This is unusual for a multinational computer technology corporation like Microsoft even. The internationally celebrated organization is under a close scrutiny, it is alleged to have got inclined to stealing of both code and content from a rival. This is not only a crucial stage for the company but any impulsive act may lead to an irreparable damage to its brand identity also.
The plaintiff, in this context, is Plurk, known for operating Asia's top microblog and it claims Microsoft's Juku service chisels its look, structure and also mode of operation to a large extent. Through one of its blog post Plurk officials stated, "Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but blatant theft of code, design, and UI is just not cool." Juku "is by and large an EXACT copy of Plurk's innovative left-right timeline scrolling navigation system," Plurk officials said in their post.
This is not all and the officials posted afterwards how they came to know all these. "We were first tipped off by high profile bloggers and Taiwanese users of our community that Microsoft had launched a new Chinese Microblogging service that looked eerily similar to Plurk," the officials said.
"Needless to say we were absolutely shocked and outraged when we first saw with our own eyes the cosmetic similarities Microsoft's new offering had with Plurk. From the filter tabs, emoticons qualifier/verb placement, Karma scoring system, media support, new user walkthroughs to pretty much everything else that gives Plurk its trademark service," the officials stated this too.
It is to be noted that Microsoft introduced MSN Juku Dec. 1 in beta form. It lets users post 140-character messages, a la Twitter.
The veracity is yet to come out but the allegation has shocked lots of people given that Microsoft’s involvement with crusade against software piracy and theft of intellectual property in the Asian market is known.
However, we are groping in darkness still.
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