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Nerdy Photo in Vista DVDs Thwarts Disk Pirates
maximus1 writes "Microsoft says that the tiny photo on the Windows Vista Business Edition installation disks is an anti-piracy feature. The tiny photo of three grinning men — less that 1 mm in size — is one of several images incorporated into the hologram's design intended to make it harder to replicate a Vista DVD, according to Nick White on Microsoft's Vista team blog. 'The real story is interesting, but conspiracy theorists will be disappointed to learn that it is not the result of a deliberate attempt to deceive,' White wrote."
...would Vista be pirated less or more?
My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
that they are supposed t look for that to see of the copy they have is legit?
And it only assumes the buyer cares.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
And by fascinating I mean WHO CARES?
Yes, cuz a tiny little photo is going to stop the piracy. Stop the presses... gather 'round children... PIRACY HAS BEEN ELIMINATED!!!!
All pirates care about is 1) Does it install? 2) Can I "activate" it?
Cheers.
Mark
since when do software pirates care about watermarks if they can still copy the data just fine? For that matter, how many pirated copies of Vista actually exist? [such negative reaction to it why pirate it?]
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
For the majority of slashdotters that don't have a Vista DVD and a magnifying glass sitting on their desk, the engadget article has pictures.
Then, if the disk is illegally copied, they send the soul to Microsoft Hell. And if the disk is genuine, the soul goes to Microsoft Heaven.
... if I worked on the 'Vista' team I sure wouldn't want my picture printed on the DVD. What if someone recognized me on the street? Or in prison?? Or on /.???
The problem is that when I got my Vista upgrade discs through Dell for systems bought just before Vista was released, I don't have pretty hologram discs like that at all. I have just plain printed Dell labeled junk that anybody could counterfeit.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
First off, nerds like us are the ones who pirate stuff in the first place. Second, if the image is so small, which user is going to see it, and if the user cannot see it, then claims of amnesty are theoretically possible. Third, due to the traditionally nonintimidating nature of the nerd, what pirate who sees the image will think and stop what they are doing? It seems that Microsoft demonstrates its foolishness through oversight and arrogance once again. Though, the whole idea is quite funny for the rest of us!
This is to help reduce what Microsoft calls high quality fakes. Those are versions that are made to look like the original, actual product, packaged like the original, actual product, and sold at prices similar to the original, actual product. The people who buy them think they are buying a legitimate copy of Windows. There are relatively few of these around (I think...), but to Microsoft they are high priority targets because everyone who bought one of those copies thought they were buying something from Microsoft, so you only need to get them what they want. You don't have to convince them that they should pay $x for the software in the first place, like you would with someone buying a $5 pirated copy of Windows.
They should have used pr0n pics. That would have made vista fly off the shelves ^^
If they really did it would eliminate the fallback excuse of why no one is buying it unless being forced to. The local CompUSA here was going out of business and even at 75% off during the final days they were open there were still dozens and dozens of vista boxes just sitting there.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Real story
no ads.
This isn't an anti-piracy measure, Microsoft is actually pretty upset about it. They don't like easter eggs because it makes them look unprofessional. If they find the guys that did this, they will probably be fired.
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
... they didn't use this one.
Is it that hard to link to that picture? Even goatse would do...
"The images are less than 1mm in size and are not visible to the naked eye, so must be viewed using optical magnification."
So why bother with them then? Seriously, let's say that I wanted to know if someone was selling me a counterfeit vista disc. I look on the back and there's nothing there, how do I know whether or not the watermark is there?
Completely fucking worthless.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
Hmmm Embeded holographic images... So wait a second, is this why Vista is so Expensive? I mean are people who are paying $300 bucks for vista paying really $1 for the OS and $299 for the Hologram?
Sweet!
Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
The pirate copy I bought in here in Beijing had these security features:
;)
1. Plastic sleeve
2. No box
3. Burned CD with "Vista 32 Eng" written in Sharpie on the front.
And it works great. Even came with the guys phone number in case I had problems applying the validation hacks.
If youre going to buy a pirate version what do you care? I have seen the nicer versions (with fake box et. al.) but trust me, no one is fooling themselves into thinking that they are getting a $400 program for ten bucks.
