So microsoft are now saying that the've booby trapped their O/S?
I suppose thats one way of doing sothing about piracy but I'll give it about a week before there's a workaround or a crack for this feature.

So how is this any different then the retail version?

This already exists. It's part of the Software Licensing service. It's happened to me before when I've changed hardware.

It's all very well for a Western European citizen, where the cost of a OEM license is less than a days wages unless you are on a very low income. Slightly different story in most other areas of the world. The ones that need all the help they can get.

Originally Posted by konsta
It's all very well for a Western European citizen, where the cost of a OEM license is less than a days wages unless you are on a very low income. Slightly different story in most other areas of the world. The ones that need all the help they can get.

Don't worry, they're all running the original release of XP (i.e. FCKGW). There's little sign of Vista yet. :)

Oh and I very much doubt that this applies to all pirated versions of Vista.

Actually, there are subsidised initiatives in the poorer countries where you get a cut down OS for a lower price, or there's Linux!

I think it's a brilliant idea, buy the real version you pikey...pikes.

It seems that this could be a hoax as the email seems to just describe features already present in vista as part of its PPS.
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/microsoft-vista.html

and from microsoft...

http://oem.microsoft.com/downloads/public/US/wgavista/Flash.html

I'll be interested to see if this actually works. The only time I was bitten by WGA on XP was when I was using a legal copy - switched over to one of those corporate ones and never had an issue. Of course I use OS X now so it hardly matters (I use XP as a dual-boot if needed, partly for that reason, and partly because I can't spare the hard drive space).

I'm torn between amusement and outrage at things like this. You know it never works perfectly, so you get legit customers getting shut out while plenty of pirates are going to be working perfectly. I've got several pieces of software where I use a cracked copy despite owning a license, simply because I've heard of horror stories with legit copies but never with the cracked one. And I've probably had a dozen bits of software that I've purchased after deciding I wanted to... uh, extend the trial period a bit. I'm still supporting the developers, but unfortunately I can't really do the one-man boycott regarding product activation on real tools (OS, Photoshop, etc) where I can with games and the like.

So Microsoft aren't just dumbasses after all? They actually thought a head for once?

gg ms

When the WGA servers died a few weeks ago, many genuine Vista users were chucked into the Reduced Functionality Mode because it was impossible for them to validate.

If this had been true it would have been a disaster for support teams. With no explanation or instructions people would just assume their PCs had broken and would completely tie up all the support lines.

puff, what's the point, Microsoft? you know the pirates will crack that in no time, so why bother?

*then hugs my business edition i got free from university :D *

So its ok to pirate if we are willing to put up with this? Sweet :D

Originally Posted by wuyanxu
puff, what's the point, Microsoft? you know the pirates will crack that in no time, so why bother?

*then hugs my business edition i got free from university :D *

haha, no sweet games for you! Solitaire ROOOOLS!

Originally Posted by DougEdey
Actually, there are subsidised initiatives in the poorer countries where you get a cut down OS for a lower price, or there's Linux!

Yes, I know there are, but it doesn't mean that people use them. I can only speak out of my own experiences, but I spent a month and a half in Africa a couple of weeks ago and I only saw one computer with a legitimate copy of Windows. A computer is a serious investment over there and even the rich can't really afford one.

The computers that you can buy are all pretty similar and they come loaded with a load of expensive software, like MS Office, Photoshop etc.

EDIT: And as far as this news story is concerned, here's the Inq's take on it. :)

Maybe I am missing something, but instead of these reduced functionalilty gimmicks, wouldn't it be easier and simpler to just stop vista working at all rather turn odd bits of it off. Of course, in case of problems like the other week allow it to be activated and validated in case it is a real copy

this is bound to go tits up and people with real genuine copies are gonna end up with a unusable system. i can just see it now, i expect this to happen.

what would be funnier is if the screen was just tiled full of looped meatspin videos hahhah. still leave the OS usable, but the wallpaper would be locked to meatspin.

*hugs xp pro sp2*

glad to see it was just a hoax...

if it would be real microsoft should atleast leave a message on the screen as for why they disabled your vista along with the free phone number for the support for all the legit users who just changed the hardware once too often...

i give the hackers/crackers lets say 3 to 7a days... in the end most of the ppl who have problems are those with geniune copy

@konsta youre totally right about that... i used to make like $22/£10 when i lived in estonia... now in denmark i get $163/£78 per day and cds and software are always on some special offers.... back home everything was on full price... even 6 year old pc games.... in here you can get a year old game under $10 and i bet even vista should be cheaper

meh, i could get it free from school but so many classmates have problems wit it that i really dont want to install it

It's a hoax, as far as I can tell. My roommate has a hacked version of Vista Ultimate and it still works just fine.

if this is real can you imagine the amount of chaos you can make with some kind of simple malware? legit copies in offices and schools and hospitals and peoples homes becoming useless.

Originally Posted by Goty
It's a hoax, as far as I can tell. My roommate has a hacked version of Vista Ultimate and it still works just fine.

Got 4 computers working just fine here as well and they run 24/7, so go figure :)

*hugs three free retail Ultimate discs*

mine work fine, but any issues and I swear I'll switch to linux and become the steward for SolidWorks on the WINE project.

