NEWS CATEGORIES:

NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>
MEET THE EDITORS >>

Find us on Google+

Home > News > Microsoft > Windows

December 4th, 2008, 19:41 GMT · By Marius Oiaga

Microsoft to Kill Windows XP 'Blue Edition'

Adjust text size:

Microsoft is attempting to kill the “Blue Edition” of Windows XP. In mid-2008 the Redmond company discontinued the availability of retail and OEM licenses of Windows XP, with the exception of copies of the operating system going onto ultra-low-cost laptops and desktops. However, XP “Blue Edition” is by no means a part of Microsoft's efforts to focus consumers and partners on Windows Vista and beyond. Killing XP “Blue Edition” is an illustrative example of the company's actions to stop the software counterfeiting phenomenon affecting its products.

According to Microsoft, “Blue Edition” is nothing more than a fabricated marketing program used to market and sell pirated copies of Windows XP. In this regard, the software giant informed that it had debuted legal actions against multiple online auctioneers worldwide, which were allegedly responsible for selling pirated copies of XP “Blue Edition” and not only via various global marketing schemes.

“Dishonest auctioneers are too often using these online auction sites to sell counterfeit and illegal copies of Microsoft software, taking advantage of unsuspecting customers around the world,” revealed David Finn, associate general counsel for Worldwide Anti-Piracy and Anti-Counterfeiting at Microsoft. “These dealers are peddling bogus products that can put customers and their personal information at serious risk.”

Microsoft has indicated that auctioneers in 12 countries around the world are now facing lawsuits for selling counterfeit software on online auction sites. A total of 63 legal actions involve lawsuits in the US (16), in Germany (12), in France (12), and in the UK (7). In addition, the software giant is also going after software counterfeiters in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand.

“By taking legal action against these and other alleged counterfeiters, Microsoft is helping ensure that consumers around the world are protected from those who sell counterfeit software over the Internet,” Finn added. “We are also continuing to arm our customers with the information they need to keep from falling victim to counterfeit software. Consumers should be aware that the so-called ‘Blue Edition’ software is nothing more than low-quality counterfeit software burned onto a CD.”

FILED UNDER:

Windows XP

Blue Edition

piracy

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:

14,750 hits · 2 comments · Link to this article · Print article · Send to friend · Subscribe to news

MUST-READ RELATED ARTICLES:

Feast Your Eyes on the New Windows 7 Boot Screen

Windows Live SkyDrive: 25 GB of Free Online Storage

Microsoft Applauds Open XML Interoperability with HTML, ODF and Java

Download 2 Free SQL Server 2008 Releases

ESP 2.0, the Next Generation of the Microsoft Visual Simulation Platform

READER COMMENTS:

Comment #1 by: Florin on 10 Jun 2009, 18:40 UTC	reply to this comment
"Consumers should be aware that the so-called ‘Blue Edition’ software is nothing more than low-quality counterfeit software burned onto a CD.” Damn it, lol, that's hillaryous. It's exactly like buying the CD from the store, nothing different when you use it, just that it's illegal

Comment #1.1 by: whodat? on 10 Feb 2010, 20:06 GMT

fo real tho.... lol low quality? dont think there is a thing different between the two... just that big giant doesn't get his green.

SUBMIT PROGRAM \| ADVERTISE \| GET HELP \| SEND US FEEDBACK \| RSS FEEDS \| UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE \| ROMANIAN FORUM
© 2001 - 2012 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Softpedia® and the Softpedia® logo are registered trademarks of SoftNews NET SRL.	Copyright Information \| Privacy Policy \| Terms of Use