Microsoft to Lock Pirates Out of Vista

[Stalk3r]

This maybe a very stupid quetion for the l33t h4x0rs out there, but why is it so hard to find a crack of say something like steam to run CS, but windows can be easily cracked by your average 12y.o who can apply the wga patch workaround?

Every game released on steam has been cracked by in about two days or so, you just have to know where to look plus there are tons of cracked clients out there ready for use (personally I own two legitimate accounts though!). Just for your information :)

[Techno_Funky]

why don't they just sell Vista at a very low price? I am pretty sure ppl will buy instead of using copy

Exactly ! (Y)

[:: Lyon ::]

why don't they just sell Vista at a very low price? I am pretty sure ppl will buy instead of using copy

I'll definitely buy it if this is the case

They should charge more for companies (for support) but charge less for us home users

[Nightkrawler]

I heard that any EULA that appears after the buy of a product isnt valid in the EU.

But i dont know if it still is the case when you instal the wga plugin for example (and agree to the eula of the plugin)

[Fourjays Veteran]

I keep reading in a magazine I subscribe to that people in the UK are having trouble regards EULAs. Basically, they buy the product and read the EULA and don't agree to it so they take it back to the shop. Except the shop won't give a refund as it has been opened. This will need to change if we are going to start asking people to agree to having "spyware" installed on their PC as they have otherwise spent several 100 pounds on something they don't agree to using.

[gertin]

Five years ago called, they want their dilemma. XP requires activation, and to account for those without an internet connection it is possible to activate via telephone. I guess this is prejudice against those without telephones though, and monitors, etc. I wonder if a person could complain that Vista won't activate WITHOUT a PC..

With Vista, the activation isn't permanent.

So those with no internet just need to keep phoning MS every now and then? :p

[gnarula]

Microsoft Details Vista Anti-Piracy, Activation Tech

Microsoft this week detailed how it will protect Windows Vista and Longhorn Server from software pirates. The upcoming operating systems will utilize a next-generation version of the controversial Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) and Product Activation technologies, rebranded under the Genuine Software Initiative (GSI) moniker, to limit the capabilities of pirated Vista versions.

The changes are detailed in a white paper Microsoft made public on Wednesday. In the document, Microsoft describes its anti-piracy technologies as "innovations" that "protect [Microsoft's] intellectual property and alert consumers to the presences of counterfeit software." But the anti-piracy features in Vista and Longhorn Server go far beyond similar features in Windows XP. And given the false positives that have appeared during XP's lifetime, it's hard to know whether this latest anti-piracy volley will do more than annoy actual customers and casual software thieves.

Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft?s Genuine Software Initiative, admits the company is getting tougher on software pirates. "The upcoming releases of Windows Vista and Windows Server 'Longhorn' will be the first two products to ship with [our] new anti-piracy innovations, counterfeit detection and tamper-resistant features," she says. "Windows Vista and Windows Server 'Longhorn' [have] new ways ... to activate, validate as genuine, and behave when tampered with or hacked."

Those new behaviors are sure to raise concerns among Microsoft's customers. Today, if Windows XP suspects that the system has been pirated, it will display annoying WGA advertisements until the problem is corrected. But Vista and Longhorn Server will actually turn off functionality if the system is considered pirated. Features such as the Windows Aero user interface, Windows ReadyBoost, Windows Defender, and Windows Update optional downloads will stop working or not work fully.

Additionally, systems that are not activated within 30 days of purchase will move into a reduced functionality mode where the user can only access Internet Explorer and the Windows shell, so that they can perform system management functions like backing up files. Users won't be able to open documents or other files or run applications within a non-activated system, however.

Microsoft is also extending its reviled Product Activation technology to businesses with Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0. "This helps provide a more secure deployment solution with multiple, flexible options for customers using volume license keys to deploy many installations of the Windows Vista operating system in one location," Hartje says. "This process can be done in batches or individually by PC." Volume Activation is designed to prevent volume license product keys from being leaked outside of corporations, Microsoft says, a common problem with Windows XP.

Quoted from: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/Articl...3756/93756.html

Thanks to Paul Thurrott for the news!(Y)Y)

[:: Lyon ::]

new anti-piracy innovations

Wait till they see those hackers with the new anti anti-piracy innovations :)

[RangerLG]

Sounds like when XP came out with product activation.

[oldaccount1]

Wait till they see those hackers with the new anti anti-piracy innovations :)

lol

[John S. Veteran]

threads merged

[L3thal Veteran]

Uh, yeah, it's called Economics, and it does work. Lower prices, users won't be bothered pirating the OS if it's dirt cheap, piracy falls.

Is that the economics they teach you there? :no:

[Arkangel]

One cannot deny though that a significant drop in price will increase sales, sure some ppl will always choose to download a copy but jacking up the prices and smothering legit users with rubbish is not the answer, I firmly believe that if Microsoft starts working with its customers and within the interest of the customers at heart the level of no legit customers will drop not only that but public opinion in Microsoft and its products will improve.

There are many reasons for the rebellion against Microsoft and price is not the only one, I could mention lots and I'm sure you can to but of the latest i would have to say it would be content restrictions, some how it always comes down to who has the power and how they use it to attempt to control its customers, obviously that never sits to well with customers and potential customers and eventually these ppl get frustrated forming a grudge and dislike to the company they take matters into their own hands and break down the walls placed around them to free themselves... I don't remember customers such as you and I jumping up and down demanding DRM and other rubbish to be slipped into the OS.

I have known many ppl which have purchased a version of XP downloaded the CORP version and used that instead to escape some of the rubbish such as activation which kinda tells you something don't u think.

[ThePitt]

will be really funny that someone write a trojan and exploit this 'feature'

[biatche]

i wish people would stop developing under windows... and start working on linux, only then i can fully stop using windows

[Fourjays Veteran]

i wish people would stop developing under windows... and start working on linux, only then i can fully stop using windows

They don't just develop programs for you you know. There are another million/billion or so computer users out there who need software developed for Windows.

[Prosidius]

To those complaining about OS X's cost, it's cheaper than Windows when buying more than 1 copy.

1 OS X license - $129

Family Pack of OS X Licenses(5) - $200

Vista Basic 5 licenses - $500

[spaceusb]

I'd move to a Mac if I could.

[CrisCr0ss]

I wouldnt be suprised if Vista was leaked before the general public even got their hands on Vista. What a company needs to understand is this may deter MANY potential pirates [This will forsure stop those computer stores who put on illegal copies of windows on their machines because most customers don't know how to bypass] The general pirate who wants to use Vista illegaly can and will That is without a doubt.

Im sure there are hack/crack groups out there now doing some dummy tests on potential microsoft anti-piracy techiques, just so they can have an upper hand advantage in releasing a working copy before the other crack groups.

[Inplode]

wasnt there a post about this before that was about 8 pages long

[hotwire]

why don't they just sell Vista at a very low price? I am pretty sure ppl will buy instead of using copy

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

i think u should repalce Bill Gates cuz he's too greedy. i think ppl will actually go buy it without going broke of purchasing smth so buggy in the first place. but yea... AERO FTW!!! puff but as things are going the way it is. linux is probably going to beat microsoft X wise. freaking xorg glx owns stupoid aero

[zeroday]

The End User is gonna suffer from false positives :pinch:

The End User is gonna suffer from false positives :pinch:

[Rudnartim]

I got a windows cd from back when I was in college that key doesnt require activaion so Ive used it numerous times and all of them come out as genuine