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Vista to Include Stepped up Anti-Piracy Measures
snuffin writes to tell us the Washington Post is reporting that Microsoft announced stepped up anti-piracy measures being implemented in their latest operating system, Vista. From the article: "If a legitimate copy is not bought within 30 days, the system will curtail functionality much further by restricting users to just the Web browser for an hour at a time, said Thomas Lindeman, Microsoft senior product manager." Ars Technica also has coverage available on this new development.
This is a question I saw somewhere else regarding Vista, but I thought it was a good one, so I'll post it here. MS has partially justified their high OS prices in the past to help cover the costs of sales lost to piracy. If they make it virtually impossible to pirate the OS (which it sounds like their goal is with Vista), will the cost of the OS come down at all?
The thing about this that worries me most is how long will it take a virus writer to learn how to mimic the invalid reply. I know Vista is supposed to be Virii proof due to how it will ask the user about any changes. However it seems that these types of strict DRM measures could be a hole in their anti-virii armor...
Sure that web-site has content.. But so does a garbage can!
The ultimate DDOS: A worm that wanders random botnets of compromised XP and Vista boxen, phoning home with fake "Authenticate key 000001, 000002, 000003..." messages from all around teh Intarweb.
One month later, Vista boxen all around the planet start to fall over for no apparent reason.
(Historical precedent: Anyone who's ever bought a retail box with a CD key that was already revoked before the box was shipped, because teh warez d00dz were using keygens that mapped onto the set of actual, legitimate keys.)
I am also very disturbed by this. As an IT guy in a corporate, my bet is the users will ignore the message until its too late and then get pissy at us for not just fixing it (while we wait for MS phone support).
There is only one....
I have had several genuine advantage bugs even on our volume license copies. If you switch out motherboards it sometimes thinks you stole the OS for no reason. I have also seen this happen to computers randomly, where one day it just decides your OS is pirated. And with Genuine Advantage Notifications it likes to remind you, a lot. With Vista your computer would just stop being useful, great. This really makes me angry and I wish Microsoft would stop stomping on their customers. Product Activation is horrible, Genuine Advantage is horrible and my guess it will only get worse as Microsoft thinks that by pissing everyone off they will somehow increase their profit. I feel really sorry for the smaller businesses that cannot afford Microsoft's horrible pricing for volume licensed products.
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true." --James
I just wish people would use their evil powers for a good purpose. I want a worm that extracts the product activation code and emails it out to everyone on their Windows Address Book and Outlook Address Book contact lists. This would totally ruin Microsoft's activation scheme and then they'd have to remove it along with the other junk they've tacked onto it (Genuine Advantage).
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true." --James
Had that happen to me back in the day when I bought a copy of Tribes 2. Unwrapped the box, popped in the CD, and bam: "This CD-Key is already in use. Please enter a valid key" or something to that effect. I ended up having to make a photocopy of the UPC and CD-Key sticker, and fax those to Sierra. Because of course, everyone has a copier and fax lying around their house.
It eventually got resolved, but man was I pissed about spending $50 only to be called a pirate and locked out of my own game. Anyone remember the days when Sierra wasn't a worthless hack of a brand?
Rock over London, Rock on Chicago. Wheaties: Breakfast of Champions.
Where thousands of copies of Windows are unknownly purchased but Microsoft does not actively try to refund them? I have a workstation right here that has a Windows key on it, but it runs Linux. (our SDK is linux only). Why hasn't Microsoft noticed that this product key was sold and never accessed their site, they know who bought the license they should just cut us a check.
Getting the actual windows refund is a lot harder now than it used to be. And with microsoft strong arming the industry to preload machines with Windows, I'm not sure why they are worried about piracy. If you bought a computer it probably has a legitimate copy of Windows on it (whether you want it or not). or am I wrong here?
Also, Vista isn't out yet? Will it support Duke Nukem Forever?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Over here in Germany, it is highly illegal to excert de-facto power of this kind. You can't just disable software "because you can" just like you can't just fire someone "because you can". The courts have a very dim view on what is, essentially vigilante "justice", because this kind of action directly undermines the power of the state.
I certainly hope that some big company gets its IT systems disabled by a bug in the restriction management and sues MS to hell and back. I know a few companies who'll suffer tremendous losses if their entire IT is down for a day or two.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Ha! They started out that way. I'm still pissed at them for the Mystery House Adventure bug on my Apple ][+. Never did get to finish the damned game.
Second of all, one thing we've definitly heard over and over is how various anti-piracy measures will surely frustrate consumers to the point of switching to free alternatives. Except that it hasn't happened. And, very likely, it won't happen.
