Only 244 Genuine Windows Vista's Sold in China

[caerma]

:rofl:

[MrCobra]

I can't believe they sold that many :o :p

Just what I was thinking. Either that or some go in on that PowerTogether promo.

since when does it take an actual paycheck to pay for Windows?

It depends on how much they make and you also have to factor in the UK prices.

[Bamagrad03]

I think that's pretty sad. Piracy over there is out of control. Movies and software. To me its an ethics thing. Why do people feel like its okay to steal on such a massive scale?

[ObiWanToby]

Man...this is probably why we have to deal with WGA bs.

[Smigit]

Therefore, anything under about $30 is unsustainable as far as production is concerned- and they haven't even broke even yet.

Thats the licenses and shipping covered at $30, thats nowhere close to paying the R&D spent in the half decade and thousands of employees they paid to make this.

Anyway 244 sounds like BS to me. Sure piracy is bad but a country of that population I still fail to believe that only 244 copies were sold. I'm totally skeptical regardless of the source.

[CronicHazel]

omfg. i am lolling so hard at this.

this is such pwnage.

Piracy sure is supreme. :/

[temple_treefrog]

Thats the licenses and shipping covered at $30, thats nowhere close to paying the R&D spent in the half decade and thousands of employees they paid to make this.

Anyway 244 sounds like BS to me. Sure piracy is bad but a country of that population I still fail to believe that only 244 copies were sold. I'm totally skeptical regardless of the source.

Yeah

[L3thal Veteran]

You guys are here laughing at this statistic but you fail to realize, or rather, ignore the fact that this is what causes Microsoft to annoy everyone else with WGA and activations. While you are working to purchase your copy of Vista, pirates in China are selling thousands of copies for $1 or less and in the long run, that just comes to affect legit customers and customers in developed countries that are accused for losses in revenue due to piracy (RIAA? MPAA?) Can you imagine if pirates stopped selling movies in China? The MPAA would see an influx of sales and most likely causing them to relax from pursuing movie downloaders (that is arguable but makes sense).

In the end, this all comes down to politics. The government of China does not combat piracy so pirates keep having a field day. This is why the US has filed a complaint to the WTO against China because US, and other companies are losing billions in China and we are the ones facing high-priced DVDs and everything in between.

[Rahul]

You guys are here laughing at this statistic but you fail to realize, or rather, ignore the fact that this is what causes Microsoft to annoy everyone else with WGA and activations. While you are working to purchase your copy of Vista, pirates in China are selling thousands of copies for $1 or less and in the long run, that just comes to affect legit customers and customers in developed countries that are accused for losses in revenue due to piracy (RIAA? MPAA?) Can you imagine if pirates stopped selling movies in China? The MPAA would see an influx of sales and most likely causing them to relax from pursuing movie downloaders (that is arguable but makes sense).

In the end, this all comes down to politics. The government of China does not combat piracy so pirates keep having a field day. This is why the US has filed a complaint to the WTO against China because US, and other companies are losing billions in China and we are the ones facing high-priced DVDs and everything in between.

.

Yeah China sux ever since they fought a war with India in 1961

[Mathiasdm]

You guys are here laughing at this statistic but you fail to realize, or rather, ignore the fact that this is what causes Microsoft to annoy everyone else with WGA and activations. While you are working to purchase your copy of Vista, pirates in China are selling thousands of copies for $1 or less and in the long run, that just comes to affect legit customers and customers in developed countries that are accused for losses in revenue due to piracy (RIAA? MPAA?) Can you imagine if pirates stopped selling movies in China? The MPAA would see an influx of sales and most likely causing them to relax from pursuing movie downloaders (that is arguable but makes sense).

In the end, this all comes down to politics. The government of China does not combat piracy so pirates keep having a field day. This is why the US has filed a complaint to the WTO against China because US, and other companies are losing billions in China and we are the ones facing high-priced DVDs and everything in between.

This statistic also shows that WGA is only annoying legitimate users, and can't stop piracy.

[Scirwode]

You guys are here laughing at this statistic but you fail to realize, or rather, ignore the fact that this is what causes Microsoft to annoy everyone else with WGA and activations. While you are working to purchase your copy of Vista, pirates in China are selling thousands of copies for $1 or less and in the long run, that just comes to affect legit customers and customers in developed countries that are accused for losses in revenue due to piracy (RIAA? MPAA?) Can you imagine if pirates stopped selling movies in China? The MPAA would see an influx of sales and most likely causing them to relax from pursuing movie downloaders (that is arguable but makes sense).

In the end, this all comes down to politics. The government of China does not combat piracy so pirates keep having a field day. This is why the US has filed a complaint to the WTO against China because US, and other companies are losing billions in China and we are the ones facing high-priced DVDs and everything in between.

