Microsoft Disables Key in Anti-Piracy Move

[Poppa_Meth]

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Microsoft-Disables-Key-in-Anti-Piracy-Move

PC Latest News about PC makers that include MicrosoftRelevant Products/Services from Microsoft Windows on their desktops will have to reconfigure their service operations to deal with the increased number of consumer calls that are expected in the wake of Microsoft's latest move to stem piracy of its products.

Microsoft has disabled a product key that allowed OEMs to automatically activate Microsoft software. Now users will be required to call in and answer a series of questions to have the product activated.

"This will be tough on the home users," says Panda Software CTO Patrick Hinojosa. "It won't play well at all with consumers," he tells NewsFactor. The new requirement is bound to increase service calls in the short run because manufacturers "will have to communicate up front and in a clear manner with purchasers what they must do to activate the product," he notes.

Channel Leakage

While home users will be inconvenienced, Microsoft's move is mainly a tactic to stem abuse -- either outright or through negligence -- in the channel.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T
"I can see why Microsoft decided to take this step," Hinojosa says. "There are those players in the OEM program -- not the big vendors, however -- that misuse [the key], and it ends up being a piracy issue for Microsoft."

New Era

Long gone are the days when users could pop in their friends' version of Windows 98 in order to avoid purchasing their own. Increasingly, Microsoft has been tightening the loopholes, hoping to stem the massive amount of piracy of its products.

Last September, for example, the company introduced a scheme to check the authenticity of a user's software for routine fixes and updates. Earlier this month, it expanded the program to include 20 languages besides English. To entice users to participate in the optional program, Microsoft also offered a good number of incentives in the form of free software.

Such safeguards -- both in the form of stick and carrot -- are the wave of the future, Hinojosa says. "So OEMs and consumers will have to get used to it. It is not something we will see less of as time goes by."

[BJ_M]

the noose tightens - though i can see why they did it ..

[painkiller]

How might this affect existing systems/users?

[BJ_M]

How might this affect existing systems/users?

if you have to install I am guessing on NEW systems (not old customeers) and ALL new customeers will have to do it -- while in the past , you didnt , the xp install was already activated ..


on my IBM workstations -- no mater what hardware I changed, it never required a re-activation , and i swapped drives (and other parts) in and out all the time --

i dont think this is going to be the case any longer ..

[painkiller]

Exactly my concern.

But, since that kind of an operation doesn't necessarily involve 'net access - then I'd think older ops may not be affected.

Just my guess as well.

[Nilfennasion]

In other news, the sales of new versions of Windoze XP took another tumble as consumers decided to stick with Windoze 2000.

[painkiller]

As do I.

I doubt that I will ever feel the need to leave the Win2K platform for WinXP.

My suspicions about upgrades are starting to bear fruit with stories about functionalities changing due to "upgrades."

Lately, I had heard that Microsoft has caused modded Xboxes to not work when those players tried to use their Live play connections under Halo 2.

Add this to Intuit's attempts to bury additional software into the Turbotax (last year) as well as sunsetting import abilities to their current Turbotax (will not import tax info from Quicken 2000 or earlier).

So what we have here are s/w manufacturers putting in "features" that they do not want the consumer to know about.

How is that "user friendly?" (rhetorical, by the way)

[bazooka]

In other news, the sales of new versions of Windoze XP took another tumble as consumers decided to stick with Windoze 2000.

The genuine advantage program will eventually effect windows 2000 as well.

They will be checking keys for 2000 and XP

[bugster]

Many OEM PC's ship with 'restore disks' rather than OEM versions of the MS Xp disc. In my experience many of these OEM restore disks, although containg a full install of XP and sometimes other software, are tied to the manufacturer info in the Bios and sometimes even the model number. Trying to install with this disk and any other make/model of PC will fail. This change by MS seems it will only affect the smallest OEM's that do not duplicate their own install CD's. If it affects all OEM's no matter what other anti-piracy steps they take, I would expect the OEM's to be pretty pissed at this too, never mind the poor consumer.