Windows Activation was never a big deal for all but a very, very vocal minority of users. Microsoft's policy has always been to give the user the benefit of the doubt when they call in to complain that their copy of Windows won't activate. In almost every scenario they just give you a key. In fact, the average length of a call to activate (or deal with an activation problem) your copy of Windows is between 2 and 3 minutes. OH THE HORROR!
Furthermore, dispite the predictions of rampant failure of the activation mechanisms due to hardware changes in user's machines, activation rarely rears its head after the initial prompt.
I suspect things will be just as smooth with Vista. Microsoft has no desire to piss off users. That's the last thing they want to do. But it's a constant battle with pirates, and as long as there is a net gain in the number of people using legal copies (or, rather, a net gain in $$$ as a result), they'll keep doing it.
Hmm, here's a question for any Mac users here. Does OS X include any product activation/WGA type "features"? I've never used it (beyond drooling over it at my local Apple store), so I honestly don't know.
It is to reduce it so that your average geek finds it too annoying a process to bother with.
Your XP DRM made installing Windows such a pain in the ass that this maybe not so average geek finds it way too annoying to ever buy another copy.
Congratulations. DRM (and the fact that you no longer make OSes backward compatible) lost you a customer you've had for 25 years.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
That's why I have no possible moral issues with using my leaked corporate version. I own a license for a copy of XP, it's just a PITA to use it. I'm more than willing to sacrifice non-critical updates (which is probably a good thing anyways) in order to not deal with that every few months.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Seriously, this is wonderful news! The more Microsoft screws its customers, the more likely they will be to seek out alternative solutions.
I've used GNU/Linux off and on for a few years for various and sundry purposes. Three weeks or so ago, I finally sat down, figured out what I need--and don't need!--from Windows, and made the switch completely. I installed Ubuntu, and so far, it's been relatively painless. For every program I thought I couldn't live without, I've found several that work just as well or better. It's got its quirks, but Windows doesn't, right? And thanks to Cedega, I'm still even playing City of Heroes. :-)
So personally, I hope they lock it down even more. I hope they develop uncrackable locks, and charge people out the wazoo for even thinking about booting up their computers that run Vista. I hope they make it so hard and painful to run software that people have no choice but to switch. For all of the Microsoft-bashers out there, it's a dream come true!
I also hope that they do manage to completely lock out all pirates of the OS. That way, when the 90% of the real world that can't afford Windows all start using an OS like GNU/Linux, its market share will pretty much relegate Windows to that quaint little OS that used to be popular before everyone realized that they could get a lot more without even having to pay for it!
On a related note, a buddy of mine just got a new job and he asked if he could use Linux on his workstation instead of Windows. They said, "As long as you can do your job, we don't care what you use." As more and more people do this, and companies realize that there is productive life after Windows and how much money they can save and how many problems they can avoid by moving out of the room with the 800-pound gorilla in it, I think you'll see things start to change dramatically for the better.
Now, if only they could develop uncrackable DRM that screws up everyone's players. Oh, wait, Sony's already done it! YAY!
If you use anything but a small embedded system to do that sort of thing you are inviting failure.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
it was running windows 95.
We were a windows shop, I couldn't reccomend anything else.
Thankfully I don't work there anymore, but I know I'm not reccomending anybody to that particular hospital in the future.
It happens.
In fact, any Apple computer with a Firewire port can run Tiger, and Leopard will probably run on anything with a G4 or newer. Compared to Windows, where you need a $1500 machine from 2 years ago to have a prayer of running Vista, this is amazing. A B&W G3 tower (which cost $1500 six or seven years ago) can run 10.3 at decent speed (I've used them before in the on-campus library, they're the oldest working computers I've seen at UVA, and I've looked in obscure places). And 10.4 Tiger is even faster than 10.3
Alot of people purchased $1,000-2,500 macs and can't run the latest OS
Don't believe this phooey.
My PowerMac G4 (Codename: "Yikes!") from 1999 (it is 7 years young this month!) is happily running Panther, and will run Tiger as soon as I put a DVD drive in it (this weekend). I paid $1500 for it and I think it was the best decision that I ever made -- it was my declaration to the world that MS operating systems were not welcome in my home... I had more important things to do than reinstall the OS every time some piece of malware (I think Nimbda/Code Red got my PC around that time and was the last straw) trashed my computer.
It was the best (computer based) decision that I ever made.
"To make a mistake is only human; to persist in a mistake is idiotic." Cicero