Pirated Vista may be useless, Microsoft says


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Microsoft said supposedly pirated copies of its new Vista computer operating system "will be of limited value" to those who use them.

Microsoft responded Tuesday to reports that some Web sites have been circulating pirated copies of Vista and the Office 2007 applications suite.

But Microsoft said in a prepared statement that those pirated copies of the OS won't work for long.

"The copies available for download are not final code and users should avoid unauthorized copies which could be incomplete or tampered. This unauthorized download relies on the use of pre-RTM [release-to-manufacture] activation keys that will be blocked using Microsoft?s Software Protection Platform. Consequently, these downloads will be of limited value," the statement said.Source:b> InfoWord

"The copies available for download are not final code"

this worries me.......

They're bluffing. It's final code, but the workarounds are not going to be sufficient to evade WGA and activation in the long run. Ultimately MS will lost the piracy battle and frustrate their legitimate consumers with increased activation demands. Our university is already having public discussions with various departments on how to handle Volume Activation because it's going to be such a pain in the ass.

"The copies available for download are not final code"

this worries me.......

I think it is merely relating to the fact that there are alot of bug fixes to come, either that or the fact that some of the torrents are basically RC2 rebranded

It's so funny to see people in this board get upset at Microsoft for protecting their property and rights. Here's a newsflash: If pirates didn't rip off what doens't belong to them we would never have heard of WGA or activation or any of the anti-piracy measures beyond maybe a keycode.

If you don't like it, that's fine. But don't blame Microsoft, blame the pirates; they're responsible for it all.

Even if a proper keygen is created, it wouldn't matter. The little perks, such as Ultimate Extras, and many of the non-critical updates will most likely not be available to the pirates because MS will check and black list keys.

I personally installed RTM without a key so I could check compatibility with drivers, software and stability. So far, not so good... I'll have to stick with XP even when Vista supports 90% of my stuff. That 10% would be problems with audio IC dev kits and my old mp3 player that uses proprietary DRM. The mp3 player is also EOL, no drivers for Vista. :(

Hm, from what I've read, it's very easy to install it without a key and forget about activation... Just a small year change in bios. HOW THE HELL DID YOU MISS THAT, MS?!

Can't comment on that here, as hypocrisy plays a major role on this forum, but it works, and it involves no hacking or cracking. Many people have confirmed that working.

Edited by Leo Natan
"The copies available for download are not final code"

this worries me.......

I think they might be referring to the fact that the original billgates release has a couple of the files replaced with RC2 files so that beta serial keys will work.

Ah yes...nexus speaks again. Please lets all get on our foot and kiss your shoes for you are always right.

:rolleyes: :sleep: When will you ever learn to just shut up?

Seriously I could care less about wga or oga or anything else. I have formatted my machine 3 times in the last 5 days and installed XP and Vista. All of them activated just fine...why because they are legit licenses.

If everyone just here got off there moral high horse about how pirates/crackers always win...maybe wga/oga would never have had to happen.

Please, whether people were vocal about pirates winning or not, we'd have seen WGA. Why? Because people, in general, would rather get something for free if they can. Here's an idea, maybe if MS didn't charge out the nose for their software, they'd have less of a problem with piracy. I'm a student, in a video game design course. I'm going to NEED DX10, but I cannot AFFORD paying for Vista. See the problem? I'd LOVE to pay for it, and this is coming from a Linux SUPPORTER, but the price is way too high.

It's so funny to see people in this board get upset at Microsoft for protecting their property and rights. Here's a newsflash: If pirates didn't rip off what doens't belong to them we would never have heard of WGA or activation or any of the anti-piracy measures beyond maybe a keycode.

If you don't like it, that's fine. But don't blame Microsoft, blame the pirates; they're responsible for it all.

Macintosh: For the 3% who insist on not having the best.
:rolleyes:

Why don't you apply for a job at Microsoft?

Who knows. I won't be suprised if when Microsoft releases that update to bring Vista to the same kernel/version as Longhorn Server, that they start blacklisting, adding more checks / balances, etc...

One question though..

when they do updates like that, will that new version be released to OEMs/Vendors, etc. so that consumers get the latest and greatest? (I'm also curious to see how that goes wtih Powershell, etc.) ? :unsure:

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