In order to take a bite out of piracy, Microsoft sells copies of its Office Suite in China for just $29 dollars. I wonder how many copies Americans would have to pirate to get the same price? So much for the notion that “crime does not pay!”

I found the pricing information earlier today in a BusinessWeek story about how Microsoft is slashing prices to grab market share and fight off Google and the others that are giving away functionality Microsoft customers are used to paying for.

The magazine said Microsoft estimates 95 percent of all copies of Office used in China are illegal copies. Since the $29 pricing started in September, sales of Office have supposedly increased 800 percent.

This looks like a case of where crime pays big dividends. And, no, I am not suggesting for readers to pirate copies of Office in order to send Redmond a pricing message.

Still, we Westerners have been paying through the nose for Office for almost two decades. If anyone deserves a price break, it’s us–not the thieving Chinese. But, it seems that if you are a fast-growing market, lawlessness aside, Microsoft wants to cut you a deal.

I understand what Microsoft is doing and why. I am happy for anything that reduces software theft, but that doesn’t make me nearly as happy as a $29 copy of Office would.

This pricing is another demonstration of how Microsoft’s business model is under attack, especially in the consumer and small business space. Its enterprise business isn’t as solid as it used to be, either, as big corporate customers are remarkably happy with the software they are already using.

These changes haven’t caught Redmond quite as flat-footed as when Netscape first arrived on the scene, forcing Microsoft to Internet-enable products at warp speed.

The company has doubtless seen the current market turmoil coming for years, but had little reason to tip its hand. Microsoft clearly needs be more responsive with its pricing and find better ways to compete globally. I guess giving the Chinese $29 copies Microsoft Office is a part of this.

This is still more Microsoft angst we will just have to live with.

(Article originally written by David Coursey)

Earlier this month, Opera launched Opera 10 Beta, which brought email, RSS, and torrent tracking to the browser, and today they released Opera Unite, which brings the power of a web server to the Opera Browser. What does this mean? Well, if you download and install Opera Unite Alpha for Windows, Linux, or OS X from Opera Labs, you can host a chat room on your local computer, serve up a website from your computer, share photos, share media, and do basic file sharing all via the Opera browser. People connecting to all these services do so through a publicly available URL and they don’t have to have Opera installed on their machines. The services work through any modern browser, although you can only host your own Opera Unite services via your own Opera Browser running on your machine.

Another interesting bit about this technology is that you can install other Opera Unite “applications” within your browser to expand the functionality of this server. In order to get up and running, you have to sign up for a free Opera account. This seems to provide the handshake between remote users trying to access your Opera Unite applications and the applications themselves which are hosted in your browser on your local machine.

So far, I’ve been testing the file sharing and the chat. It’s definitely cool and I can see the future power of this, but it is also clearly in Alpha stage with a few bugs. Also, when accessing the shared files folder, clicking on the file names themselves works for opening or downloading the files, but clicking the actual download link consistently failed for me. It appears that the .png files that I was sharing from a folder on my computer were trying to download as .png.html files when using the download link, and therefore failed.

Make sure you visit Opera’s site dedicated to Opera Unite to see some instructional videos further explaining what it means to have a server in your browser. Here’s one of those videos that is a sort of commercial for the philosophy behind Opera Unite:

OK, enough unfortunate or otherwise negative Microsoft news for today. Let’s instead focus on something good, like how the company is donating the equivalent of eight meals to the Feeding America Network for every completed download of Internet Explorer 8.

The program, called “Browser for the Better,” is connected to those wacky Dean Cain IE8 commercials that launched earlier this month.

And while the Dean Cain marketing effort will likely last forever thanks to the glorious wonder of the Internet, the charity portion of Browser for the Better only runs from June 10 to August 8. Don’t ask about the image. Apparently, for the meals to become viable, Microsoft had to truck in a bunch of artists so they could stack them into shapes resembling the Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge.

Sadly, this letter depicts the true economic downfall of government regulations enforced upon businesses in the United States. It may not be quite as harsh to some, but for many others it is the final straw in a struggle to stay in business.

