Never mind all the reviews that tell readers not to upgrade to Vista unless it comes bundled with a new computer, all the write-ups that say that it’s only incrementally better than XP or the recommendations to go with the two-year-old Mac OS X 10.4 over the brand-new Vista. Vista’s slow sales, according to Steve Ballmer, are the fault of pirates in the “BRIC Countries” (Brazil, Russia, India and China, all of which are emerging markets for the high-tech sector).
His proposed solution, according to The Inquirer: “increase the intensity Windows Genuine Advantage as part of an effort to squeeze more revenue from developing nations.”
It’s probably not the best tack to take, considering it’s only been a couple of weeks since the rival Steve talked about making music DRM-free and since the president of Romania admitted to Gates that his country’s booming high-tech sector (which I’m sure generates lots of business for Microsoft, both directly and indirectly) was buit on pirated Redmond goodies.