Microsoft tries to stop Vista piracy
But do they really think they can succeed? Well, they try at least: the software maker said Thursday that the update is aimed at thwarting a technique that was letting some people use pirated versions of the operating system without going through the software’s built-in product activation. Microsoft has dubbed the approach “frankenbuild” because it works by combining test versions of Vista with the final code to create a hybrid version. That’s basically what was all these RTM activation cracks doing, putting code from beta version together with final builds. “Windows Vista will use the new Windows Update client to require only the ‘frankenbuild’ systems to go through a genuine validation check,” Microsoft said on its Windows Genuine Advantage program blog. “These systems will fail that check because we have blocked the (product) keys for systems not authorized to use them.”
Microsoft has been more aggressively targeting pirates over the past two years, including a stepped-up program for checking to make sure software is properly licensed. With Vista, software that doesn’t pass such authentication will go into severely reduced functionality after 30 days. At that point, only the Web browser will work and then only for an hour at a time. And if you have been wondering why there aren’t any Windows Vista torrent at NewTorrents.info anymore, I can tell you now Microsoft didn’t like it. And I don’t like making problems without a bigger reason, so they are gone for now…
Comments(38)
greedy bastards
who needs vista anyway???
Xp works perfect and they are trying to fight piracy but doesnt mean that they will win the fight….!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, this is just an unnecessary drama.
There are for example 4000 people involved in security and anti-piracy of MS products.
But, there are thousands more people wanting to get credits for cracking Vista and even more people wanting just to use it for free.
There is no force that can stop the piracy, it is just the matter of time before Chinese and Russian make it to bypass the activation system.
xp works fine
i think installing vista will be waste of time
Yep – no point in installing Vista in such a hurry. It needs to be properly bugfixed (at least to a state, where XP is now).
Love watching MS tring to stop piracy always fail lol
I had Vista on a old computer and never liked it
no for me
Cheers
PBoy
Vista is more stable than XP imo. I had a fully updated version of XP and used to have a crash every few days. I now have Vista (through msdn) and with only 3 updates it hasn’t crashed in 4 weeks of solid use.
And yeh you don’t need vista now but you will if you want to play DX10 games next year.
Luckily for me I dont have to pirate the operating system this time around since Microsoft is sending me a retail copy of Windows Vista for Free for beta testing their product and leaving at least 1 feedback.
i never had problems with xp
the pc is downloading updates itself… i just click OK!
ps. does anyone know where to find the xp styles of windows vista?
here’s my current issues with Vista:
1) it’s not out yet. what is with the piracy stopping talk for a product that isn’t available for purchase? how about you release the damn product first.
2) in the user agreement, it states that you can only re-install Vista ONCE. yes, so if you upgrade often, or need to re-install due to some other issues, they say you can only do it once, ie. re-activate Windows once. that sounds like complete bullshit to me for a product that costs hundreds of dollars. total bullshit. shit will be hitting the fan on this one.
3) where are all the stable Vista drivers? well, stable drivers are rare, but there is a huge lacking of drivers for Vista. that means there is going to be a lot of products not working properly with Vista. their answer for most will be “go buy new stuff”.
4) i have yet to see an outside firewall for Vista. no one has released one yet, and claims are that there are huge issues with Vista and doing firewalls for it? is that true? are we going to see working firewalls by companies other than Microsoft?
5) 64-bit computing should’ve been here years ago. so why is it that even with Vista 64-bit, there are a ton of issues when it comes to drivers and running software? sure, it’s easy to blame the software makers for not making their 32-bit programs properly, but how about the 64-bit version more flexible? same issues as XP64.
6) Vista is just plain annoying in it’s default settings. it’s meant for more security, but it makes it a pain in the ass for most users. you want to do just about anything and you get pop-ups constantly about any little thing you do. how about making it more user-friendly and not annoy the fuck out of every one. yes, i’m sure i want to run the program, otherwise i wouldn’t have double-clicked on it. turn that shit off.
7) too many versions really makes it seem like one big scam to me. you get the wrong version, and next thing you know you have a crippled computer. i’m so sick of software having all these different versions. just make one friendly version and allow users, when installing or later, to decide what they do or don’t want. but making money by selling crippled versions while charging an assload for full versions is just fucking lame. horrible practice in the software industry.
Why upgrade to Vista unless you absolutely have to? I foresee a lot of people buying into the hype and upgrading, people who only use their PCs for basic computing, now feeding the MS cashpot, when in reality it’s no reason to leave XP dead yet.
Win XP is good enough for me, I only use it when I play games (thx Reloaded!). Otherwise, I’ll run Linux.
BTW, Scythe. Your 2nd point is moot since MS already removed that bit from the EULA.