But my even more ghetto pirate version only cost $5 and it came with Office 2007 as well (which employed the same counter measures)
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
So does anyone have a torrent of this hologram? The Vista I have really needs it.
Do you really care it doesn't have the pretty little picture?
Sort of like counterfeit bills, if it passes at the local burger joint, its good enough. Who cares if the feds catch it at the federal bank and take it out of circulation? You got your use out of it.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
That's not a nerdy photo.
If there were really serious, THIS should have been the embedded image.
I'm no Microsoft apologist, but this does make sense for them. The point is that law enforcement in any country can be pretty clueless on whether a CD is copied or not. This way, when they find a warehouse full of suspicious CD's, they have an easy way to tell if they are actually legit or counterfeit. This sort of thing is *not* designed for customers (who don't know about it) or illegal dupers (who don't care about it).
containing plans for Microsoft's Jihad against the Linux unbelievers.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Those holograms are cool. I wish normal CD burners could make them
georgespamungus@gmail.com
The image is for people buying in bulk to verify it is legit. That we they aren't stuck with having to repay for copies they resale after they find out their illegal. Its not intented for the common end-user to assure their copy is legit.
Trying to counterfeit DVD's with hologram lables is near impossible anyway, isn't it? Why would such a DVD need additional microscopic pictures to make it more difficult to copy? Customs agents aren't carrying around microscopes inspecting DVD shipments are they? If the pictures aren't viewable to the nake eye, then who, exactly, is supposed to detect whether the DVD is counterfeit or not? I think the likely scenario is that the pictures are easter eggs, and Microsoft is spinning the story that it's part their anti-piracy campaign.
Nobody has cared to look at the Vista Business Install CD.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Cuz we're already in MS Hell....
Microsoft has a long history of unprofessional easter eggs in their OS and applications: Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 7.0 have hidden full developer credits, the "SOY" easter egg in Windows XP, and Office 2000 had a developer created game (Dev Hunter). There are MANY more.
The only thing Microsoft may be ticked at is that this is the first time that an easter egg has happened in packaging.
I am on the road crew. This is my stop sign.
http://inicia.es/de/kwisatz/ It's almost like that 10m^1 thing.
Bill Gates was quoted as saying "this is the stupidest fucking idea I've heard since I've been at Microsoft!"
you have to play them forward to hear the devil talking.
And you have to let it onto your computer for it to do any real harm.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
A small goatse hologram in every pirated Vista DVD. Challenge over.
If an explosion occurs nearby, won't it shatter the hologram releasing these three criminals that were imprisoned on Krypton nearly 3 decades ago? You know they must be pissed! They would have super human powers, and superman is nowhere to be found!
Boredom's not a burden anyone should bear.
This is not about buying a cheap copy for $5 and "wondering" if it's real or not (hint: it's not). A contrived example of why this is important:
You go to your local mom and pop PC shop. You buy a PC for $1000 including Vista. They give you a disk that has a nice color silkscreened vista logo. 9 months later, the activation hack they applied and didn't tell you was applied is fixed via update, and you call MS to deal with validation. They ask you about your disk, which has no holograms. They tell you you've been "had," so you go back to the mom and pop shop and require a real copy, this time knowing what to look for and demand.
The same story could be told about small businesses who are not large enough to use corporate version with their own keyserver, and thus buy bulk professional licenses and have the CDs as proof of license.
...you can download ISOs for Vista from Microsoft. Obviously, the disc itself is not important. It's the keys that determine legit or not. I'll bet they found out about this image only recently and this is the spin.
I can see the fnerds!
From your M$ blog article:
Lesson learned: put your penis in it, they are going to fire you anyway. If you are short in that department, you might put a picture of someone you don't like in it.
What I'm waiting to see are Debian swirls, happy Mac faces, iPods, Tux and other funnies.
Before this, I thought Vista DVDs were worth less than an AOL coaster, but now I know there's entertainment value. Sooner or later, I'd like to add one of these to my software CD collection. It's significant enough as the failure of Windoze edition. They will end up in the trash sooner than later.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Microsoft have been using holographic images on discs as an piracy countermeasure for years. The only remotely interesting thing that the articles answers is who were the three guys, but it seemed fairly obvious to me that they would have been Microsoft employees.
