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."

Comments

How is someone supposed to know

[geekoid]

that they are supposed t look for that to see of the copy they have is legit?

And it only assumes the buyer cares.

Re:How is someone supposed to know

[bkgood]

The BSA and other such agents look out for these tiny missing features, so they know when and where to release the hounds. A mom and pop shop with a few extra installs than licenses is small potatoes.

I hope you aren't suggesting the hounds wouldn't be released on the mom and pop shop regardless -- easy money is easy money in the eyes of the BSA.

Re:How is someone supposed to know

[Reverend528]

So they can locate fake currency floating in the wild and hopefully trace it back to its source.

This works with money because it is circulated. Once bound to a host, vista cannot be reused.

Watermarks such as this are designed to prevent counterfeits, not piracy.

I have to wonder how many people will unknowingly buy a counterfeit version of windows. And how many that do are actually going to inspect their DVD for a 1mm image.

It's all about the photo

[Shabbs]

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.

Re:exactly

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

no one is fooling themselves into thinking that they are getting a $400 program for ten bucks.

That's for the $10 copies. There are, however, the $400 copies, in which case people are fooled into thinking that the $400 they're paying for this program is going to Microsoft instead of some thief's pocket.

(And yes, this is in fact theft. The data might not be "stolen", but the $400 definitely was stolen.)

Re:exactly

[Carnildo]

(And yes, this is in fact theft. The data might not be "stolen", but the $400 definitely was stolen.)

No, it isn't. Selling an item with the pretense that it's a different item is called "fraud".

Does no one get it?

[batkiwi]

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.