05.07.09
Apple and Microsoft Attack Their Developers and Users (Again)
Summary: More application censorship, courtesy of Apple and Microsoft
WHAT Apple and Microsoft do at the moment is insanely tactless. Apple’s very latest ban is something that we wrote about yesterday and there are others who feel similarly, including fans of Apple.
Apple’s Hypocrisy is Staggering
[...]
They are trying to control the content in the Apps and they really, really need to just get out of the way and let the market judge the quality of an App.
Apple is already moving on to some related damage control (not directly related to this):
Apple fine-tunes app censorship
Apple will extend parental controls to applications in its upcoming iPhone 3.0 software and iTunes 8.2, thus helping to calm some of the ongoing brouhaha over its erratic App Store censorship policies.
Microsoft too has a “Marketplace for Mobile” and this from yesterday’s news makes one wonder if Apple and Microsoft were separated at birth.
Microsoft blocks dirty dozen apps from mobile store
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When it comes to Microsoft’s planned Marketplace for Mobile, you can forget about making or installing software that changes Microsoft’s default browser, search client, or media player on a Windows mobile phone. Also out are VoIP calls on an operator’s network and ads for carriers.
Whose phone is it anyway? Is it merely being rented to be controlled by the vendor?
Lastly, DaemonFC has just found this aggressive action from Microsoft:
Demand for Immediate Take-Down: Notice of Infringing Activity
URL: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/10/hack-to-run-dreamscene-in-vista-home-premium-basic-starter-business-and-enterprise/
CASE #: 89294
11 May 2007
Dear Sir or Madam,
Microsoft has received information that the domain listed above, which appears to be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed copies of, or is engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted works published by Microsoft.
1. Identification of copyrighted works:
Copyrighted work(s):
DreamSceneCopyright owner:
Microsoft Corporation2. Copyright infringing material or activity found at the following location(s):
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/10/hack-to-run-dreamscene-in-vista-home-premium-basic-starter-business-and-enterprise/
The above computer program(s) is being made available for copying, through downloading, at the above location without authorization of the copyright owner.
3. Statement of authority:
The information in this notice is accurate, and I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that I am authorized to act on behalf of Microsoft, the owner of the copyright(s) in the work(s) identified above. I have a good faith belief that none of the materials or activities listed above have been authorized by Microsoft, its agents, or the law.
We hereby give notice of these activities to you and request that you take expeditious action to remove or disable access to the material described above, and thereby prevent the illegal reproduction and distribution of this software via your company’s network.
We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Please advise us regarding what actions you take.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Rutherford
Internet Investigatoron behalf of Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
United States of AmericaE-mail: Internet1@microsoft-antipiracy.com
Being a sociopaths goes a along way if Microsoft intends to shoot itself in the foot by alienating customers. it’s also interesting that Microsoft has a domain for attacking boats (microsoft-antipiracy.com). █
Jose_X said,
May 8, 2009 at 12:49 am
Roy, if the offering was the actual application (and it appears this is the case), then it’s hard to believe how that would be a legal action (at least) in the US. Certainly on the surface, the notice seems appropriate (if perhaps not customer-friendly nor perhaps honest (see below)).
If the offering was for a small application that lightly hacked a program you already had, simply to allow it to run on your system, then you might argue fair use. [But do keep in mind DMCA and explicit forbidding in the app's EULA.]
It’s also possible to consider there may be illegal tying going on.
Also, that take down notice/comment is dated 2007 (so it is a bit dated).
I’d like to point out that having people grab this download likely helps Microsoft more than it hurts them.