My World. My Space. My Soul.

Cherlynn shared something on Plurk, which I think validly applies to everyone at some point(s) in life:

Microsoft has suspended a new internet messaging service in China, after it emerged that the site was partially based on code stolen from a rival startup.

The site, Juku, launched in November is similar in concept to other online messaging systems like Twitter. But earlier this week the team behindPlurk, a young internet company based in Canada and popular with users across Asia, accused Microsoft of directly copying as much as 80% of the code to run the program.

Read the rest here.

OK. But what resolutions? I hope it is not an outright buy over. I certainly do not want to see advertisement banners on my Plurk profile nor advertisments in any other forms.

The post serves as an update to the previous post: {UPDATED} Plagiarism at its best: Microsoft China steals Plurk’s concept

I was chilling out on Plurk when this came up:

Yes. You must be thinking, Microsoft China ripping off Plurk? See for yourself. In this blog post, a comparison was done between the design and the codings.

They have uncanny similarities between them. Except for visual changes, I cannot see that Microsoft China created its own set of codings to emulate Plurk. In doing so, they are infringing on the intellectual property rights of Plurk.

Well, plagiarism is a form of flattery. In the artistic world, there are painters who draws Mona Lisa. In the music industry, singers sing covers of songs they think good. But in this case, like anyone would think about, it is not the best form of flattery since the Goliath has once again try to undercut David. China has so many brilliant talents. Can’t the team at Microsoft China just come out with their own set of codings?

Think about it. And like they mentioned in the same post:

To our millions of loyal users: We also need your sincere help. We need your loud and emphatic voices. We need you to help us get out this important story to anyone and everyone you know who can raise awareness on what has taken place. Please translate this story into your respective languages, share it with local media, bloggers and friends, and help us fight the good fight for your beloved Plurk.

UPDATE (151209 8:17AM GMT+8): Microsoft investigating charges it stole rival’s code. (CNET) Wait, they are not rivals in the first place.

Extracted from scui3asteveo's Flickr

My lecturer just produced some frightening figures from last semester’s exam papers. Apparently, the four papers I am taking are among those with the lowest passing rate. Hence, it is time for me to drop my happy-go-lucky attitude from now on. My updates on the Net is increasingly rare and it will remain this way. I will have to drop Plurk, Facebook and Twitter for the time being. That means no more Facebook games, increase in Plurk karma or Klout.net’s Influence summary. Most of my time on the computer will be spent on more constructive sites.

Till 15 December! And oh, my ORD date is 14th December. What a busy Christmas month.

OK, half of my family is on Twitter: my mom (though she rarely check on that), my sister and me. My sister mainly uses tweet.sg to update her tweets. She does not have a moblie data plan, and she cannot get one due to some restrictions. So she updates through SMS. Not very cost effective, I must say, especially when the user often exceeds her monthly free SMS limit. I am seldom on Twitter, because I prefer a more social-inclined platform like Plurk.I am still on Twitter though. I really wonder what will happen if my mother is active on Twitter. hur hur..