Text 13235, 140 rader
Skriven 2006-10-08 14:13:26 av /m (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Vista and the improved kill switch
==============================================
From: /m <mike@barkto.com>

On Sun, 8 Oct 2006 13:32:26 -0400, "Robert Comer"
<bobcomer@mindspring.com> wrote:

>Guilty until proven innocent...


Even worse, legitimate, paying customers are being told by Microsoft that they
are the ones who will be paying extra to allow Microsoft to track down the
pirates.

http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-6122462.html?tag=nefd.lede

===
Windows Vista will have new antipiracy technology that locks people out their
PCs if the operating system isn't activated within 30 days after installation.

If Vista is not activated with a legitimate product registration key in time,
the system will run in "reduced functionality mode" until it is activated, said
Thomas Lindeman, a senior product manager at Microsoft. In this mode, people
will be able to use a Web browser for up to an hour, after which time the
system will log them out, he said.

The new technology is part of Microsoft's new "Software Protection Platform,"
which the company plans to announce on Wednesday. It will be part of future
versions of all Microsoft products, but debuts in Windows Vista and Windows
Server "Longhorn," said Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft's Windows Genuine
Software Initiative. Vista, the successor to Windows XP, is slated to be
broadly available in January.

Microsoft has escalated its battle with software pirates during the past two
years through the "Genuine Advantage" add-ons for Windows and Office, its
biggest cash cows. The company is now expanding its push by baking antipiracy
features into its new products and taking more drastic action when it finds
that a product was illegitimately acquired.

Many users shouldn't be confronted by Vista's antipiracy technology, however.
People who buy a PC with Vista installed from companies such as Dell,
Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, for example, should find the operating system
activated already.

"Everything is going to be good to go right out of the box," Hartje said. "This
is more for those who install after the fact."

Those who install Vista themselves, for example on existing PCs, will have a
30-day period to activate the operating system and validate with Microsoft that
they have a legitimate license. "During those 30 days, you get warning
messages, it counts down. During the last three days they get very frequent,"
Lindeman said.

If ignored, after 30 days Vista will display four options. The first will allow
the user to activate online, the second is to run in reduced functionality
mode, the third is to enter a product key and the fourth displays instructions
to activate by phone, Lindeman said.

"In reduced functionality mode, we will let you use your browser for periods of
up to an hour before we log you off," Lindeman said.

Barring people from using their PC is a significant change from the antipiracy
features that Microsoft bolted on to Windows XP with Windows Genuine Advantage.
In XP, the piracy-busting features only put a block on downloading additional
programs from Microsoft's Web sites.

Windows XP also included product activation, but people could still use their
machine in "safe mode" if the operating system was not activated. Moreover, no
activation was required if a volume license key was used, the most popular way
of pirating Windows. Starting with Vista, Microsoft will no longer give out
those types of license keys, which are typically used by larger organizations.

"Piracy is one of the most significant problems facing the software industry,"
Hartje said. More than a third of all software installed last year was pirated
or unlicensed, she said, citing figures from the Business Software Alliance, a
software industry group.

Microsoft will continue to check if Vista was legitimately acquired, even after
activation. This happens, for example, when downloading additional Microsoft
programs. Should a license key be deemed illegitimate, the user will be given
another 30-day grace period to acquire a legitimate license key, Microsoft
said.

During this grace period warnings will be displayed and Vista will block access
to the Windows Defender antispyware tool, ReadyBoost memory expansion feature
and Aero advanced graphics option, Microsoft said. Also, a persistent text will
display in the lower right hand of the screen: "This copy of Windows is not
genuine."

If Vista is not validated after the 30 days, the user will again be locked out.

As part of the increased effort to make it harder to pirate its products,
Microsoft is also changing the way businesses license its software. New
licensing systems will replace the current volume license keys, which have been
widely abused, Hartje said. "Fifty percent of the piracy, we think, uses keys
issued to volume licensing customers," she said.

Volume license keys are registration codes for products that Microsoft gives
out to large organizations in plain text. One key can be used to activate and
run an unlimited number of copies of the product, for example Windows XP or
Office XP.

Starting with Vista, Microsoft will offer two different types of keys and offer
three different ways to distribute them within an organization. In all cases,
some more work will be required on the part of the technology department at a
company.

"They will just need to do a little extra planning," Hartje said.

The first type of product key to replace the current system is called "multiple
activation key," or MAK. An IT pro at a company can install a key on a machine
that will then need to be validated online. Alternatively a proxy can be set up
centrally to activate multiple systems at once, according to Microsoft.

The second licensing option is called "key management service," or KMS. This
requires the organization to set up a KMS service on the corporate network that
will activate client machines. The Vista PCs will silently find the KMS service
and activate, according to Microsoft.

It may seem like businesses will have to count all their licenses, but it's
really not as bad as it sounds, said Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner.

"It has nothing to do with license counting right now, but companies will need
to expend time and effort and some money to administer this, in the name of
helping Microsoft recoup revenue lost to piracy," he said. "There needs to be
more of a benefit (for customers). Linux and Mac communities will try to make
hay with this, but this will not be the tipping point."
===



"...companies will need to expend time and effort and some money to administer
this, in the name of helping Microsoft recoup revenue lost to piracy..."


I wonder if Microsoft is going to add in those costs for the TCO "studies" they
fund?

  /m

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