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plurk

Plurk holding Microsoft's feet to code-copying fire

Microsoft's apology Tuesday about a contractor copying blogging site software from a small company called Plurk might not be enough to take the lawyers off alert.

"We are still thinking of pursuing the full extent of our legal options available due the seriousness of the situation," Plurk co-founder Alvin Woon said in a statement posted Thursday. "Basically, Microsoft accepts responsibility, but they do not offer accountability."

Microsoft accepted responsibility for the copying, blaming it on a third-party company. It suspended access indefinitely to the site at MSN China, called Juku. "We apologize to Plurk and we will be reaching out to them directly to explain what happened and the steps we have taken to resolve the situation," Microsoft said Tuesday. … Read more

Microsoft: We did copy Plurk's code

Microsoft said on Tuesday that a blogging application posted to its MSN China site did in fact copy code from a rival.

Microblogging site Plurk lashed out at Microsoft on Monday saying that the Juku application stole its user interface and code. Microsoft said on Monday that it was investigating the matter and suspended the Juku service on Monday night.

Microsoft has said a third party and not it or its Chinese joint venture partner wrote the Juku program.

"The vendor has now acknowledged that a portion of the code they provided was indeed copied," Microsoft said in … Read more

Microsoft pulls China blog site amid code-theft charges

Microsoft said late Monday that is suspending access to an MSN China microblogging site amid allegations the service is based on code swiped from a rival.

Canadian start-up Plurk lashed out at Microsoft earlier on Monday, saying that 80 percent of the code for Juku appeared to be lifted directly from its service.

Microsoft reiterated late Monday that it is investigating the matter but issued a statement saying it was pulling down the Juku feature while it looks into things.

"Earlier today, questions arose over a feature developed by a third-party vendor for our MSN China joint venture," … Read more

Microsoft investigating charges it stole rival's code

Microsoft said on Monday afternoon that it's investigating allegations that a recently launched microblogging site in China lifts the code and interface of a start-up's rival service.

"Microsoft takes intellectual property seriously, and we are currently investigating these allegations," company spokesman Mark Murray said in a statement. "It may take some time due to the time zone differences with Beijing."

Earlier on Monday, Canada's Plurk went public with charges that Microsoft's Juku service "rips off" the look and feel of its microblogging service and also appears to use more than … Read more

Start-up claims Microsoft China took its code

A start-up says that a microblogging service recently launched by Microsoft in China "rips off" its user interface and also contains a huge percentage of similar code.

Plurk, which runs a microblogging service of its own, says more than 80 percent of the code for Microsoft's Juku service appears to be lifted from its service.

"Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but blatant theft of code, design, and UI elements is just not cool, especially when the infringing party is the biggest software company in the world," Plurk said on its company blog. … Read more

How to downsize your social network portfolio

I'm as guilty as the next person for having a social network portfolio that's too big. Aside from my Twitter account, I belong to Plurk and Identi.ca, and although I use Facebook most often, I still have MySpace and Hi5 accounts.

But now that 2008 has passed and it's time for us to evaluate what we did last year and try to improve upon that for 2009, why don't we start by cleaning out our social network portfolio and start using only those services that we like best in each category? After all, spending more … Read more

Five types of Facebook trolls, and what to do with them

I hang out on Facebook a lot. Too much, maybe. Enough, certainly, to recognize a few types of unpleasant characters. I've come across five distinctive kinds of Facebook trolls, and I'm sure you've dealt with them too. Here's some advice to stop their onslaught and make your Facebook experience just a little better.

Troll type: Old-time Nobody Confirm or ignore? Confirm

Social networks provide a slew of opportunities to connect with old friends, but that doesn't mean you need to befriend your third-grade buddy Bill, whom you haven't had a discussion with in 20 … Read more

Run your own election at Plurk

Plurk, the snazzier alternative to Twitter, has come up with a twist just in time for Wednesday night's final presidential debate: run your own "election" and maybe win a chunk of $5,000.

No working about chads, voter fraud, messy policy statements, U.S. citizenship, or nuts at rallies--just start your own plurk election and convince/cojole/con other Plurk members (or your friends willing to join)--to vote for Barack Obama or John McCain at your election. The Plurker whose election gets the most votes walks away with a $2,000, second place gets you $1,… Read more

Plurk: Like Twitter, in good and bad ways

Twitter's recent reliability issues and downtime have left a hole in the nanoblog market, to the extent that such a market actually exists. Among the bloggerati, FriendFeed is filling in the vaccuum and could become the new Twitter. It's got a good feedback system and it also has features that make finding and adding friends very easy. And FriendFeed reads in Twitter content, so users can have the best of both worlds.

Now there's an even newer Twitter clone: Plurk (about the name). Its big advantage is its user interface. You get a slick timeline view of … Read more