Pirated Vista May be Useless, Prerelease versions will expire without proper activation, Microsoft says

[The Highlander]

Prerelease versions will expire without proper activation, Microsoft says.

Robert Mullins, IDG News Service.

 

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

 

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

 

The pirated Vista comes with a product key that users can enter to activate a version of the products on their computers without paying for them, according to a report on the Web site of The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald newspaper. A product key is a unique serial number tied to each package of a software product.

 

A second download, called an "activation crack," can then be applied that bypasses the activation process intended to guarantee that the Vista version being downloaded is legitimate, the Herald reported. Pirated copies of Office 2007 can be downloaded just with the product key with no second activation code required.

 

 

Apps Will Expire

 

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-manufacturing] activation keys that will be blocked using Microsofta??s Software Protection Platform. Consequently, these downloads will be of limited value," the statement said.

 

Microsoft is still looking into reports of pirated versions of Office 2007 and declined further comment.

 

"Microsoft is happy that customers are eager to begin using Windows Vista," the company said.

 

 

Vista's Launch Schedule

 

Microsoft has been criticized for multiple delays in bringing Vista to market, but has said it wants to take care that the product is designed correctly to avoid security flaws, piracy problems, and other software glitches.

 

The company released Vista to computer manufacturers November 8 for them to build into new laptops and desktops available for retail sale in January 2007. Consumers can start buying individual copies of Vista January 30.

 

Microsoft also plans to have Vista in the hands of business customers by the end of November. It has scheduled a Vista launch event in New York City on November 30 when the new Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 will also be introduced.

[Beerman]

Sounds like a problem for Vista thieves but not for Office 2007 thieves. Funny how there's not much comment there. Guess the hack works well for Office? It's only a matter of time anyway.

[REDWAGON]

Microsoft has been criticized for multiple delays in bringing Vista to market, but has said it wants to take care that the product is designed correctly to avoid security flaws, piracy problems, and other software glitches.

Boy, that statement really sounds great. I suggest that it won't be but a couple of months after it is out on the market for all, that they (MS) will already be working on a security update, just like XP. You can be sure that the hackers will eventually find a way to find a hole somewhere in Vista.

 

Even at that, I am anxious to try it once it's been out for at least 6 months, but not before then.

 

Frank...

[The Highlander]

Microsoft has been criticized for multiple delays in bringing Vista to market, but has said it wants to take care that the product is designed correctly to avoid security flaws, piracy problems, and other software glitches.

Boy, that statement really sounds great. I suggest that it won't be but a couple of months after it is out on the market for all, that they (MS) will already be working on a security update, just like XP. You can be sure that the hackers will eventually find a way to find a hole somewhere in Vista.

 

Even at that, I am anxious to try it once it's been out for at least 6 months, but not before then.

 

Frank...

 

Frank , the day after the RTM (or gold making disk) was leaked to the web , the hackers found a way to activate it , they replaced a few files from the previous beta candidate and then using a CD key from the beta test it let them use Microsoft's on line update and registration portal to activate the keys as full versions of the Ultimate version, and MS says they will patch that soon... so as soon as they get there ASKYS into gear to do that to a few 1000 keys, then the warez or hacker boys will have found a way to bypass the activation on the RTM 6.0 version, ... its a real cat and mouse game

[vid2man97]

Then there are the rest of us caught between those cats and mice...having to prove we are legit owners of our software.

 

small price to pay I guess

[gi7omy]

What I'm hearing down the line is that the 'corporate' versions (they're the ones that used the leaked IBM reg key on XP) will have a volume license (1,000 activations for 1,000 machines and so on) which will be done from a central server - once all the licensed machines in a corporate network are activated, that's it - no more activation.

 

What's the betting someone will produce a hack that points to 127.0.0.1 and reads an 'activation' from there?