Category Archives: Microsoft

Microsoft goes after pirates who allegedly activated ‘thousands of copies’ of Windows, Office

Microsoft has asked a federal judge permission to serve Comcast with a subpoena to identify alleged software pirates who have activated thousands of copies of Windows 7 and Office 2013 using stolen or abused codes, according to court filings.

“For an unknown period of time — but for at least the past three years — the Infringing IP Address has been used to activate thousands of Microsoft product keys,” Microsoft said in a March 4 motion to a Seattle federal court.

Those keys had been stolen from the company’s supply chain, used more times than legal, were actually keys assigned to someone else or were activated outside the geographic region they were intended for.
Continue reading Microsoft goes after pirates who allegedly activated ‘thousands of copies’ of Windows, Office

SwiftKey founder ‘sold his share of £170 million Microsoft app for a bike’

Spare a thought for Chris Hill-Scott.

The civil servant, now 29, founded a startup called SwiftKey in 2008 with two friends, Jon Reynolds, 30, and Ben Medlock, 26, that just sold to Microsoft for £174 million.

But Hill-Scott won’t see a penny because two months after the company was founded he sold all his shares – for a bike.
Continue reading SwiftKey founder ‘sold his share of £170 million Microsoft app for a bike’