Microsoft is not concerned about the circulation of doctored copies of its software, according to a security analyst source and correspondence which has been seen by Mathaba ICT News.

Pocket PC devices with the obligatory latest Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system, including those by popular manufacturers such as HTC and Toshiba, are sold with Windows Live Mobile (WLM populary known as 'Messenger') installed in ROM memory.

Several versions of the Messenger program have caused great annoyance to users of Pocket PC devices because to log in it is obligatory to agree for the WLM contacts to be synchronized with the Pocket PC Outlook Contacts program, with concerns about privacy and also annoyance that Messenger contacts are displayed within the devices own personal Contact list.

Furthermore, if any such Messenger contact is deleted from the device's Contacts program, that contact is also deleted from the WLM Messenger account, without warning, leading to loss of contacts.

In an effort to get around this, many users are therefore downloading later versions of WLM from non-microsoft file sharing and forum websites, which have been helpfully doctored or produced from ROM extracted from newest devices.

Users of these expensive windows devices who contact Microsoft however in an effort to find any link to download these files directly from Microsoft, are however met with Windows Live Support staff who are not even aware that WLM exists for Pocket PC devices, and once thus informed, advise consumers to go to the shop where they procured their PDA, phone or Pocket PC in order to get it updated.

However, none of the shops selling such devices provide this service, nor do the manufacturers provide any upgrade or download facility, since this is of course the responsibility of Microsoft. However, Microsoft, being the best known computer and Internet company, does not have any download pages, and a hunt of its complex web site for several hours yields in two pages being found.

The first such page advertising download of WLM for Windows Mobile devices, does not include any download link, and the other incorrectly links without any explanation, to a page advertising the purchase of Windows Mobile devices, the message being that if you purchase a Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) and want to keep up to date with the latest less annoying versions of WLM Live Messenger, you must buy a new expensive device each month.

The analyst sent 5 emails to "Live Support" concerning security issues, and although all five were answered and revealed a complete lack of knowledge about WLM for PocketPC, not once was any of these issues responded to, let alone addressed.

There are several other good messaging programs available for Pocket PC's via free download, which perform well and are free, such as Skype, however, these do not come pre-installed and so do not attract much market share.

The conclusion we can draw from the correspondence we have seen, is that Microsoft could not care less about hacked versions of its software being distributed, and cares little or nothing about the security of its users, nor of their right to upgrade software which comes pre-installed on expensive Windows Mobile devices.