Microsoft Attacks Piracy â With Free Software
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Microsoft is making a serious effort to attack piracy: by giving away free copies of Windows XP to pirated users in the UK. The move is currently targeted at consumers who may be using pirated copies of Windows XP âby mistakeâ.
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Microsoft is starting a scheme to replace pirate versions of Windows XP with legal ones.
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Microsoft has begun a short-term validation programme aimed at tackling software piracy. Users are invited to have their copies of Windows XP analysed, with the promise that they will be replaced free of charge if found to be counterfeit.
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Microsoft is using a subscription-based service to combat Linux in developing markets.
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Microsoft Corp. will combat piracy of  its flagship operating system by requiring Windows users to  verify that their copy of the software is genuine in order to  receive timely updates and security fixes, the world's largest  software maker said on Wednesday.
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Users who fear that their Windows XP software might be counterfeit could get free legitimate replacements from Microsoft under a scheme announced last week.
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Who said you could improve our software? What's the best way to attract a pile of threatening lawyers' letters from Microsoft? Sell pirate copies of Windows? Write a DRM-busting program?â¦
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Avast! Microsoft is taking action to thwart a possible hole in its Vista anti-piracy measures.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Continuing itsÂ worldwide assault on software piracy, Microsoft has filed 20 lawsuits against resellers accused of distributing unauthorized copies of its software. The lawsuits, filed against 20 resellers in the U.S., accuse the companies of either distributing counterfeit software on CDs or installing it on PCs that are then sold to consumers and businesses, a practice known as hard disk loading, Microsoft said Tuesday. The software maker filed the lawsuits in nine U.S. states. The names of the companies and the states where they are located are listed in a Microsoft statementÂ available here. Microsoft also announced the results of its first large-scale forensic analysis of counterfeit versions of Windows acquired in 17 countries. The company found that 34 percent of the 348 counterfeit copies analyzed could not be installed on computers, and that 43 percent contained additional programs that aren't part of Windows. The legal actions and the forensic analysis are part of Microsoft's broader Genuine Software Initiative, a program to protect the company's intellectual property. In 2005, MicrosoftÂ introduced Windows Genuine AdvantageÂ (WGA) as part of this initiative. WGA automatically checks that customers using Windows Update, Microsoft Update for Windows and the Microsoft Download Center have a legitimate version of Windows before they can download updates from those services.
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Watching "premium content" in Windows Vista requires users to play nice with Microsoft's built-in digital rights controls. In Monkey Bites.
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Despite pleas from fair-use advocates, Microsoft plans to patch an application that can strip Windows Media files of potentially restrictive DRM (digital rights management) technology.
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Microsoft effort is designed to wean people off pirated software and the open-source Linux OS.
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Microsoft's recent anti-piracy efforts -- more aggressive anti-copying technology and a string of lawsuits -- are helping the company bring in new revenues, company officials said Thursday.
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Microsoft is hoping to beat the fraudsters and trace large-scale counterfeiters of Windows XP OEM with a free checking and replacement scheme for users.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft downplayed Tuesday the impact of a new hack of its DRM technology, underlining the difficulties in erecting a long-lasting digital barrier against piracy. Doom9.org, a hacking forum, contained a post last Friday from "Divine Tao," presumably the hacker responsible, with download links for the updated version of FairUse4WM. The program, which was released last August, strips the DRM technology that limits how Windows Media files can be used and prevents illegal file sharing. "Microsoft is aware of the DRM issue, and the breach response team is verifying the circumvention," said a company statement. Windows Media DRM is used, for example, on songs sold through online song retailer Napster. Songs purchased from there can't copied to more than three computers, but there are no restrictions on how many times an individual song can be burned to a CD. Hacking activists argue they created FairUse4WM since they deserve broader freedom to move legitimately purchased content from device to device. Removal of the DRM, however, also allows the files to be copied without restriction or uploaded to file-sharing networks, which the recording industry believes has caused a massive sales decline. Microsoft has updated its DRM technologyÂ at least twice before to halt the effectiveness of FairUse4WM and said its DRM system is designed to support dynamic updates. The updates do not require a new release of Windows Media Player or the Windows Media Format Software Development Kit, used by developers to employ the DRM system, Microsoft said. Microsoft did not give a timetable as to when it may update Windows Media DRM to block the latest version of FairUse4WM. Nonetheless, the company acknowledged the DRM system's inherent vulnerability to hackers. "Microsoft has long stated that no DRM system is impervious to circumvention, a position Microsoft's content partners are aware of as well," the company said. Microsoft filed a lawsuitÂ in a district court in Seattle last September against 10 unnamed defendants for copyright infringement related to the release of FairUse4WM. The suit, however, was later dropped after the defendants could not be located. Record labels are increasingly considering removing DRM from their songs after years of lawsuits and legal wrangling have done little to reduce illegal file sharing. In April, EMI Group said it would sell songs on Apple's iTunes Music Store without DRM. The DRM-free songs cost about 20 percent more but are also encoded at 256Kbps, a higher quality than other songs with DRM.
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Microsoft UK is offering FREE licensed copies of Windows XP to anyone who is willing to give up their counterfeit copies in exchange.
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A collection of new technologies to be built into Microsoft's Vista and Longhorn operating systems will improve detection of pirated versions and force unauthorized versions of the software into a limited-functionality mode, the company said Wednesday.