Agreed. That said, Microsoft should also lower the price a little as not everyone can afford Windows Vista. Here in Malaysia there is a crackdown on pirated CD's and DVD's due to Flo and Lucky but software venders are not doing anything to encourage original software by bringing down some of the prices. Some of the Playstation 2 CD's that were launched in 2002 still have the same price so it goes to show you how so many people go for pirated items as they cost a fraction of the price of the original item.

Scirwode

[lil_psc]

You guys are here laughing at this statistic but you fail to realize, or rather, ignore the fact that this is what causes Microsoft to annoy everyone else with WGA and activations. While you are working to purchase your copy of Vista, pirates in China are selling thousands of copies for $1 or less and in the long run, that just comes to affect legit customers and customers in developed countries that are accused for losses in revenue due to piracy (RIAA? MPAA?) Can you imagine if pirates stopped selling movies in China? The MPAA would see an influx of sales and most likely causing them to relax from pursuing movie downloaders (that is arguable but makes sense).

In the end, this all comes down to politics. The government of China does not combat piracy so pirates keep having a field day. This is why the US has filed a complaint to the WTO against China because US, and other companies are losing billions in China and we are the ones facing high-priced DVDs and everything in between.

or you can look at the other way around

The USA is trying to dictate the Chinese market with its gigantic multi-national companies. They pinch revenues away from small to medium size local companies whom have very little financial backings. Where do all these revenues end up? back to the States... This forces the local company bosses to cut costs to keep their business alive. They do so by either sacking employees or commonly take a bite out of their payments. With all this happening around China, do you honestly think average Chinese families can afford all these expensive ?1 hit wonder? toys around them?

Only the rich can afford so and I doubt many of them cares about computers or vista.

I do not understand why MPAA and co are complaining when they make beyond billions in revenue p.a. Their greedy for money is beyond evil.

So please do not blame high dvd, cd costs or even the introduction of DRM on the Chinese pirates. The correlation between the two are 0. The real causation is peoples(corporations) greedy for money.

[Matt T]

You guys are here laughing at this statistic but you fail to realize, or rather, ignore the fact that this is what causes Microsoft to annoy everyone else with WGA and activations. While you are working to purchase your copy of Vista, pirates in China are selling thousands of copies for $1 or less and in the long run, that just comes to affect legit customers and customers in developed countries that are accused for losses in revenue due to piracy (RIAA? MPAA?) Can you imagine if pirates stopped selling movies in China? The MPAA would see an influx of sales and most likely causing them to relax from pursuing movie downloaders (that is arguable but makes sense).

In the end, this all comes down to politics. The government of China does not combat piracy so pirates keep having a field day. This is why the US has filed a complaint to the WTO against China because US, and other companies are losing billions in China and we are the ones facing high-priced DVDs and everything in between.

:yes:

[Xerxes]

This is very bad :( you realize now MS will step up their anti-piracy measures even more, which means more crap for us legit users to put up with...great! :rolleyes:

[riku0116]

I have no trouble believing those statistics, in fact, i would be surprised if it was higher than that.

For the 12 years that I've lived in China, I can't even remember once seeing a store selling genuine software/games, or even claim to do so. Selling any software anywhere near their retail prices will pretty much ensure that they don't sell at all. The pirate market is wayyyyy out of control there, everybody knows about them. There's no way that they can possibly compete with those prices.

And of that 1 billion population, less than 10 percent can afford luxuries like internet and computers, let alone one good enough to support vista. So I don't really expect a lot of people to fork over a thousand dollars in Chinese just for a genuine OS (pirated version costs $10 max, and even then they're ripping you off).

[yuyingfenpiao]

well, i'm Chinese.

actually, in China, people seldom buy genuine copies of vista, insdead, people more tend to by new computers with vista system, esp. those who buy laptops.

but for pc, if it's assembled, then more will go for a "1$" one. it's really a terrible situation.

to this number, 244, i think, it's underestimated.

lots more than this number of people will buy genuine copies.

as for me, if i won't by a new laptop, i guess i never go for vista, just stick to XP, it's fast, stable and compatiable eaough.

at least now, vista is not going well with my figerprint system of my laptop and other drivers for vista are also not so efficiant

Edited April 19, 2007 by yuyingfenpiao

[*John*]

Can you imagine if pirates stopped selling movies in China? The MPAA would see an influx of sales and most likely causing them to relax from pursuing movie downloaders (that is arguable but makes sense).

You reckon?

That has never happened in any other industry EVER btw. If you eradicate piracy, they will claim the anti-piracy measures are working, and they will be happy at the massively increased revenue. Nothing will change.

