Pirated Software

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2363043,00.asp

I was reading this and have to admit I was as impressed as Microsoft was to discover the Pirate manufacturing operation they shut down in 2007 was larger than the legal operations Microsoft had in the territory at the same time.
The ever increasing level of sophistication is a potential problem for any business, but Microsoft's efforts should make it easier. The technology they discover and the rings they shut down should be observed closely by smaller companies for potential tips. Second mover advantage is low cost and fewer bugs. Microsoft is a great opportunity to observe the first mover.
The other big thing is the addition effort to work with customers. 80,000 of 280,000 historical leads were last year. This is a strategic shift that we may want to consider in our companies, as the addition of true independent intelligences is harder to counterfeit then a data security technique.
The losses from piracy are in the billions and more and more of us ar einvolved one way or another in IT related businesses. it pays to watch these events unfold.