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Microsoft to lock pirates out of Vista PCs | |
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| Time: 09:45 EST/14:45 GMT | News Source: News.com | Posted By: Kenneth van Surksum | ||
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Windows Vista will have new antipiracy technology that locks people out their PCs if the operating system isn't activated within 30 days after installation. If Vista is not activated with a legitimate product registration key in time, the system will run in "reduced functionality mode" until it is activated, said Thomas Lindeman, a senior product manager at Microsoft. In this mode, people will be able to use a Web browser for up to an hour, after which time the system will log them out, he said. The new technology is part of Microsoft's new "Software Protection Platform," which the company plans to announce on Wednesday. It will be part of future versions of all Microsoft products, but debuts in Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn," said Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Software Initiative. Vista, the successor to Windows XP, is slated to be broadly available in January. | ||
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| #1 By 7390 (69.113.155.216) at 10/4/2006 10:04:19 AM |
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LOL, this is not going to go over well with the public. "Why do I have to active in 30 days......yada yada yada"
I am willing to wager that MS changes this feature before release |
| #2 By 12071 (124.168.25.204) at 10/4/2006 10:25:23 AM |
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Hmm, a few questions:
1) Does "a Web Browser" constitute any web browser or will it have to be IE7? 2) How will it ONLY allow you to run a web browser? i.e. How will it determine if the executable is a web browser as oppose to partypoker.exe for instance? 3) After an hour can you reboot and have another hour of browsing time? and last but not least... 4) How long will it take for the activation cracks to be widely distributed and pre-included on pirate Vista DVD's? I hope they didn't spend 5 years creating this little beauty! |
| #3 By 2960 (68.101.39.180) at 10/4/2006 12:35:20 PM |
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They can't get the current WGA to work right. This is gonna be much worse I fear.
TL |
| #4 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 10/4/2006 1:03:23 PM |
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I am deeply conflicted by this one - and wondering if/how many other providers and admins are, too...
On one hand I understand and even appreciate WGA - I have had slaes restored to my company because a small company supplying PC's to a competitor got butsed by WGA for disk loading. On the other side of that event, the energy and days it took to explain all of that to the client mopped up any profit we gained in the sale of some new systems - grant it, a small number.... but the point was proven and the benefit of well built and lawful systems were again demonstrated. On TL's side of this, I can't help but look at this as just kind of icky - it just feels draconian - even a little insulting to anyone who plays by the rules and values the law. It's like being treated as though one is guilty up front and permanently so... left to continually prove otherwise. On the technical implementation side, TL is right again... how solid is this? How proven? What is the resolution to any challenges and is Microsoft going to write/call one's customers and say... "ooops, we're sorry, TL PC's was good to go all along and we dorked up and made his/her PC's look illegit... here's some money and some software to make up. Love, Kiss, Kiss Microsoft...." That isn't going to happen. So the builder, integrator, or worse, the customer is going to be left to prove his or her innocense - and once accused... then what? How does one recover? And if accused, and if resolved how does this inspire confidence when a customer DOES GET burned by a disk loader? So really WGA's software has to be perfect - networks supporting the check up have to be perfect and on and the hardware has to stay perfect, or "goody, we get to do this all over again...." So what software, networks and hardware are ever perfect and stay perfdect? None! It's right there in the middle of that DELTA that WGA sticks partners, admins, and customers and piracy issues aren't consistently as significant across the globe, either. They are less significant in Canda, say, or the US, than they are in China, or India, where no copyright protections exist at all. As TL suggests, Microsoft needs to get this perfect, or we're going to eat it. |
| #5 By 17996 (131.107.0.105) at 10/4/2006 1:21:29 PM |
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The article is definitely misleading.
The article compares failing to activate Vista with failing the WGA check on XP; it would be more accurate if it compared it with failing to activate XP. Yes, XP has activation as well, and failing to activate XP locks you out in a similar manner to what Vista does. Activation has been with XP since the start; WGA is something they added later to combat people using pirated volume-licensed copies (which don't need to be activated). |
| #6 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 10/4/2006 4:22:05 PM |
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Small update on this one... MS just sent out its BDD 2007 Beta 2 Update 2 for Volume Activation Guides that is Now available for download at Microsoft Connect.
I'll be testing some more and share what we learn - perhaps it will be something we can all manage, successfully. |
| #7 By 1401 (65.255.137.20) at 10/4/2006 8:43:36 PM |
| It sounds like Microsoft is profiling to me. I mean, locking someone out of their pc just because they are a pirate? |
| #8 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 10/4/2006 11:49:19 PM |
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Ok, looks like this is going to end up being something we CAN manage. I did some tests tonight with the latest BDD BETA2. It's actually going to make a lot of things much easier and even has some inventory control tools/templates. I haven't yet seen anything in the latest build that is a show stopper and I encourage devs and admins to check it out. Be sure to brush up on GPO and to have a good handle on your test environment/servers/systems before you start. Also try working with different groups of systems and users, etc... and also build some custom reports. This could end up being pretty cool.
*and anything that sends pirates to Davey Jones Locker is fine with me. **We work hard for what we buy and license and equally hard to build software we hope to be paid for. ***At least this validation and control method is not as nutty as some games and or software like WinDVD 7 - good grief... managing even one buy/install of that is a mess. |
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