Microsoft China Plagiarises Plurk
- Categories: International, News
- Date: Dec 16, 2009 00:11 JST
- Tags: China, Internet, Made in China, Plagiarism, Sites, Taiwan, Technology, Twitter
Top Asian micro-blogging service Plurk has apparently been subject to brazen plagiarism by Microsoft China, in a case which raises unsettling questions about the business ethics of both Microsoft and its Chinese developers.
Plurk explains its grievances:
• Microsoft China officially launched its own microblogging service, MSN Juku/Hompy/Mclub, some time in November, 2009.
• The service’s design and UI is by and large an EXACT copy of Plurk’s innovative left-right timeline scrolling navigation system. (see screen captures below)
• Some 80% of the client and product codebase appears to be stolen directly from Plurk! (see evidence below).
• Plurk was never approached nor collaborated in any capacity with MS on this service.
• As a young startup, we’re stunned, shocked, and unsure what to do next and need your support and suggestions.
A little overly inspired, wouldn’t you agree? Of course, we understand others will always be motivated to emulate and take bits and pieces of visual and functional elements from widely successful services and carve out localized versions.
Plurk was already Taiwan’s biggest microblogging service, 10x bigger than Twitter in that market alone, and emerging as Asia’s answer to Twitter in many of the biggest countries in East Asian, so naturally Microsoft probably saw some potential in piggybacking off the success of our unique service and launching something similar in a related market like China.
If this was just a case of visual inspiration gone too far, we could probably have lived with it. We would have taken the time to reach out to Microsoft, get colour on the matter and try to amicably resolve it.
That’s not the case here. This is something far more sinister. On closer inspection, we found that MUCH of the codebase and data structures that Microsoft’s MClub uses are identical snapshots of our code.
Microsoft has taken Plurk’s custom developed libraries, css files and client code and just ported them directly over to their service without any attempt to even mask this! Here are just 3 small examples of literally hundreds we have found.
Some users in the blogosphere even speculated that Microsoft Mclub/Juku was some sort of official partnership we’d struck with Microsoft to clear a re-entry into China after our earlier censorship in the region behind the Great Firewall of China, prior to which we were the #1 microblogging service in the country.
Let’s clear the air around this. While many reputable internet companies have forged solid partnerships with Plurk, valuing our innovation and market leadership in Asia, Microsoft was absolutely not one of them.
We were never contacted by any party at MS to collaborate on such a venture nor did we give any prior written or verbal permission to anyone on their side to take our code, take our CSS, and copy the essence and ethos of our service.
We’re still in shock asking why Microsoft would even stoop to this level of wilfully plagiarising a young and innovative upstart’s work rather than reach out to us or innovate on their own terms.
Of course, it just hits that much closer to home when all your years of hard work and effort to create something unique are stolen so brazenly.
All the more ironic considering Microsoft has often been leading the charge on fighting for stronger IP laws and combating software piracy in China.
The site has since been “temporarily” pulled by Microsoft in what is presumably a tacit admission of guilt.
Microsoft may already have earned much infamy for its “embrace and extend” approach to borrowing or copying whatever it feels like, but rarely has it stooped to this level of plagiarism.
With Microsoft’s China subsidiary being at fault, many will doubtless be wondering whether this had the blessing of Microsoft head office, or if it is instead merely business as usual by Chinese developers…
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Microsoft... you didn't even attempt to change the names of the functions...
China looks really motivated lately it seems, motivated to plagiarize almost everything they know of course...
When China held the Olympic games, many of the Flash games on their official site were direct rips of other, well known games but with a few pieces of art changed. Ferry Halim's work, for example, was plagiarised.
All these "lolwut MS" comments shouldn't really be surprised - China is home to the masters of the knockoff whether big or small. It's just par for the course, really.
I can't say I'm surprised. The big shits in China seem to go "Hmm, I like this, we need something like it but to prove we're 'innovative' like we were hundreds of years ago, we'll copy it and not give credit"
Ugh, fuckin' Chinks.
Another fine example of why ANYTHING that is made of information, including software should be free.
If it is good, and works, it saves time for others to use the existing code instead of writing the same thing again. Even M$ with his copyright campaigns knows that, and does it. No one in their sane mind would code something himself when it is readily available already.
However, if it's free it won't even matter if you write your own or use an existing one from another author/company because you aren't doing for profit, you are doing it for the benefit of the users, meaning you'd have no reason to make something that's the exact same as an existing product. If you can improve on it enough so that is is better than the one from the original author, then that's good for everyone, if you can't people will keep using the original anyway. Of course if you are selling for money, then the whole thing fails, and you'll want to offer something even if the best you can do is the exact same thing or even if it is worse, to make money from it.
Geezers like me who remember computing in the ancient days before Windows 95 shouldn't be surprised at all. Microsoft's been doing this shit for AGES.
Back in the late MS-DOS era (early 90s) Microsoft straight-up ripped off a hard drive compression program called Stacker made by a small company, changed its name to DoubleSpace, and called it an operating system feature in their new version of MS-DOS. The only unusual thing was that they got caught and sued that time.
There's a huge difference between implementing features of a rival's product (not even Microsoft claims that OpenOffice being able to open Word files is piracy or theft) and straight-up code theft.
Sue the shit out of Microsoft >:(
Meh, M$ has been plagiarizing Apple for ages. This is hardly anything new.
Who cares?