[AlecWest]

In other news, the sales of new versions of Windoze XP took another tumble as consumers decided to stick with Windoze 2000.

Hehe, yeah. BTW, there's a reason I kept Win98SE in a partition, even though I use XP for video work. I still do about 99% of my emailing on my 98SE partition and have no plans of abandoning it anytime soon. There are just some things done easier in 98SE (and no nag balloons).

[DVD Polizei]

Absolutely little change for piraters, and more inconvenience for legit consumers. Is MS trying to force legit consumers to look to other means just so they can't be inconvenience whenever they want to add a hard drive or new video card?

[indolikaa]

I must not have read this right...

If I purchase a copy of Windows XP Professional OEM, along with the qualifying hardware, will I still be able to plug the key in and go? Or are they now implementing the dial-in procedure?

I'm lost. I definitely missed something.

[BJ_M]

I must not have read this right...

If I purchase a copy of Windows XP Professional OEM, along with the qualifying hardware, will I still be able to plug the key in and go? Or are they now implementing the dial-in procedure?

I'm lost. I definitely missed something.

i THINK you will have to do the reg thing now ...
only time will tell ...

[dcsos]

And it looks like INTERNET EXPLORER 7.0
will only be available to XP users

Microsoft may REQUIRE SP2 as a base upon which any browser upgrade must reside.

If they do this, I have to move fully to FIREFOX as my operating system (WIN 2K) will not accept this service pack.

They will not force me to upgrade to WIN XP with threats..
Longhorn looks bad..
Here's to USING WIN 2K as long as possible!

[the * dude]

Um... quick thought........ if this does happen will more people move to linux.

i don't people will pay 100++ for a new os, and then be asked 100 Q's.

people will just stick to thier old OS,,,

I thinnk MS has shot them selves in BOTH feet!!!!

[BJ_M]

Um... quick thought........ if this does happen will more people move to linux.

i don't people will pay 100++ for a new os, and then be asked 100 Q's.

people will just stick to their old OS,,,

I thinnk MS has shot them selves in BOTH feet!!!!

you are not asked 100's of questions and it is quite quick .....


desktop linux has been not increasing in popularity in fact ... a lot of that is due to the linux people themselves -- server wise though, linux is a major contender ..

[Nilfennasion]

Given that you could not keep a hick out of your Windoze account if you tried, and security problems are being uncovered in the product code on a daily basis, the switching to Linux or alternate browsers can only pick up with time. Many of the people I know who still use Netscape have told me they do so because they have had incidents where they have used credit card information on a Microsoft product such as IE or Outlook, and found it getting into the wrong hands.

If Microsoft disable anything, you can bet there will be someone out there who finds a way to reverse that switch. Programs that alter what Microsoft claim cannot be changed about their software come out every day. I've even seen ads for programs that disentangle Internet Explorer from the rest of Windoze in order to improve performance.

[AlecWest]

Internet Explorer 6.0 is my last version of Internet Explorer. And the only reason I keep it around is for website-design purposes ... to make sure what I design is cross-compatible between it and Mozilla based browsers.

Mozilla and Firefox rule!

[Nilfennasion]

What is ironic is that Microsoft basically ignored the Internet until Netscape made sudden and huge profits. I honestly feel the rest of the programmer community should respond in kind to MS and start excluding them from their designs. Imagine an open-standards world where a Microsoft FTP program cannot access shares because it uses a Microsoft-propietary system. Sure would make a nice change from the entire programming world being expected to jump to support MS quirks.

[hhhhbk]

cant see myself getting a new version of windows either

currently running xp pro (no updates at all) and its pretty good

wouldnt dare to browse the web with ie6 though i always use firefox

i have avg running so it catches viruses and nothing serious has ever happened to me in terms of viruses(touch wood)

as i now build my own pcs its unlikely il get my hands on new operating systems

xp hardware support seems good i am yet to find anything it doesnt recognise or has difficulty installing

and when it stops recognising new hardware will probably be forced to switch to linux