By reading this signature, you hereby agree with the content of the above comment.
It doesn't work for sporting goods which have little holograms on them saying "Officially Licensed [Org] Merchandise". Consumers don't know what they should be looking for. If they know they need to see a hologram for official merchandise, the ones who care don't know what it's supposed to look like and won't know the difference between a cheap bubblegum card quality hologram and the official one. All it really does is raise the price of the merchandise and raise a bit more money for the packaging houses (you don't think Microsoft would eat the cost themselves do you?)
I can recall testing the sound on my new install by cat-ing a file called "microsoft (something-or-other).au" and it was Curly saying "I tried to think but nothing happened." This was on either FreeBSD-4.{2|3|5} or Slackware-3-ish.
Apparently the three guys in the photo are on Microsoft's Anti-Piracy team, and the other three photos are of art that are in the public domain. From the Vista Team Blog: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/arc hive/2007/06/13/the-devil-is-in-the-details.aspx
The counterfeiters may not care, but it will deter businesses from patronizing them. By adding difficult-to-copy markings and telling the world about it, Microsoft lets businesses know those counterfeit "Microsoft" DVDs won't help a bit if they're audited by the BSA (not to be confused with the Boy Scouts of America ). Disgruntled (ex)employees will know about the counterfeit copies of Vista, and will gladly report license violations to even the score with their antagonists.
The headline is misleading (this is /. after all). Hologram on the Vista DVD helps thwart piracy, said hologram just happens to contain a collage of photos and one of these photos just happens to be three grinning nerds. Move along, nothing to see here.
In an even smaller spot, this picture was found...
Anyone who looks at the pictures dies in seven days.
had a cryptic label that spelled MEMOREX.
-ted
"Many Poles? I certainly hadn't heard much about Polish bloggers before. I wonder why they're speaking out about Vista? :-)"
;)
http://polishlinux.org/
It's one of the major linux distro review sites, they linked to from distrowatch.org all the time.
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
It's the stuff on the other side we are boosting.
Will cracked versions feature a pasty white buttocks of the nerd that cracked it?
Someone hates these cans.
My sister's friend's brother's girlfriend has a cousin that went to china and said she saw them throwing out the vista cds and pirating the clamshells.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
Thats because all the poles are on the left hand side of the plane.
It's one thing to have a little fun, but here it was done without the companies permission and on the companies dime. I think leaving that out of account it's perfectly harmless, but making the decision to do something like this is no longer limited in scope to you're own personal choice and the potential consequences can be unforeseen and far reaching.
I don't actually hope these guys get into trouble, but I think any of us should understand why they would. I'm sure there are business cultures where this would be okay but Redmond aside I think there are many more where introducing unplanned features is not a wise choice, even just for a chuckle.
Quack, quack.
Wait!
Isn't the one the right Steve Jobs???
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
(n/t)
I just took a closer look at the Ubuntu disc my brother gave me. If you hold it at an angle underneath all of the print (which I'm starting to assume is just Sharpie marker)it says "Sony CD-R" on one side of the hole and "compact disc Recordable SUPREMAS 700MB" on the other.
Come to think of it I didn't have to agree to anything when I installed it! Aw man, I think it's a cracked copy! I've probably got a whole CPU full of Russian viruses!
However, this is far too serious an issue to take any chances and MSFT is far too serious a company not to respond appropriately. I imagine Balmer is hard at work typing up an email right now:
Memo to all employees: remove your penis before reporting for work tomorrow or risk termination. That is all. I have spoken.
What scares me here is I think a large percentage of MSFT employees would comply.
Yes, it may have been a while, but this is NOT the first time someone has taken a picture of 3 people and embedded it as an easter egg. Once again, MS is following the crowd.
