MS Q&A on new piracy nag

[Weazmeister]

The Q&A part is towards the bottom of the article. Here's the lead-in.
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MS Expands Anti-Piracy Program, Reissues Patch
Microsoft today began expanding its anti-piracy program by quietly pushing out a software update that in many cases automatically scans Windows computers and reports on whether they are powered by unlicensed software.

The "new pilot program" is a fairly broad expansion of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage program, under which the anti-piracy check was required only for users who wish to download security updates or other free programs from Microsoft's site. Under WGA, users who chose to receive fixes via Automatic Updates were not prompted to install and run the anti-piracy software.

Starting today, however, Windows XP users in the United States who have set up automatic security updates will receive the anti-piracy tool. After installation and reboot, they may find their computers popping up an alert that reads: "This copy of Windows is not genuine; you may be a victim of software counterfeiting." Microsoft also is pushing the new tool out to auto-update users in Britain, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.


http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/04/microsoft_expands_antipiracy_p.html

 

[Langford]

The only thing that really bothers me about any of Microsoft's product activation and antipiracy stuff, is that eventually they will discontinue the product activation server that XP is checking in with, so people who simply like to keep the same old OS will be forced to either never reformat, or make sure they can hack thier own computer if they do. Maybe thats many years down the road, but it's the whole principal that bugs me.

 

[Hvatum]

The only thing that really bothers me about any of Microsoft's product activation and antipiracy stuff, is that eventually they will discontinue the product activation server that XP is checking in with, so people who simply like to keep the same old OS will be forced to either never reformat, or make sure they can hack thier own computer if they do. Maybe thats many years down the road, but it's the whole principal that bugs me.

Yeah, everything DRM related produced by Microsoft is intentionally designed to eventually break, forcing the user to repurchase their media and upgrade their OS regardless if they need to. Microsoft's video DRM actually connects with some server somewhere to validate. Great, when that server is gone then the T3 extreme edition becomes a coaster. It's like an even crappier and more inconsistent version of DIVX, consumers obliterated that idea so I doubt this new DRM scheme will succeed.

I don't especially mind Microsoft's OS antipiracy efforts. Hopefully people who are currently running a pirated copy of Windows will get disgusted with all the nagging and switch to Linux or OSX. Microsoft should come out with a more stringent antipiracy programme, like one that deletes all of your work documents if you refuse to charge the full price of the OS to your credit card. It could encrypt all the documents on the computer and only release them once the user purchases a full copy. This would be a great step towards cracking down on Pirates.

I also think Microsoft is far too soft with people who claim not to know they were running a pirated copy of Windows. You "didn't know it was a pirated copy"? Weak excuse. If you purchase stolen property, which a pirated copy of Windows is, you are committing a crime. Period. It's Microsoft's right to do this and they're being too soft as it is.