United States Pirate Party

 In the United States if you were going to associate greed and crappy products with one company, the jokes typically going to be on Microsoft, however, with the development of Windows 7... they seem to have gotten some momentum building towards a bright new future of the company, and it shows, looking at their stocks they are doing quite well for themselves, they have been gaining points each month. However, now with their renewed popular image, they can make a real stand for the support of Open Source software, and the reform of current intellectual property laws. 
 
 Their current problem with China shows that the model they are currently using doesn't work, and we encourage them to work with china on a way to reform their current IP laws that will be helpful to Microsoft, and to the people. Not only this, but it paves its way for the perfect testing grounds for new business models. We don't condone the sharing of copyrighted material, but in China (and around the world) its happening... so instead of trying to re-act, we challenge Microsoft to be PRO-active. 
 
China is a large market, and as they are becoming a more and more industrialized nation, we are also seeing the rapid climb in technology use, and this is a huge market for anyone who is selling something with ones and zeros. However, we must also consider that this is a traditionally poor nation too, and when people know that there is going to be a way to get free stuff as opposed to paying for stuff, they are showing themselves to taking the free option. This must be accounted for if Microsoft wants to take this market, otherwise it may slowly lose out to a new company that actually understands the new world we are living in. 
 
Microsoft must see that part of the reason behind Windows 7's success was the open trial area they had in the beginning of it, allowing people to download it for free, and submit bug reports on it, and use the operating system at no cost for a long time. This was a great stride for them and the Pirate Party actually applauds this, while it was not open source, not there were many tricky things they did with people who upgraded, and downgraded and such... but in the end its a huge stride for Microsoft and we applaud the effort. Bringing a community into the development process of your Operating System is a huge first step.... and the free downloads was a good step too.
 
I have compiled a list of small items that Microsoft could do to be able to support open source, and make a great profit... even in nations that have massive amounts of Intellectual Property violations:

• Release a previous version of Windows (an updated 98 even) open source, or at least for free, with open source software. A version that you no longer are posting a substantial profit on anyway.
• Include pre-installed support for python and perl (others too?), and enable people to really develop for the platform (developers, developers, developers... right Balmer?)
• Include options to pay for upgraded items, such as programs, and tech support. 
• Encourage open distribution platforms, and build an Open Source infrastructure, to bring an open source community TO Microsoft. 

I have faith that Microsoft sees the need for an updated business strategy... and we are not naive enough to believe that Microsoft is going to give away the latest version of Windows to people... We are lucky that they were so open with distribution of it in the beginning. However, we would love to see them back an open source infrastructure supporting their Operating System, and brining more people in. This solves their problem, and puts us on the right path to correcting America, because when our top players start seeing the importance in Pirate Party platforms, its the beginning of progress. 
 
I am a pirate, and Open Source was my idea.