3 ms·
It was significantly easier for them because the transgression was done by an external contractor. I doubt they would have been this quick or this forthright h
by marcus 17y ago
It was significantly easier for them because the transgression was done by an external contractor.
I doubt they would have been this quick or this forthright had it been an internal job.
- endtime 17y agoI highly doubt this would ever happen internally.
- kprobst 17y agoHeysoos, the day they cure cancer someone will find a way to criticize them for it.
- rbanffy 17y agoThe day they cure cancer, it will probably be with an addictive drug ;-) They can't help it. It's their corporate DNA. I have a great deal of respect for many of their technical folks, but it's been ages since the MBAs and marketroids took control of the company. (sadly I miss the Tolkien quote I was trying to put in here about evil races... It's too early in the morning)
- awa 17y agoWell, yes! But it would have been harder for an employee to do this since he would have been violating MS policies, hence risking his job. Also, The whole thing would have gone through a whole design process involving a PM and a Test, I doubt the 3 would have come to the same design decision (visual + architectural) as Plurk. Also, if the three decided to steal the code than it would have been three people risking their jobs instead of a vendor who was hoping "nobody would notice" esp since Plurk wasn't available from China.
- rbanffy 17y ago"Also, The whole thing would have gone through a whole design process involving a PM and a Test" They would copy Plurk, but they would copy 2009's Plurk with a product that would enter beta in 2012...
- pkulak 17y agoAnd if Ballmer murdered someone, that would have been harder to apologize for as well.
- netcan 17y agoThere is a point to the above comment. If it is easier to apologise & easier to be forgiven for vendor shoddiness, it creates an incentive to outsource dirty work.
- jonny_noog 17y agoSure does. See the use of mercenaries in Iraq and other places.
- netcan 17y agoWhy all the downvotes? It's true. It is easier having to apologise for a bad vendor then for a bad department. "The vendor has now acknowledged that a portion of the code they provided was indeed copied. This was in clear violation of the vendor’s contract with the MSN China joint venture, and equally inconsistent with Microsoft’s policies respecting intellectual property." That would have been a lot harder if it had been a Microsoft team.