All software/music etc needs is an activation mechanism to stop casual copying, as that is where the real problem lies. Organised piracy will occur regardless, so WGA and DRM will only affect legitimate users, as pirates can easily get around that.

This was always going to happen in China btw. The average person in China cant afford Windows, and cant afford to buy software at those prices. So you either sell software at CHINESE market rates or you dont sell there at all.

Take into account the average monthly income in China, and for windows to sell it needs to be priced at around $10 tops. Thats the market price. To sell it at the price Microsoft are trying to it may as well be $1,000,000 to the Chinese people.

If Microsoft sold software at a reasonable price in China, piracy would decrease. But they wont, because they fear "grey imports" as a result.

[yuyingfenpiao]

Take into account the average monthly income in China, and for windows to sell it needs to be priced at around $10 tops. Thats the market price. To sell it at the price Microsoft are trying to it may as well be $1,000,000 to the Chinese people.

If Microsoft sold software at a reasonable price in China, piracy would decrease. But they wont, because they fear "grey imports" as a result.

$10 might be not the top price that is acceptable. higher can also be accepted, i think.

actually, if the price of windows down to around 500RMB, or $60-70, i bet most people who have a computer which is able to run vista can afford it. of cuase, the lower, people are happier.

the fact is, the price of OEM version now is about this price, said by some OEMers. the Retail ones are still too high to afford. just as i said, if there is no motivation or need to buy a new BRAND computer, esp. laptop, common people really won't buy a system priced higher than 500 RMB.

but if the retail price really goes that low, no one can garantee that there won't be a export of CHEAP CHN version to other countries. which means that, lower price may gain huge consumers in China instead of only 244 Genunine buyers, maybe larger income will lose in other countries. this is the concern point of MS.

[Buttus]

I want one! Would it still be against the law if it was bought just for the novelty value and not actually installed?

[- jigz -]

how much was sold in north american then????

[- jigz -]

okay i answered my own question http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2107715,00.asp

[Bamagrad03]

or you can look at the other way around

The USA is trying to dictate the Chinese market with its gigantic multi-national companies. They pinch revenues away from small to medium size local companies whom have very little financial backings. Where do all these revenues end up? back to the States... This forces the local company bosses to cut costs to keep their business alive. They do so by either sacking employees or commonly take a bite out of their payments. With all this happening around China, do you honestly think average Chinese families can afford all these expensive ?1 hit wonder? toys around them?

Only the rich can afford so and I doubt many of them cares about computers or vista.

I do not understand why MPAA and co are complaining when they make beyond billions in revenue p.a. Their greedy for money is beyond evil.

So please do not blame high dvd, cd costs or even the introduction of DRM on the Chinese pirates. The correlation between the two are 0. The real causation is peoples(corporations) greedy for money.

I hate the "mean ole multinational companies" argument. It's weak and lame. Your argument reeks of socialism. To you, the MPAA makes enough money already, so they should let people steal from them. It's not your place to say how much is enough money.

And how is Microsoft coming into China and affecting the little homegrown business owner? Do you think there are a bunch of corner shops writing operating systems? No. But you know how the local business owner COULD benefit? If piracy was clamped down on, and he could sell legit copies of Windows, making a profit. Instead of having people buy them off the street for $1.

Automobile companies are multi national. Should you be able to steal a car if you can't afford one?

[GoatOfMendez]

and about 12 in rest of world! :p

nah lol i use the evaluation period and reformat (i reformat monthly anyway)

Do you manage to f**k your install up that much in 1 month!!! Do you use your PC blind-folded?

Ah...OK just saw you are a FF fanboy... explains everything... if you are going to install such cack then you'd have to expect to reinstall monthly :)

[lil_psc]

I hate the "mean ole multinational companies" argument. It's weak and lame. Your argument reeks of socialism. To you, the MPAA makes enough money already, so they should let people steal from them. It's not your place to say how much is enough money.

And how is Microsoft coming into China and affecting the little homegrown business owner? Do you think there are a bunch of corner shops writing operating systems? No. But you know how the local business owner COULD benefit? If piracy was clamped down on, and he could sell legit copies of Windows, making a profit. Instead of having people buy them off the street for $1.

Automobile companies are multi national. Should you be able to steal a car if you can't afford one?

i said multinational companies (hp, sony, walmart, etc) affected local businesses, the outcome of their intrusion is lower work payment for average chinese people. Do you honest think they would bothered buying legit(expensive) eye candy toys like vista?

as for the MPAA and co, if you dont like the prices they set then look for alternatives instead of blaming the issue of their greed for money on other nations

[riku0116]

There is practically no place that sells genuine software in China.

So even if people don't want to pirate, they will have to because they can't get their hands on a genuine copy. Or sometimes they get ripped off by someone who claims the vista is genuine...