I'd rather DL 
Posted on 10/04/2006 11:35:01 AM PDT by ShadowAce
SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s forthcoming Windows Vista will take much harsher steps to curtail piracy than previous versions of its operating system, including crippling the usefulness of computers found to be running unlicensed copies of the new software.
The world's largest software maker said Wednesday that people running a version of Windows Vista that it believes is pirated will initially be denied access to some of the most anticipated Vista features. That includes Windows Aero, an improved graphics technology.
If a legitimate copy is not bought within 30 days, the system will curtail functionality much further by restricting users to just the Web browser for an hour at a time, said Thomas Lindeman, Microsoft senior product manager.
Under that scenario, a person could use the browser to surf the Web, access documents on the hard drive or log onto Web-based e-mail. But the user would not be able to directly open documents from the computer desktop or run other programs such as Outlook e-mail software, Lindeman said.
Microsoft said it won't stop a computer running pirated Vista software from working completely, and it will continue to deliver critical security updates.
The company also said it has added more sophisticated technology for monitoring whether a system is pirated. For example, the system will be able to perform some piracy checks internally, without contacting Microsoft, Lindeman said.
Microsoft also is adding ways to more closely monitor for piracy among big corporate users, who tend to buy licenses in bulk.
Microsoft plans to take similar tough measures with the forthcoming version of its Windows server software, dubbed "Longhorn," and to incorporate it into other products down the road.
The crackdown shows how much more seriously Microsoft has started taking Windows piracy, which for years has been extremely widespread in areas such as Russia and China. The Business Software Alliance, a software industry group, estimates that 35 percent of software installed on PCs worldwide is pirated.
In recent years, the market for Windows - one of Microsoft's main cash cows - has become more saturated. That's left the company eager to make money from users who may otherwise have obtained illegal Windows copies.
Microsoft has already instituted tougher piracy checks for Windows XP users who want to get free add-ons such as anti-spyware programs. But until now, the warnings and punitive measures were mainly seen as annoying, rather than debilitating.
Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative, said the company now wants users to notice the difference between legal and pirated copies of Vista.
"Our goal is to really make a differentiated experience for genuine and non-genuine users," Hartje said.
Analyst Roger Kay with Endpoint Technologies Associates noted that Microsoft has the right to curtail illegal distribution of its software. The new piracy measures, he said, "seem harsh only in comparison to how lenient it has been."
Nevertheless, Kay said he expects that the anti-piracy tactics will keep some people from upgrading to Vista from the current operating system, Windows XP.
"There will be an XP backlash, which is to say people (will) cling to XP in order to avoid this," he said.
Kay also doesn't expect the new piracy measures to be that effective against hardcore pirates, who have built de facto businesses selling illegal Windows copies. But he thinks it will stop some lower-level piracy.
After many delays, Redmond-based Microsoft is expected to release Vista to businesses in November and consumers in January.
I read somewhere a couple of months ago that the percentage of PCs currently in existence that will be able to run full-blown Vista with all the bells and whistles is embarrassingly low, something like 8% IIRC. If Microsoft is expecting Vista to hit the market like Win95 did, or even like WinXP did, they're going to be in big, big trouble.
But even scarier is this: What in God's name are they planning next? Some OS has to come after Vista, and if they're planning to produce it the same way they're producing this one - by just layering more and more junk on top of code that, at its core, is still 1981-era MS-DOS 1.0 - is there any machine on planet Earth that will be able to run it? Will you need 8GB of RAM (which, even today, could potentially add more than $1000 to the cost of your PC) just to boot up?
They need to take the Apple route: Throw out everything and start over from scratch. I can run OS X on a first-generation iMac that's almost ten years old and it looks and runs exactly the same as on a brand new 2006 24" Intel Core Duo 2 iMac (although much, much more slowly).
I honestly can't think of a single reason. 2000 does everything I would want Windows to do.
I can't wait to see how bad the SW runs when M$ deliberately screws it up!
Arr!
Yep.
We lost the install disk that came with our PC, and found ourselves having to reinstall the OS. We borrowed a friend's copy of Windows, and installed that. I suppose our PC would be crippled because I lost the original install disk....
"I honestly can't think of a single reason. 2000 does everything I would want Windows to do."
Win2k is not bad. Not bad at all. XP is a trade off, it's got more driver support and nice features for laptops, but it's unnecessarily cluttered.
Vista will be more of the same. Will Vista be to XP what Millenium was to 98?
You want Vista buy it.
Yep. That happens quite often. You buy a PC from Dell and they ship it with this goofy disk that sorta has Windows on it along with a pile of other junk. Good luck trying to reinstall Windows with THAT disk. What do people do then? They put on a bootlegged copy of Windows. They already purchased Windows and were effectively denied the ability to reinstall it. Is it wrong in that case to use a bootlegged copy? Dunno.
Another piece of news on MS-Vista today is public charges from the head of McAfee that MS is not delivering what McAfee and Symantec need (re the Vista kernal) so that their anti-virus and security apps will work with Vista.
At the same time, it is known that MS is looking to bundle its own anti-virus and security apps inside the Vista OS. The tech industry sees this development as a net-loss for real anti-virus and security protections for Vista in the long run, when avaliable competitive offerings have been put out of the market by the MS-OS-and-market bundling approach that MS takes with PC makers. When there are no strong MS competitors for anti-virus and security apps, the changes of a Vista vulnerability affecting all Vista users will be greater.
It seems the monopolist mode of MS will never change.
2) A high-end video card. Well, not high end - but higher than any integrated graphics chipset, and many low-level stand alone cards.
The real bitch is going to be on Notebooks, most of which - even many "high-end" ones - have integrated graphics. A lot of people are going to be mighty pissed when the find out that their $1500 Lattitude or Thinkpad can't run full Vista with Aero Glass.
it works fine with 1GB of ram, yes 2GB's would be great if you can afford it but it NOT necessary, I have seen reports of people using 512MB(hardocp.com for one)
GeForce6100 and 6150 integrated chipset is fine for AeroGlass.
Well, let's see.... price tag of $300 a seat, constant phone homes for an automated "piracy check", plenty of eye candy to soak up all those excess CPU cycles, and lots and lots of crunchy, chewy DRM....what's not to like??
Hopefully by the time there is a game I want to play that requires Vista, there will be some well-tested and successful cracks available for the OS.
I'd rather DL
You know what's funny? I have a very minor connection to Microsoft, but it's enough to allow me access to an "insider" program where I can buy a limited number of copies of most major MS stuff. You know what they want for a copy of Windows XP? Twelve dollars. Not a stripped down OEM version where they just give you the CD in a paper envelope with a license code sticker on the back, either, but the full retail version. You know, the one where you get a big colorful cardboard box and open it up to find nothing but a CD in a jewel box with a license code sticker on the back. ;) All shipped straight from the MS factory.
And MS is still making a profit off of me if I buy it for $12, because the cost of producing the CD and box is pennies, and shipping's maybe $1.50 or $2.00.
I've played with the Vista beta, and I can absolutely guarantee that the only reason I'll be buying a copy for my laptop when it comes out is because I have access to this deal where I'll be able to get it for $12 (or more likely $15 or $20; you know they'll try to up the cost even for their "insiders"). There's no way in hell I'd ever pay $150-$300 for the off-the-shelf upgrade (or $200-$400 for the "regular" non-upgrade version). Not for what little Vista is offering.
Fedora sux IMHO, I like PcLinuxOS and Mepis better on the linux side, I will probably have Vista within a few months of its release(WinXP or Vista is better than ANY version of Linux IMHO).
Let me guess...you're a people person, right?
That's an excellent point.
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