China's Hu visits Microsoft and promises to improve copyright piracy

China's President Hu Jintao visited Microsoft yesterday and pledged to do more to improve copyright theft in China. I guess lunch at the Gates' mansion went well.

And Hu even arranged tangible steps to help Microsoft fight copyright challenges in his country.

For in the days leading up to Mr. Hu's visit, four Chinese personal-computer companies signed deals with Microsoft agreeing to install the company's Windows operating system on computers in the factory, a move to head off piracy. The latest deal came Monday, when Lenovo Group agreed to a deal to install Windows on its computers.

This all bodes well for Microsoft and sadly proves the value to their shareholders of tech companies new found willingness to tackle piracy by giving in on freedom of rights. Oh well.