Microsoft Longhorn pirated and sold in Asia

SOFTWARE PIRATES have made an early beta copy of Microsoft Longhorn available on CD, but it's years before the OS will be released.

The Longhorn alpha is a pirated version of the edition distributed to programmers in October, and Reuters describes a Voleperson saying that installing the software on a PC as rather risky.

The Longhorn OS, which according to chief software architect Bill Gates recently, will cost as much as it cost for the US to put a man on the moon, is unlikely to appear before 2005.

But the OS is being sold for around £1 or so in the bazaars of the Far East, where supply of illegal software is a way of life.

Despite Longhorn being a long way off, there is a lot of interest in the OS, so despite the piracy it may rebound to Microsoft's benefit because of the extra publicity.

Longhorn, when it does arrive, is supposed to be a super-secure OS from the Vole. Well, we'll see.. µ

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