Windows Vista Vs. Windows XP: Piracy Part Two

Well, after a comment from the last blog, it blatantly seems that I understand very little about piracy of Windows Vista and Windows XP. So I am updating after receiving special and exclusive information from TechWorld.


In the last post, (to read it click here), I have said that Vista will go into reduced functionality mode after 30 days without being activated. However what I have stated is wrong as Vista actually allows you to 'rearm' the 30 days three times which by the time you've gone through the entire length, a third of the year before you'd have to figure something out.

Before Vista was released publicly it had already managed to get pirated. Copies of Vista RTM have been available since last December. The "Frankenbuild" exploit was never widely used because it was very obvious that it would be patched quickly. There was also a KMS server activation method, but it was also not used widely.

However, there was the Timerstop crack, which stopped the 30 days grace period timer counting down. Microsoft has still not managed to patch this, and it is unlikely they ever will. All Vista versions running Timerstop are validated as Genuine by Microsoft. This meant that pirates were able to circumvent Vista activation procedures even before the public release.

The newest crack on the scene is the OEM bios activation crack. The OEM bios crack emulates a pre-activated bios and enables you to bypass activation. When Microsoft produced Vista they allowed copies of Vista sold by OEMs, like Dell and HP, to bypass activation so it doesn't bother the user. This was a big mistake my Microsoft.

So much for Vista owning pirates.

And there you have it. Vista pirates are out for Microsoft and Microsoft seems to be doing everything they can to stop it. Question are aroused: Why hasn't Microsoft done anything useful to prevent the piracy of Windows Vista? Can they?