Microsoft has apparently “cracked down” on 11 UK firms, reaching out of court settlements with the firms for selling illegal copies of its software.

Basically the 11 firms were accused of hard disk loading — installing illegal copies of Windows or other software on PCs before selling them. Microsoft doesn’t like this for obvious reasons, but also noted that it hurts other small resellers who install legal software — those doing it illegally can drop their prices that much more, undercutting the legal folks.

No argument there.

In fact, there’s no argument from one of the 11 firms busted by Microsoft this time around, either.

According to a press release from Microsoft, Christine Throup from PC Support in Worcester said:

“We recognise that we weren’t installing Microsoft software correctly, and that’s something we take seriously. We’ll be working with Microsoft over the next few weeks to make sure what we do falls within their software rules from now on. It’s good to see Microsoft working with small computer traders like us to ensure we’re up to speed on the right way to use and sell their software. Getting it right is important to us and to our customers – the lifeblood of a business like ours.”

It’s astonishing that installing illegal software can be called “incorrect”, — whoops, I didn’t pay for something — but that’s not the most striking thing about this quote.

In April, Microsoft released the results of a similar crackdown, catching out 12 UK resellers for doing just what Throup was doing at her shop.

One of those firms was 1HR Computers from Manchester. A Mr Murphy from that firm was quoted in a press release at the time as saying:

“We recognise that we weren’t installing Microsoft software correctly, and that’s something we take seriously. We’ll be working with Microsoft over the next few weeks to make sure what we do falls within their software rules from now on. It’s good to see Microsoft working with small computer traders like us to ensure we’re up to speed on the right way to use and sell their software. Getting it right is important to us and to our customers - the lifeblood of a business like ours.”

Now it’s entirely possible that it’s a simple mistake by public relations staff – some PR copied and pasted the wrong bit and didn’t notice.

However, it’s not the first time it’s happened.

In February of this year, in response to a similar piracy campaign, a Christopher Hunt from Lichfield Computer Centre, apparently said:

“We recognise that we weren’t installing Microsoft software correctly, and that’s something we take seriously. We’ll be working with Microsoft over the next few weeks to make sure what we do falls within their software rules from now on. It’s good to see Microsoft working with small computer shops like ours to ensure we’re up to speed on the right way to use and sell their software. Getting it right is important to us and to our customers - the lifeblood of a local business like ours.”

Three different people, all saying the same thing. Really, Microsoft?

We tried to contact Throup to find out what she actually thinks, but have been unable to get through to her. We couldn’t get hold of Hunt either. Microsoft’s PR firm is yet to respond, as well.

What happened?

We did manage to get a hold of April target Paul Murphy, however. He told us he was asked if he wanted to contribute to the press release or let Microsoft take care of it. He opted for the latter, and was promised it wouldn’t be done in “too detrimental” a manner.

He did see the quote and approve it. However, he doesn’t entirely agree that it’s true now. The triple-used comment says Microsoft will work with the firms over the “next few weeks” to help them get legal. Murphy said he has not been contacted by Microsoft since the April incident. He was told “support would be available once all the items were cleared up.” It’s been “cleared up for several months and I’ve not heard back from them,” he said.

For the record, he did admit that piracy was wrong. He admitted the “possibility [he] was misselling the product,” but stressed he wasn’t making “any money out of it.” Quite a different comment than Microsoft’s quote, then.

Canned quotes

It’s no surprise to any journalist that comments made in press releases aren’t really what the person said, but this isn’t exactly subtle.

What does this say about Microsoft? Possibly nothing more than it hires exceptionally lazy PR staff. Or maybe that it gives its marketing staff no room to move when it comes to press release wording. Or it could be a genuine mistake that, completely co-incidentally, happened three times. Microsoft wouldn’t be alone in the industry for such a blooper.

But it does highlight an increasing problem in journalism, especially business and tech journalism. If we don’t take the time to check quotes and call for confirmation, we end up looking as foolish as Microsoft, its PR and Throup, Murphy and Hunt – all parroting the same thing, without question, to the benefit of the software giant’s marketing and nothing else.

We try to make it clear here at IT PRO when a quote comes from a press release, noting that so-and-so “said” something in a statement, but we might miss it off or assume it’s clear enough to readers without pointing it out.

From here on out, we’ll make sure it is perfectly clear. Hopefully Microsoft and other tech firms do the same, and stop claiming someone’s said something when they actually haven’t said it at all.

To Throup and Hunt – and all the others targetted by Microsoft’s crackdown – we’d love to hear from you what you actually think about illegal software and piracy. Drop us a line at comments@itpro.co.uk.