1 7588.aspx
http://www.eeggs.com/items/26468.html
For those click weary, it is about the Tandy Color Computer 2, and the famous deveoplers picture. Now this was in the computer and you had to hold down certain keys, etc... but still it look very familiure to the "security" picture.
http://bink.nu/photos/news_article_images/picture
BTW, that small makes it an easter egg if you ask me... As the average person would not beable to look for that "SECURITY" check when purchasing the software. Really, nice try MS.. You've been egged, just accept the joke and move on.
--- Relax, that mass muderer is just trying to reduce our carbon footprint, one fetus at a time...
that ALL of you who write and read this page are Pirates of the Microsoft Software, cause you don't like
to pay for the software, you consider this to be free. Free as free beer. And Bill Gates is recording all this keystrokes and IP's to KNOW who you are.
Putting three little faces is only another marketing campaign, a terrain where Microsoft is KING
Step 1: Engage Linux in a patent war Step 2: Join forces with the Mac Zealots Step 3: Win war Step 4: ???? Step 5: Profit!!!
So when my PC doesn't come with an authentic photo-bearing CD, the vendor is stealing from MS?
I guess the low price and all the pre-loaded spyware and junk should have tipped me off that this wasn't authentic Windows. I guess I should have paid more for an Alien.
FTA:
"The images are less than 1mm in size and are not visible to the naked eye, so must be viewed using optical magnification. Their presence does not affect the contents of the DVD any more than would applying a label to the front of an audio CD you may have created at home. "
1) If you can't see it; how is the consumer suppose to know that it is fake?
2) It will help investigators.
3) Pirates don't care.
If you must comment on your penis size, Please use your journal.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
XXX#######
Microsoft don't make the Vista CDs themselves.
Other companies do. And I bet a fair number operate in China. So guess who can make 1mm holograms?
Most pirates won't bother because their target markets don't care. But how hard is it for a factory to have "production overruns" or "test runs"?
In fact, I've seen a 100% original MS CD that was a _low_quality_ stamp (and was not easily readable by some drives) - you could see the "shiny side" was "disfigured" - I've seen low quality pirate CDs that looked like that, but wasn't expecting MS to use the same el-cheapo manufacturers.
I bet if MS sues one of those Chinese factory after a few too many "overruns", it'll just close down, and reopen under a new name and "new management", and start making the same stuff.
Yeah only 40 million copies of Windows Vista in the first 100 days.
Who cares if they were businesses, or vendor lock-ins, or whatever. The fact is they sold 40 million.
But I'm sure you'll come up with some crazy theory about how all the news organizations in the world conspired to report the 40m number when all they sold were 7 copies.
Be creative..
Just take a look at those three pictures (black/white but very clear) founds on Business Edition: http://sugiero.blogspot.com/2007/06/windows-vista- dvd-who-are-those-people.html
Why is this article tagged with "DRM"? You need quite a lot of people to tag an article with something for it to show up these days -- do that many people really not know what DRM is that they think TFA is an example of it? Are people just mentally equating it with anti-copyright-infringement methods in general, and tagging without stopping to think about whether something actually is DRM?
Come on, people; if you dilute a phrase enough it is liable to lose its meaning; calling all anti-theft measures from holograms on discs to security guards at the entrance of a shop "DRM" will just detract from legitimate efforts opposing the use of actual DRM to prevent fair use, etc.
What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
Four pictures, two with people in them, and two photos without faces.
Sounds to me like at least two people chickened out from putting their own faces on there and substituted a vacation photo and a photo of an old painting instead. I'm guessing originally there were to have been more photos on the Vista Business DVD, but they feared the notoriety.
Notice how the names haven't come out yet? If this was planned as an anti-piracy thing, there would be no need for such random images. Does this Easter Egg even remotely smell official? Not to me.
It's not because of professionalism that MS doesn't include easter eggs anymore. Its because of a court ruling that undocumented features also known as "Easter Eggs" were not allowed in software that is used by the government. And MS was a key proponent of easter eggs during that case.
So I'm guessing the disc I found the other day with a tiny Lemonparty hologram on it ain't legit...
If the computer can read the bits, it can write it somewhere else. :S
Holograms checking can be passed easily
If it's exists, computer can write it somewhere else and make an ISO later.