Originally Posted by Acehole
Maybe I am missing something, but instead of these reduced functionalilty gimmicks, wouldn't it be easier and simpler to just stop vista working at all rather turn odd bits of it off. Of course, in case of problems like the other week allow it to be activated and validated in case it is a real copy

It's a bad marketing move. The ultimate goal of this is not to prevent pirates, but to encourage pirates (most commonly "unknowing pirates") to switch to a genuine copy.

If you kill the OS entirely, then you just encourage people to switch to something else ("I hear Apple computers don't have spyware at all. Maybe now is a good time to switch" or "What is the Linux/Ubuntu everyone is talking about, is it really FREE?".

Give them reduced functionality and they have greater incentive to get things back working, but not so little that they are encouraged to abandon the platform as a whole.

Aggies

haha! honestly that's hilarious! (minor moment of stupid panic as i look across the bottom of my screen and notice i have no start bar....then realise that i'm on my mac. duh!)

Just by looking at the names of torrents, they already have permantly activated ones.

at the end of 1 hr, what happens?

say I'm playing wow, will it log me out, stop wow? what?

I'd like to see 'reduced functionality mode' in action.

Log on for one hour
• You can log on to Windows Vista for one hour to obtain a new product key or to access data on the local computer.
• You can use most of the features that are available in Windows Vista.
• You can activate the Windows Vista product key.
• You can remotely access a shared network location.

• Remain logged on

If you are already logged on to Windows Vista, you can remain logged on. Windows Vista does not log you off the computer.

I last used Windows Update last night. My copy of Vista's OK, so I guess it must be legit then. ;)

after 1h is more than enough to make me switch from windows to linux... hmmm... wait a mo... I've already done that! Yuppi!

Update doesn't do ****.

Edit: Waffles, you a goon?

So many of my friends use pirate Vista (and shamingly I probably would too if my pc could run it), and all of there's still work :S

i own an copy of Vista 64 prem but i use Vista 64 Permantly actervated one (alot use Dell Bootloader OEM Bios/key files{not productkey}) as i change my hardware alot (fix alot of pcs as well)

if thay Ban the auth key files that i am useing now there are going to be an good 100,000+ unhappy Dell users so that ant going to happen as its not dells fault M$ made it easyer to keep windows activated

the only way i guess thay are going to be able to detect this if thay Update the WGA checker to check the boot loader for it unless thay knew about this work around when thay made Vista 8 months ago (unless the WGA has an auto Self update that is hidden)

Lucky for me, I have a friend that works at MS, so I can get vista ultimate for $50, just got my second copy today actually. Haha!

:)

Originally Posted by Acehole
Maybe I am missing something, but instead of these reduced functionalilty gimmicks, wouldn't it be easier and simpler to just stop vista working at all rather turn odd bits of it off. Of course, in case of problems like the other week allow it to be activated and validated in case it is a real copy

Probably not, because when (not if) a legit user gets bitten by this, it better has at least some functionality remaining. If not, MS could be subject to claims of damages. Imagine, say, that because some nasty bug on the WGA servers your legal copy of Vista gets marked as "pirated", you lose all your PC functionality and you miss a business opportunity or even your own money because some transaction goes *puff*. It would take me aprox. 5 minutes to call my lawyer and fill a claim against MS.

Maybe if they lowered the price a little there wouldn't be so much piracy of any of there O/S, of course there would be some piracy of it still happening, but i'm sure there would be more people willing to fork out the money. I don't think the profits would be dented enough for them to have to hike it back up.

Yea, but if they do, it will could show that Vista doesn't work, and they are desperate to sell, also it will make many retail purchaser unhappy like the iPhone.

What they should have done is sell Business edition the same price as Home Premium.
As in Business you don't have Media Center, DVD maker and all that stuff...
You just have remote desktop, and "advance networking", and "advance backup" wtv that means.

I wonder... this might sound crazy but, If I install Windows Ultimate with a copy of Home premium, then I grab all the files in System32. and put them onto a disk, and re-install the system to the proper version (Home Premium) then activate it, and use a way to replace the file in system32 (of course don't replace the activation system files, as it would defeat the purpose), with the files of Vista Ultimate edition. Won't it make a Home Premium with some ultimate features included like: Remote desktop, and extras. I think this should be tested.

Originally Posted by konsta
It's all very well for a Western European citizen, where the cost of a OEM license is less than a days wages unless you are on a very low income. Slightly different story in most other areas of the world. The ones that need all the help they can get.

running a microsoft product isn't a human right, you know.

Y'know, I swear MS TRIES to punish legit users sometimes. The WGA crash a few weeks back showed that their system is flawed.
On my old HP, when Windows crashed I reinstalled with a pirated version because the PC didn't come with a Windows disk (just a restore partition, which I deleted since I back up my info regularly). The pirated version and key worked fine for the last three years of the computer's life. In the meantime, at home, my mother has had to spend three hours on the phone with tech support TWICE trying to figure out why WGA said her XP wasn't "genuine".
I can only see anti-piracy methods from MS coming back to bite them in the arse.
Especially since pirated Vista exploits OEM validation, so they won't catch pirates with their current methods...