Topic: Microsoft ordered to halt Win XP sales in China (Read 1663 times)

Nemesis · « **on:** November 18, 2009, 05:11:59 am »

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On Monday, Beijing's 1st Intermediate People's Court decided that Microsoft had overstepped a deal with Zhongyi Electronics to include the company's Chinese fonts in Windows 95 by also slipping them into eight other versions of Windows without permission. The alleged font-pas includes Windows 95, 98, 2000, and XP — but not more recent releases: Vista and Windows 7.

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According to the company, the ruling will not go into effect until it is affirmed by an appeals court.

Rod ONeal · « **Reply #1 on:** November 19, 2009, 12:21:01 am »

I wonder how many legit copies of Windows are in China?
[Chinese accent]
"Oh Microsoft!" "You are no longer allowed to use our Chinese font in your older OS. "We only wish to steal your latest stuff."
[/Chinese accent]

Nemesis · « **Reply #2 on:** November 19, 2009, 07:43:32 am »

Enough that Microsoft has had a localized version for a long time.

Given the higher hardware requirements of Vista and Win 7 I would expect them to continue with XP there for some time as the market isn't for expensive computers.

_Rondo_GE The OutLaw · « **Reply #3 on:** November 19, 2009, 11:34:10 am »

Is it possible for a country to place a copyright on its alphabet?

Well if your communist scum anything is possible.

Just another reason to ask ourselves WHY THE FCK ARE WE DEALING WITH THEM !?!

Nemesis · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2009, 02:06:42 pm »

Quote from: _Rondo_GE The OutLaw on November 19, 2009, 11:34:10 am

Is it possible for a country to place a copyright on its alphabet?

The copyright is on the fonts licensed by MS. We are not talking about the "alphabet" but the precise design of a specific way to present the "alphabet". It takes a lot of effort to make a font that scales well is attractive and gives a uniform appearance when scaled.

Fonts are covered by copyright in the U.S. as well.

Skawpya · « **Reply #5 on:** November 21, 2009, 04:29:27 am »

For those unfamiliar with Asian language handling, there are several index schemes wherein you use an alphabet keyboard, and the computer tries to guess what character you are trying for. for example typing "W" "o" will show a number of characters with the character representing "I" likely being the first and default option. As a result not only is there the font issue, there is also software for character selection. Given the work it would take to get all the needed characters drawn to scale well, and then bind them to one or more translation schemes, this is not a minor issue like an English language font would be

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