[Article] Microsoft to Make Windows Anti-Piracy Program Mandatory

aidan_walsh

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1754886,00.asp

By Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft Watch
January 26, 2005

Microsoft Corp. is planning to make its currently voluntary Windows anti-piracy program mandatory some time in the second half of 2005, company officials said on Wednesday.

So far, however, Microsoft has no timetable for broadening the program to other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office, server software or games, company officials said. But they did not rule out such an expansion at some point. And Microsoft representatives hinted that the company might also allow Microsoft partners to employ the Genuine Advantage methodology and techniques in the future.

The "Windows Genuine Advantage" initiative, which Microsoft launched in September 2004, is designed to check whether consumer and small-business customers are running legitimately licensed copies of Windows XP. Since September, about five million users have participated in the voluntary validation process, according to Microsoft officials.

Users validate by providing Microsoft-requested system information, including their Windows product keys, names of PC manufacturers and operating system versions, which the Redmond, Wash., software company uses to determine if customers are running legitimate copies of Windows. Microsoft officials have said that none of this information can be used to identify or contact individual users.

Microsoft has been testing the Genuine Advantage program on the Microsoft Download Center, where it has been requesting that users validate their copies of XP before obtaining certain Microsoft programs, patches and fixes for download. If users decide against validating, they are still allowed to obtain the requested downloads.

But starting later this year, Microsoft will require users who want any of the Windows-client-related code from the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update sites to first validate their software as part of the Genuine Advantage program.

Microsoft has created a loophole for "customers who may require more time to move to genuine Windows software," however: For some undetermined amount of time, Microsoft will allow these users to obtain critical security updates only via the Microsoft Automatic Update site, even if they don't pass validation muster.

So the good will expressed in SP2 has been thrown back into the corner again, eh?

ressem

And in related news, sales of Dell laptop accidental breakage insurance are forecasted to increase, with people dropping their 4 kilo desktop replacements as they hold them upside down each month while typing.

Guess I'd better get a labeller to post all the keys on the keyboards/monitors.

aidan_walsh

The more I think about it, the bigger the repercussions become. This is another way of Microsoft forcing Windows users to use Internet Explorer to use the OS. If you want to update through our site, you have to use our browser.

This system has already been seen in opt-out format when getting to the downloads for Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta. So all downloads from ms.com are going to be like that now?

Capt'n Midnight

First up it's thier license. Perfectly legal for them to insist that you buy a videocamera so they can watch you dancing naked around the kitchen waving a microsoft certified rubber chicken if you've accepted that as part of the license agreement. It's also legal for them to include that in the license agremeent in the next patch.

Piracy of microsoft products has killed or at least harmed many software companies who could under cut microsoft but couldn't under cut the zero cost of casual copying.

Everyone has internet ( try downloading patches without it ) and everyone is supposed to use legal sw so what is the problem. Unless someone can point out otherwise I'd reckon the website will just check your activation code - which doesn't change - so anyone with a correctly authenticated copy of windows will not need to type in anything and everyone else will have to type it in ONCE.

As for the unpatched machines spreading viruses etc. - If it forces freeloaders to buy windows or to move to Unix then the numbers of viruses will drop.

Microsoft has created a loophole for "customers who may require more time to move to genuine Windows software," however: For some undetermined amount of time, Microsoft will allow these users to obtain critical security updates only via the Microsoft Automatic Update site, even if they don't pass validation muster.

for "more time to move" read Gotcha ! IMHO microsoft delibertly used weak copy protection to create a larger user base ( happeing until recently in China ) and when they have a large enough market share then go looking for licenses with thier friends the BSA.


As for forcing windows users to use IE, about half the security patches you need are for IE. A system that was fully patched with IE 5.5 today took 14.1 MB to upgrade to IE 6 sp1 and then another 7245KB of patches after the reboot.

AFAIK it's being rolled first for the some of our Eastern European friends.

Chalk

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

IMHO microsoft delibertly used weak copy protection to create a larger user base ( happeing until recently in China ) and when they have a large enough market share then go looking for licenses with thier friends the BSA.

as they did with xbox too
then when live gets popular , change it so chippe boxes wont play
everyone with an xbox and a bunch of live games has to buy a new box

Infini

To be honest they're just creating a nuisance again. I mean no matter how many times they come up with a new copyright protection scheme, somebody will find a way to circumvent it within weeks and plaster it across the net. Take the windows product activation feature. They tried putting that out as a form of protection against piracy but it was completely circumvented within weeks. The even have copies of XP somewhere on the net with the WPA removed. The same will happen with this.

elvis2002

Well, If windows cost €40, how many more would buy it than already do. People should use windows for one thing and one thing only - gaming, they should then use a linux distro for everything else.

What will happen here is that security patches will start getting mirroed on w@rez sites for those of us with generated serials.

Capt'n Midnight

Infini wrote:

They tried putting that out as a form of protection against piracy but it was completely circumvented within weeks. The even have copies of XP somewhere on the net with the WPA removed. The same will happen with this.

I think you will find they are corporate versions which never needed activation :rolleyes:
The whole point is that the harder they make it to copy the less chance you have of casual copying or defending yourself in court.

Spunog UIE

you will still be able to update using windows automatic update, just not windows update or direct fixes from their sites.