Translation mine.Fortunately, there’s an easy way around this: Simply change your settings so that it says you’re not in an embargoed country, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or Sudan. Tell them you’re a Canadian. Problem fixed–embargo lifted!Being a Mac user, however, I prefer to just go on avoiding them and all their endless bugs-disguised-as-features…and feeling damned smug about it.Microsoft, the informatic giant founded by Bill Gates, has decided suddenly to cancel its Messenger service to those countries against which the United States maintains a commercial embargo.Among those affected are Cuba, Iran and North Korea, who have all openly rejected the policies of the US. Also included are Syria and Sudan.Right now, all cybernauts of those countries trying to log on to the popular Windows program have begun to receive the error 810003c1, which prevents them from going online in Messenger.“Microsoft has cut Windows Live Messenger IM for all users in countries embargoed by the United States. Microsoft will no longer be offering service for Windows Live in your country,” reads the support page in Windows live when anyone looks up the error in question.
Hi, ‘Bina. It looks like someone else in cyberspace is messing with communication between people besides Microsoft. I began to wonder why my Reader stopped getting stories from Prensa Latina’s English version. I went to PL’s homepage and discovered that their RSS has been disabled. By whom? To what purpose? I gets curiouser and curiouser…
Yeah, me too. There’s always the possibility of a good old-fashioned glitch, of course, but the fact that it’s CUBA makes other, more sinister things a lot likelier.
Funny, innit, how capitalists always bill themselves as champions of freedom, but when you look a little closer, you realize that they’re every bit as repressive as any dictator–only sneakier?
Telling them you are Canadian is a good idea. It gives me a chuckle because when I have had phone contacts to the Microsoft joint near the Canadian border many of the Microsoft employees there have had Canadian speech patterns.
Gee, I wonder what gave ’em away, eh?
Isn’t Cuba encouraging open source/free software? This is good news!
I hate Microsoft, and Office 2008 for the Mac is awful (on purpose of course). I’ve had to switch to NeoOffice.
You’re not kidding–the new MS Word is so slow opening if you’re starting a new document, you’d think the computer was setting up for the first time. Oy! The only reason I use that software is because it’s the most widely used by editors; if it weren’t, I’d find something better. I don’t use anything else of theirs, at least not frequently enough to bother keeping it on my dashboard.