That wily old Chinese software manufacturer Kingsoft has successfully repelled the first hacking attack mounted by an entity identified as the "Huigezi Workshop." You may remember Kingsoft as the Chinese firm that has sent cold shivers down the spine of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) since 2001 by introducing its WPS OFFICE product to compete directly with Microsoft's OFFICE XP in China. At that time, Kingsoft made clear that they would be aggressively pursuing supremacy in the Chinese software market.

However, now it would appear that Chinese software market supremacy is temporarily a back-burner issue for the Chinese software giant. A report in China Tech News reveals that in response to the declaration of a crack down against a prolific virus called Hack.Huigezi, an orchestrated viral attack was launched against Kingsoft, apparently by the Huigezi Workshop. The report indicates that more than 10,000 computers from Taiwan, Langfang, Hengshui, and Beijing suffered an assault that was successfully repelled and then reported to police.

I can't help but view this situation as a bit of poetic justice when considered in light of Kingsoft's heavy-handed dealings with our dear Microsoft. Hack.Huigezi might be a slice of self-made karma come home to roost. To me, Kingsoft has shown ample free market arrogance in its choices of modus operandi in pursuit of Chinese market dominance.

That does not, however, excuse the high jinks of any hacking ne'er-do-well. I dislike hackers about as much as I dislike thieves. In my opinion the time for us to make a strong example of a few of them arrived long ago. We need to catch a couple of them dead in their tracks and expose them to some highly distasteful punishment, such as 100 hours of listening to Senator Clinton speak in her strained southern drawl. No, come to think of it, that would be cruel and unusual punishment. It'd be much more humane to just paint 'em in lard and throw 'em in a gator pond.