Well considering VISTA is not officially out on RETAIL it doesnt surprise me there isnt a lot of support, but that is changing as we come close to its official retail release world wide.
i have vista…but only use now and again…
will stick with xp….as the games i have don’t work with vista
MS your just a bunch of robbing feckers!
vista is equal to ME
Xp is equal to win2000
basically its a pile of shit, only thing goin for it is dx10, which i wont be surprised will be released on XP just because i doubt everyone in the world will hop on the vista band wagon.
“greedy bastards”
WTF? Why? For wanting people to *buy* the product they’ve been working on for years.
They talked trash about Windows XP when it was first released and most if not all are using Windows XP now. Give it a chance, its not even officially released yet and people are already saying how they wont switch to Windows Vista, but I bet you anything you will eventually.
most importent thing to me is DX10 for xp, i wont touch vista with a stick, its to lousy, to big and heavy, its far from perfect, its clumsy os.
Dylan Avery:
don´t make me cry man, they are a bunch of bastards because they want to squeeze the last penny of your wallet with a product that is completly garbage, don´t believe it??? well then tell me why EVERYBODY talks about direct x 10 instead of the “beauty” of vista or the magnificent way it´s coded, or the incredible performance??? becuause direct x 10 is the ONLY reason why anybody looks at vista, se don´t cry too hard for microsoft, believe they don´t give a damn about the users.
when xp was out, i still had win 2000 worked great! but after service packs 1 and 2 appear XP is very stable !
John Doe you seem quite happy with Vista, can you tell us some reasons why we should upgrade, cheers
It’s unbelievable how greedy MS is, the founders are worth Billions and they monopolize the market, but they are always trying to soak people for more cash. As usual, the hackers will will.
Well even if they are the cornerstone of the market, it doesnt mean they shouldn’t get paid for being the cornerstone of the market. That doesn’t make them greedy.
So if you pioneered a product everyone wanted, would you want to give away your product, or prevent that from happening? It has nothing to do with greed.
All are so simple… We do not need Vista in reality BUT… very soon we will not be able to play the new games with our win xp, so they will push us to update. At least, we must try to change OS the latest possible…
if you want to play halo 2 you’ll need vista…i know i’ll get it when halo2 is out
like the one guy above said its funny when win XP first came out everybody said it was garbage and putting it down the same way your guys are putting down vista right now but almost everybody is useing XP now just wait in a few years ppl are going to be saying man vista kicks ass you sould update from XP XP is old like alot of ppl are saying to ppl that still run Win 98 i laugh at you all just wait a few years and see what you guys say then
When XP came out, it was garbage. I didn’t find it usable until SP2. Then I made it primary OS.
I think they are going to release DX10 for XP too because the game developers say “hey, we don’t want to develop a game for 10-20% of the market just because you restrict to release DX10 for XP = the rest of the users. it’s not worth it. so release it for XP or we’ll release DX9 compatible games” and that’s what going to happen.
I Love That When You Hover Over ‘Games’ In 6 You Get A MICROSOFT Xbox 360 Ad… Hahaha, Viva La 360 !
Josh
DX10 is Vista only and will stay that way. It’s not backwards compatible and the DX9L on Vista is an emulation. There will not be any DX10 only games for a long time. All DX10 games proposed for 2007 at least support DX9 as well. Microsoft knows it has gamers by the balls, they will need to install Vista at some point but not until DX10 is well established. You only need Vista if you want the DX10 effects but the games will run on DX9 hardware.
Really ? I got
“The Intel® Core™2 Duo processor – now powering high performance Gateway desktops. Customize yours now.”
MS wants you to pirate their crap so you spread the ignorance. They will crack their own shit for you if they have to.
MS thinks they are god and u can ignore their cease and desist letters i got 3 because i had a working key gen for windows xp a while back and they for some reason they think they can copyright random letters and numbers
“Vista is more stable than XP imo. I had a fully updated version of XP and used to have a crash every few days. I now have Vista (through msdn) and with only 3 updates it hasn’t crashed in 4 weeks of solid use.”
I have a mac and it has never crashed. ever. =)
I wonder how hard it would be to write a program that would do all of this:
1. Find A valid Vista Key.
2. Register said key multiple times with diffrent hardware settings.
3. Causes WGA to mark it a prirated key.
4. Repeat few million times forcing a large portion of valid keys to marked a pirated.
I saw this post from another site and I really thought WHAT IF ?
I tried Vista RC1 a couple of months ago and was not impressed. I found the interface very clunky and awkward, though I should really have been running better hardware to get a good impression. I don’t like the UI decisions made; the new Explorer is bad, wizards are hard to use. I find myself much more at ease with the nice-and-simple Windows XP, it’s a no non-sense, stable OS.
I’d only upgrade to Vista if I got much better hardware and wanted to give it a good run for its money. It’s PoS though, sorry.
The meaning of greed is: “If you already have all that you could possibly need but still want more”. I believe that is warrant here.
They should give Vista away for free to everyone who has been for sticking with their shit thru the years and bought their crappy stuff.