But the question asked is : WHY THE HELL SOMEONE WOULD LIKE TO COPY and INSTALL Windows VISTA?! why would anyone want to downgrade?
Read and Comment at my BLOG
!!!
"not the result of a deliberate attempt to deceive"
Deceive who? Those people who specifically want their Vista DVD with no pictures of guys on the holograms?
(This sig intentionally left blank)
It'll make it harder for people to pretend that their fake Vista DVDs are genuine, but so what?
The sort of person who buys a pirated copy of Windows Vista isn't the sort of person who cares if or not it's "genuine". That in itself wouldn't be so bad, but they also don't care if they get locked out of automatic security updates and their PC ends up spewing adverts for more counterfeit software, dodgy German shares and sex drugs.
Meanwhile, honest people have to pay more for this flawed "copy prevention" technology.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
If Vista was any good, it would be pirated more.
Kudos to maximus1 for incorporating the typo intact while ripping off the source article.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Brutus, Cassius and Judas Iscariot all getting chewed on by a frenzied Ballmer.
ha...ha...heehehehee....Bwahahahahahahahahahahahah ahah...SNORT....heh.heh.heh...
Whew!
Thanks for making me smile at work.....
Commander Tacos pen0r is .5 microns in length
It also assumes that the factory did not print 16 million extra copies and that the "pirates" won't be able to duplicate the image. The widespread counterfieting of currency is evidence to the contrary.
And from a story the next day, a report of just that:
It's amazing how deeply you trolls will modbomb usefull and accurate information. Keep bombing, that's what Bill Gates pays you for.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
My God! It's full of pictures!
Here
[Yawn] This is the exact same reaction we've seen with the introduction of every new Microsoft operating system for decades. Nobody wants it, system requirements are too high, too buggy, many have no plans to migrate, won't run key apps, etc.
Funny thing is, this complaining is inevitably followed by nearly everyone eventually upgrading to the new OS. Yes there are always a few holdouts ("I'm still running Win98!") and rebels ("F this, I'm buying a Mac"), but on the whole the "it sucks" mantra is inevitably followed by assimilation.
Anyone here running DOS 3.1?
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
f Microsoft pay any attention to your (quite frankly) insignificant life existence on here it's to congratulate you on doing more for them than any amount of money they could spend on here ever would. Regardless, it would cheaper for them to have you killed than spend good money on employing people to mod you down.
Ding, another death threat. If ever your account is traced back to M$, I'll be happy to provide a link to the parrent as evidence of something less legal than the usual anti-competitive PR blitz Bill pays loser like you to do all day. You should be fired for fuck ups like that.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Apache/1.3.33 Server at microsoft.blognewschannel.com Port 80
is this irony, or a marketing strategy?
From what I've experienced, people are mad when they cannot get a laptop pre-loaded with something other than Vista. I can't really imagine anybody wanting to go out of their way to install it if they didn't have to. Maybe they're just worried about the Chinese horning in on their strong-armed sales through small OEM dealers.
Cuz I can't see the public going to any effort to load up a copy of something which won't let them play half their media.
-FL
They *shipped* 40 million. Not sold.
That means there are 40 million in stores, in warehouses, etc.
There's no way in hell that 40 million copies of vista have been sold. When's the last time you saw a PC with it on? Aside from the occasional test machine it's just not in use.
smallest
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Therefore, according to the /. headline maker, you *must* be a nerd...
I use a Replicator, easy fast simple, but requires a whole lot of energy.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
I got the same but the real one with the full color label with MEMOREX embossed in it as security measure! ;)
Don't support piracy! buy original! I got atleast 20 of these originals left here!
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
REAL pirates care about
1. Where's the *%$@!! grog?!?!?
2. Where's the *%#*((! booty?
3. Who's friggin' in the *^%)%$#!! riggin'?!?!?!
Why would they ship a copy that hasn't been paid for?
Sure, they sold them. They sold them to retailers, and to OEMs -- individual consumers wouldn't purchase a copy directly from Microsoft.
Not saying that the 40M copies have been re-sold to the end-user or anything, but they've certainly been sold at least once.
Living better through chemicals
And of course you can't forget this one