---- The following is just a “purely fictional” story; readers judge for themselves ----
First, to prevent this rogue from complaining again and demanding deletion, this article uses the asterisked “Si* Mading” throughout. Disclaimer: “Si* Mading” here is just a string of text characters, not any trademark or company, and cannot represent any trademark or company.
I didn’t want to write this, but after “Si* Mading” complained about my WeChat Official Account article, I decided to join the ranks of the upright and lift the veil on the industry tumor “Si* Mading” for everyone.
First, About My Own Story
Earlier I shared a cracked version of some software on my site, then received a legal email from “Si* Mading’s” legal department asking me to remove the download link, so I did. I checked “Si* Mading’s” authorization documents and they are indeed authorized in Mainland China, so I modified my program so visitors from Mainland China no longer get download links, and posted an article on WeChat Official Account. But this rogue “Si* Mading” complained about that article, saying it infringed their intellectual property. So I also decided to start speaking up.
The Story of “Si* Mading”
I believe old netizens with over 10 years online are basically familiar with the name “Si* Mading.” Although founded in 2009, many already knew the name “Si* Mading” long before 2009.
Going back to the early 21st century, when people were still using Windows XP and the internet wasn’t very popular, downloading software was difficult, and a large number of cracking groups were born, with all kinds of pirated software flooding the internet. This large batch of cracking groups included the predecessor of “Si* Mading.”
In 2009, genuine software began to trend; people started willing to pay for genuine software, and the predecessor of “Si* Mading” was also one who joined the genuine-software camp, giving birth to today’s “Si* Mading.” Overnight, the everywhere-available cracked versions became trial versions, and “Si* Mading” began to appear in the software’s digital signatures. But the trial version you downloaded was actually modified, because the digital signature wasn’t the original but became “Si* Mading’s” digital signature.
It wasn’t until a software called “Hui* Huiying” (Corel) appeared that “Si* Mading” obtained its agency rights. People paid to buy it. Until Microsoft released a system patch, a user, because “Hui* Huiying” was laggy, uninstalled and reinstalled, and the story began: they couldn’t reinstall no matter what. Contacting “Si* Mading’s” after-sales, after debugging, they demanded the customer reinstall the Windows OS. More and more users, unwilling to reinstall, demanded refunds. At this point “Si* Mading” tore off the mask and threatened to sue customers and refused refunds, calling everyone legally illiterate and saying it was Microsoft’s problem, telling them to go to Microsoft. The internet was full of curses. The developer of “Hui* Huiying” is a Canadian company, and this didn’t happen abroad — only in Mainland China. And that Microsoft patch was mainly about “digital signature authentication.” What is digital signature authentication? Software development has two versions: beta and official. Some small companies produce various trial versions during R&D; trial versions can be installed and used unconditionally, but if you want to officially release, you must pay Microsoft a certain digital-signature fee to buy a digital signature, ensuring the official version installs on Windows. It’s basically proving the developer’s identity, ensuring system security, and preventing disguised virus programs from running.
So why did the problem appear in China? Actually because “Si* Mading” modified the software, replacing the official websites in the software with its own, and changing the copyright info to its own name, causing the system signature authentication to fail. So is the genuine software you paid for really genuine? What followed were more digital-signature incidents: in all software代理 under “Si* Mading,” digital signatures were found tampered with. An empire of genuine software collapsed in front of the public because of one signature incident.
Quoting some user comments from Zhihu:
“Si* Mading” “代理” (agented) many well-known software; without exception, the “genuine” activation keys bought there couldn’t be activated in the officially downloaded software.
@文竹夜泉 mentioned that in the ma**type client provided by “Si* Mading,” the activation window is hijacked by MPlugin.dll and SPlugin.dll. Draw your own conclusions about what it’s for.
“Si* Mading” the Rights-Defense Warrior
With its credibility in crisis, they began transforming into rights-defense warriors. Holding agency-authorized copyrights, they started sending lawyer letters to other download sites, complaining about Taobao shops, demanding all software downloads point to “Si* Mading” trial versions. “Si* Mading’s” legal team is like the Ming Dynasty’s Embroidered Guard — wherever there’s cracked software, there they are.
All Baidu, Zhihu, Weibo, blog posts with any cracked software they agency, or any embarrassing story about them, get frantically complained about, demanding deletion.
Final Summary
“Si* Mading” started from the cracking alliance, a pioneer among crackers. Later it obtained software agency rights, then privately tampered with software, replacing the official site with its own controlled site. Microsoft’s signature verification exposed the ugly behavior, after which it transformed into a rights-defense warrior, using its agency rights to attack other download sites and cracked versions, scaring those who privately shared via lawyer letters or complaints, demanding everything point to its site and be replaced with its trial software.
They don’t produce software; they’re just a reseller, and they even tamper with software into “genuine.”
So students intending to buy software must go to the software developer’s foreign official site to buy; don’t go through these resellers’ channels to download.
The above is a purely fictional story; any resemblance is purely coincidental!! Coincidence!! All people and entity names are fictional!! I’m just telling a story!