[Random-bits] MS's ads touting Office 2k anti-piracy features

[James Love]

>From kaner@kaner.com Sat Jan 29 22:10:31 2000
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 12:46:48 -0800
From: Cem Kaner <kaner@kaner.com>
To: James Love <love@cptech.org>
Subject: microsoft

  [snip]

I'm at the Boise Airport. There's a big poster/billboard from Microsoft
that says:

	OFFICE 2000 is here
	So are three new anti-piracy features.
	www.microsoft.com/pacwest
	Be sure it's legal.

I am in and out of the Boise Airport frequently. This is the only
Microsoft billboard that I have noticed. This billboard has been here
for several months.

I can't imagine more stunning evidence of a monopoly position. If
Microsoft had to worry about competition, they wouldn't dare post -- as
their primary or maybe only publicity piece -- something that seems to
reflect strong mistrust of their customer base. And with advertising
like this, no one would buy it if there was an alternative.

-- Cem Kaner
========================

_______________________________________________________________________
Cem Kaner, J.D., Ph.D.
P.O. Box 1200, Santa Clara, CA 95052

http://www.kaner.com
http://www.badsoftware.com

Author (with Falk &  Nguyen) of TESTING COMPUTER SOFTWARE (2nd Ed, VNR)
Author (with David Pels) of BAD SOFTWARE (Wiley, 1998)

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