The Chinese IT community is abuzz with news of the arrest of Hong Lei, distributor of the popular "Tomato Garden" pirate version of Windows XP, which means the popular unlocked version of the Microsoft software will no longer be available.
According to Sina.com, more than 90 percent of users they surveyed are or were users of Tomato Garden pirate editions. And 79 percent said they were on Tomato Garden’s side. Less than 5 percent said they supported Microsoft.
The logic is clear: when a pirated copy of Windows software is available for 5 yuan, who would pay nearly a month's salary for a copy of authentic software produced by a foreign company that has already collected billions of dollars in revenue around the world?
But Yu Weidong, director of intellectual property at Microsoft said price comparisons between legal and the pirated versions is meaningless because they take no account of research and development costs.
"Overwhelming support from the public doesn't justify Tomato Garden’s piracy. Some netizens are getting very emotional and confusing issues such as piracy, monopoly and intellectual property rights," said Feng Xiaoqing, professor at China University of Political Science and Law.
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