China does love it's plagiarism.
sue em
China does not recognize foreign copyright. Though since they don't recognize Taiwan as a foreign country this is pretty iffy. But this is why china will always be a follower rather than a leader in technology (no or very little research). It also explains why they spend so much on industrial espionage. Of course when other countries or corps do it to them they call it stealing state secrets!
quite the contary, China does recognize foreign copyrights. The only problem they have is enforcement.
That is like saying Japan only hunts whales for scientific purposes... What a country means is not what it says. plagiarism by china state owned or controlled companies happens too. Wasn't there something bout a state owned propaganda company copying anime characters?
Conspiracies!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/184678/microsoft_pulls_the_plug_for_now_on_plurk_clone.html
Microsoft Pulls The Plug (For Now) on Plurk Clone.
Hehehehe
Lol...Plurk developers aren't dumb. This is the best thing that could have happened to them.
They'll probably get a settlement from Microsoft and they get a ton of free pub. Now people outside of Taiwan will hear about it.
l^o^l goodjop!
Being a chinese, I feel ashamed for these non-innovative people constantly plagiarizing others' ideas or concepts and then claim their own. This is probably one of the reasons why most foregin businesses fail in China, because there is absolutley no intellectual property protection in China.
Thanks to that, China's neighbouring countries are making a living attracting businesses with emphasis on IP protection. I see it as a good thing, China can continue producing clothes instead.
Yes, I live in one of those neighbouring countries.
All countries experience lack of IP protection at one point. I'm seeing gradual improvement in China's IP protection.
I agree, in China this is normal, infact if you make up your OWn thing its considered NOT normal. They just copy anything and call it TYPE-something something. like srsly
In China,This is normal
Seems to me the MS china team (or leader) was too zealous in carrying out the company's traditional attitude towards IP.
Good one by plurk for calling this out.
However reading the comments makes me wonder tho: just how many of us are posting these "i-hate-MS" comments while running windows? kinda sucks the air out of our sails doesn't it?
Microsoft got a lot of ideas from DOS, UNIX, (Open)VMS and Amiga features.
DOS for minor file execution functions
UNIX for the most of the functions
(Open)VMS for the basic kernel structure
Amiga for the kernel-userland relations
Microsoft is originally a programming tool company. It should return to its original roots (while at it, acquire Xerox PARC's programming language division).
I guess Microsoft wasn't giving a lot of parent supervision to its China group. More like, the China group did whatever the fuck they wanted until they got caught.
Hell, it's so widespread in China, it's not surprising. Microsoft needs to pull out of China or something...
"With Microsoft’s China subsidiary being at fault, many will doubtless be wondering whether this had the blessing of Microsoft head office, or if it is instead merely business as usual by Chinese developers…"
Business as usual, as the site wasn't created by developers at MS China. The project was outsourced to another chinese company that was responsible for all design and coding of the site. Only surprising thing is that no one at MS China figured it'd be bad to launch such an obvious copy.
It's a China thing--steal, steal, and steal. That's all they do.
For fucks sake guys:
A Taiwanese software company was copied by a subsidary of Microsoft in China.
Taiwan ISN'T China.
Depends on who you ask. :P
Well, according to this article, it is.
when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
When in china, be chinese.
Microsofts just embracing the local culture of plagiarising.
oh come on, everything's made in china
I hate china!
HA! china!
"We’re still in shock asking why Microsoft would even stoop to this level of wilfully plagiarising a young and innovative upstart’s work rather than reach out to us or innovate on their own terms."
Uhh.... maybe because microsoft gives no fuck about China and choses the easiest way? I dunno.. anyone? (sarcasm)
Srsly, is there no way to protect or encrypt web source code?
QUARITY assured.
no more bill gates = look a like code? haha
what you guys think?
And what is exactly the problem here, china have always plagiarised the rest of the world! Now that someone does the same to them they make a scandal, thats lack of shame.
I don't agree on this practice from Microsoft, but I'm glad they took a spoon of their own chocolate.
meh, another arse who can't differenciate PRC and ROC
Read the article again. You are way off.
wtf is plurk?
The sound you make when you puke. ^_^
other then the windows 7 Madobe Nanami theme where else has Microsoft borrowed stuff?
Microsoft constantly steals other ideas. It's a known fact it's been going on forever. Office was one of them, DOS was infact a stolen idea iirc. M$ has on numerous occasions made slightly different products to other companies. then sued the original company with their huge fuck off legal team and deep pockets usually meaning that the company would have to accept an under the table bail out. Even recently Microsoft have been caught using GPL code.
The original core DOS was bought and paid for. Microsoft built and expanded on it through several iterations. Please learn to computer history.
Office was stolen? Really?
I was talking ideas wise although M$ have been snagged quite a few times for using other peoples code. Feel free to google it , I'm busy with the higurashi VN at the moment.
The irony here is that the patent and copyright system was made to prevent THIS sort of thing happening. Companies taking other peoples products and selling them as their own, not so much to stop the casual pirates that MS decided to disconnect.
Here everyone will blame China, but China doesn't tell microsoft to do what they do. Next time you buy a console or OS consider how much microsoft is raping you in the ass (apple are just as bad ethically, as are sony, although not so much with the ps3). You can mod your xbox not designed for piracy and still get disconnected. Then they go out and do something so much worse.
Sup kettle. This is pot. you're black.
>>The irony here is that the patent and copyright system was made to prevent THIS sort of thing happening.
Copyright system was made to prevent this sort of thing happening.
Patent system was made to RAPE YOU.
Hah, well thats what they deserve anyway, its totally okay by me if one china company plagiarisms another, or even if microsoft does that to them.
That's like saying you deserve a death sentence for someone else committing mass murder. Sounds quite fair, doesn't it?
As expected of something from China