i am...

Expensive bundles?

[bytesmythe]

The article complains about software being packaged in expensive bundles.

Just looking up the prices for MS software on Outpost.com, Word costs $340 and Excel costs $320, but Office itself only costs $440. Office also includes Powerpoint (another $320 by itself) and Outlook ($100 by itself).

Even for just one component, you're far better off buying the bundle here in the US. How much is the bundle mark-up that they're complaining about?

Re:yeah, right

[VitrosChemistryAnaly]

It's actually 26.7%.

However, your point remains valid.

Re:Why just Taiwan

[jade42]

It could be that because Taiwan is such a small country and that it is so steeped in technology production. Most people in the world don't care enough to get their government to fight for them on tech issues.

Strange...

[gillbates]

Consumers said they had been forced to turn to illegal copies because Microsoft had used its virtual monopoly to inflate prices.

So even though a federal court found MS guilty of doing the same thing here, MS got to keep their high prices and predatory practices. Amazing.

It seems as if Taiwan has succeeded in doing what John Ashcroft and Co. (and his predecessors, for that matter) could never do: control Microsoft. Strange, isn't it, that Taiwan can effectively demand concessions from a foreign company when our own DOJ can't even enforce the judgements they do have against a domestic one...

Yeah, the future's bright. I think I'm going to start a monopoly somewhere - then I can tell John Ashcroft and the DOJ where to go...

Re:WAR3Z

[gmuslera]

You can see most of it (I think some security stuff or something like that is out), but you can't compile it to obtain again i.e. Windows XP afaik. Even if someone gets that source code, and even if its not traceable to the licensee that obtained it, for what it will be useful?

Worst than that, if you develop something barely based in a shared source licensed code, Microsoft not only will sue you, but also will own anything you did with it for their own profit. I would run away from that kind of sources, and fast.

Instead of this, you have all kind of sources in open source license, a lot with BSD if you are scared by MS anti-GPL propaganda, if you want quality (?) working sources for complex tasks.

Of course, if windows XP sources are distributed by some war3z group, we will see how a security by obscurity system stand against a bit of light on it.

Re:WAR3Z

[jgerman]

Ok if it's 50 million lines of code, then it won't be obsolete, it will still be in the product one or two generations later. If it's not 50 million lines it's digestible, and understandable.

That wrong being righted aside, the soure is certainly not useless, and it wouldn't take a huge amount of effort to de-obfuscate and domcument the code. A sourceforge project with a handful of bright peopel could do it relatively easily.

It has a draw back ..

[Khalidz0r]

Pirated software (Especially MS software) is also used here, but then, this has a big draw back for the people using the software.

Huge programs have localized specifications, which require a bit of more work, and cost the company money, if the company does not gain money through this country, these localizations will not be worked on anymore, and then the whole country/area would lose.

Seems MS however, in this case, have thoughtfully considered the issue and found out that reducing prices and wining the user is worth more than otherwise, but would this always be the case? I really doubt so!

Khalid

crazy.

[Suppafly]

Seems the citizens were forced to obtain pirated copies due to the high cost and having to buy software they did not need to get the parts they DID need.

So that explains why piracy effects nearly industry in asian countries. Its simply due to illegal monopolies and bundling useless stuff with useful stuff. Apparently people wanting to get something for nothing isn't the real reason after all.

Re:The US doesn't have to

[Selfbain]

Er... you think a worker that only makes $1200 a year needs an operating system? I hate to break it to you but I doubt he has a computer.

Piracy?!! Stop using that word!

[Anonymous Coward]

Piracy IS THE HIJACKING OF VESSELS IN THE HIGH SEAS.
The only reason for calling copying
"piracy" is to be compliant with
section 8 [cornell.edu]
and be able to enforce strict uniform penalties.
To fit that into federal laws the lawyers put
that name to trick people.

