09.03.08
Microsoft Uses “Piracy” Against the Laws
How to defeat regulators? ‘Piracy’, of course.
Antitrust complaints are said to be arriving from China due to Microsoft's abuse there and use of so-called 'piracy' against the people's freedom. The following article suggests that Microsoft is now using ‘piracy’ not just as a weapon against competition (primarily Free software), but also as a weapon against regulators.
Microsoft - We Don’t Have a Monopoly in China Because of Piracy
Here’s a relatively unique way to blame piracy - say that it’s the reason you don’t have a monopoly to avoid anti-trust fines.
There are those that hear the same old tired scapegoat. Profits down? Blame piracy. Sales down? Blame piracy. Sales up? It’s in spite of piracy and there could be more sales. Profits up? It’s in spite of piracy and they could be higher. Who knew that a major software giant would use piracy to their legal advantage?
Microsoft loves what it pretentiously calls “piracy”. It owes its very existence to it. █
“It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.”
–Bill Gates
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.