What a boss (undisclosed) wrote to his/her employees.

To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a Back Story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You’ve seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I’m sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don’t see is the BACK STORY: I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you. My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business: hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70’s. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden — the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations… you never realize the Back Story and the sacrifices I’ve made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn’t. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch. The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don’t understand: to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this? It’s quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship. So, if you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about…. Signed, THE BOSS.

Let’s face it, in the recent years of search engine wars, Microsoft’s Live Search has fallen dramatically short of the “most used engine” prize against search giant Google, as well as even Yahoo!, despite the company’s steep decline in market share and credibility. Despite numerous promotions giving those who would switch to Live Search discounts on Ebay purchases, rewards products based on how many searches in a day you performed, and even double cash back rewards for participating sponsors (ex: Foot Locker and Lenovo), Live Search has been unable to make a dent in Google’s majority market share. Not for long, though. In an attempt to increase their presence in the online search engine business, Microsoft has developed an amazing new mashup-style engine that will not only give you intuitive search results, but also provide you with competitive rates on airfare, lodging, retail products, and more…all without leaving their site. This “decision engine”, as Microsoft calls it, has been named Bing, and I for one believe it will give Google a real run for it’s money, allowing that Microsoft improves their search algorithm to something greater than what Live Search has. Additionally, Microsoft has stated that it will not force Bing on anybody. Naturally it will be the default IE search engine in new Windows based computers starting this Christmas, however the default engine can be easily changed to that of an alternate engine, should the user prefer. Given the details at hand, I for one am proud of Microsoft for changing their methodologies of gaining market share from that of statistical manipulation and what would otherwise be unfair practices (if they were to succeed, that is, which they didn’t with Live Search), to more of a business oriented values based playing field.

Take a look at the below video to see more of what Bing promises to achieve.
Official Site: Microsoft Bing

As many of you know, the newest version of RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) included in the 7100 build of Windows 7 RC has some major issues with being incredibly sluggish. This seems to only persist when connecting to Windows 2000 / 2003 machines, which unfortunately just so happens to be the operating system(s) in use by a great majority of servers. In addition, it seems that this issue was not present in the 7000 build of Windows 7 Beta, nor was it in the 7050 build either.

There is relief, however! I’ve stumbled upon this little workaround that will allow you to run a previous version of Windows RDC in Windows 7 RC (7100). So, until Microsoft has fixed the issue officially, let this serve as a band-aid for your RDC blues.

Step 1: Download 7zip (available at 7-Zip )
Step 2: Download an old version of Remote Desktop Here: RDC Download
Step 3: Using 7zip, extract msrdpcli.exe to any folder.
Step 4: Using 7zip, extract msrdpcli.msi to any folder.
Step 5: Using 7zip, extract data.cab to any folder.
Step 6: Rename F1059_mstscax.dll to mstscax.dll .
Step 7: Rename F1060_mstsc.exe to mstsc.exe .
Step 8: Rename F1061_mstsc.chm to mstsc.chm .

You can now place those last 3 files wherever you want, and run mstsc.exe to launch the old RDC client.

Remember, “If it isn’t on the internet, you won’t be able to find it on the internet.”

Advertisers have finally picked up on what we’ve known all along: nerds are the modern day rock stars.

It is reported that hundreds of millions of dollars are stolen each and every year as a result of ATM machine fraud and hustling. Among the techniques used for such crimes is that of an unobtrusive device attached to the card reader of an ATM machine, gas pump card reader, or any other device that requires a card to be inserted, that reads and stores ATM card information for later retrieval. Additionally, these devices may be outfitted with a miniature surveillance camera to capture the video of a victim entering their personal identification number (PIN). This device in turn allows the perpetrator(s) to instantly produce a mimic of the victims ATM card (even on a hotel room card) and then withdraw the remaining finances available in the account.

The following video gives a real-world example of what to look for in order to avoid becoming a victim yourself. As a common practice, you should always try to jiggle the card reader slot (if protruding) to verify that it is securely attached to the machine.