Re:The US doesn't have to

[mikio71]

if they're using a computer, which has been sold to them from the back of a truck, they probably need an operating system Seriously speaking, it's all boils down to economics. While working in Taiwan, I was taking home a whopping US$11,000 / yr., and people generally working in the same salary range as me all had computers in their home. Why? The hardware is cheaper since most of its made locally anyway, and the software is all pirated. Think about the DVD or console gaming market. They price fix by using region encoding. I mean... for Region 2, for example, how are countries such as Japan and S. Africa, lumped into the same region as Europe? Or how is Mexico excluded from the US/Canada Region 1? It's all about the pricing and cost of living. So a person living in the US, could not go into Mexico to buy a cheaper DVD, and play it back on his own DVD player in America (of course, this isn't exactly true, but let's take the average consumer who doesn't hack his box). M$ is essentially in the same boat, but instead of region encoding, it uses language to regionally encode its software. For the most part, the average US computer buyer probably doesn't want a machine in Chinese, while the average Taiwanese computer buyer probably doesn't want a machine in English. M$ can essentially fix the price in Taiwan to a lower price point, and get more people to buy the software at the lower price, rather than selling it at a higher price point, but getting a handful of sales instead. While lowering the cost may lower M$ price margin, I figure that the volume being bigger would make its profit much higher. On the other hand, this is Taiwan we're talking about... It's a very price sensitive area, so the pirates will always be around. The trick is for M$ to lower their prices to a point that the difference between buying a legit copy over a pirate copy is trivial. The problem is that with the prices of hardware and media coming down as they are, the pirates will always be able to produce their wares for pennies, and it's all a matter of how much inventory they can keep in stock, without cutting into their profit margin, however minimal it may be after M$ puts a price cut. In the end, people should probably just migrate over to Linux, and not worry about licensing and payments as much, but I figure that's not gonna happen at anytime soon.

$400, but for what?!?!?

[XJoshX]

It should be obvious to most people that the price demanded by microsoft is far to high for what you get. Office is ~$400 for five or six programs.. These programs were not that complex in the first place. I know I'd much rather program a program like Word then some of the harder parts of the Windows OS ( ~$150).. Add onto this that the programs in the suite haven't been changed by much in the last 10 years.

If I was running a company, it would seem quite obvious that I could have my employees do exactly the same things with OpenOffice (free) or Corel Office (much less $$ than MS) and my company could save hundreds of dollars per employee.

Re:Strange...

[MxTxL]

Strange, isn't it, that Taiwan can effectively demand concessions from a foreign company

One thing to consider (not saying this happened here, but it's interesting) is that Taiwan comes from a position of power in the computer world. Piss them off, and memory prices could triple. Similar situation with lots of other computer components.... MS can't sell so many new copies of windows when nobody is buying computers anymore....

Re:What?

[tshak]

Open Office for Windows reads .doc files just fine.

No it doesn't. Whenever a client sends me a contract in Word I have to ask my roommate to print it for me, because when I print from Open Office I get a bunch of garbage half of the time. I'd pay the ~$300+ (OEM) for MS Office in a heartbeat if it weren't for the security issues.

Re:The US doesn't have to

[That_Dan_Guy]

I lived in Taiwan for 5 years. I was highly paid as an English teacher- about 15 bucks an hour for maybe 20 hours a week.

When I heard computers calling me back I went up to AsusTek looking for a job writing manuals. Y'know how much they offered the first time? 12,000 USD a year plus "stock options." When I let my friends know I thought that was pathetic and turned it down they were amazed. People over there live on less, and dream about working at AsusTek. They have computers and cars. No S***! They just all live with their parents (my brother in law makes a bit more as an MCSE sysadmin at Viewsonic, has a PocketPC, a color couple cell phones, a car and counts himself really darned well off)

Their final offer was 25,000, no stock options (the "options" could not be exercised until after you quit, you got a lot of 1000 after two years, and a lot every year thereafter. The "option" was not given to you, but kept in the President's safe and given to you when you quit if he liked you)

Prices used to be a lot less for hardware over there. But that was when it was 25nt to the dollar. Last time I checked prices are about the same (if it costs a 100 US here, it costs within 3% of that there).

Re:Sharing source code

[Orangedog_on_crack]

I can't believe Ballmer was stupid enough to turn over source code to the Russian government! People who know or have had any dealings with Russian red-tape knows that Russian mob make the Yakuza look like a Brownie scouts. They are part and parcel of the government there. I give it 6 months, tops, before windows source is all over the warez croud. These guys will make sure it gets there just to screw with MS.