Microsoft Piracy Plan Means Concerns for IT

coondoggie writes to mention an article on Information Week about possible unintended consequences of the Microsoft Software Protection Plan (SPP) discussed on Slashdot on Wednesday. The new initiative is intended to protect consumers from pirated software, but may cause major headaches for IT shops. From the article: "Microsoft will support SPP in current and future reporting and asset management tools such as System Center Operations Manager. 'On paper it might sound pretty good, but we have to see how it works,' says Jeff Allred, manager of network services for the Duke University Cancer Center. One of his concerns is that a reduced functionality mode kicks in three days after changing out a motherboard in a server if the software is not revalidated. 'That really jumped out at me. We change out motherboards in our servers all the time,' he says. The provision only covers a swap with a non-OEM motherboard, which Allred admits doesn't happen often."

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Look for article here

[MECC]

This article can be found at networkworld.

FTA:'"I think Microsoft will have to budge on this, say worst-case scenario in Service Pack 1," says John Pescatore, an analyst with Gartner.'

Oh yeah, they're sure to 'budge'. After all, if they don't budge people will flock away from MS products in huge numbers.

"Under SPP, which debuts in Windows Vista and Longhorn Server, Microsoft software that is found not to be genuine will warn the user and eventually go into a Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM) until it is activated with a product key."

RFM must be the new name for Windows XP/2003.