Upgrade to Vista, Get More DRM
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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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A pilot program at the Microsoft Download Center will require users to validate their Windows license in exchange for access to file downloads. Users with counterfeit software may find themselves locked out altogether.
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p2pnet.net News:- Here&#39;s an interesting twist on the Big Music and Microsoft All Pals Together (maybe) story. We reported that the Big Four record labels have given Microsoft a Wish List of the kind of DRM
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(InfoWorld) - In an effort to simplify the distribution of Windows Vista and make it easier for customers to upgrade, Microsoft Corp. will include the various retail versions of the OS on one DVD instead of having separate DVDs for each Vista edition. In the past, Microsoft distributed each version of the Windows client OS on its own disk. However, in a move it is calling "Windows Anytime Upgrade" -- which cuts costs for Microsoft as well as making it easier for customers to upgrade -- the version of Windows Vista that a customer buys will be activated by his or her product key and will be on a disk with the other editions of the OS. For example, if a customer buys Windows Vista Home Premium from a retail store, he or she will get a DVD that also includes Windows Vista Ultimate, but the product key for the purchase will only activate Home Premium and its features and functionality, said Mike Burk, a Microsoft spokesman. "With Windows Anytime Upgrade, the idea is to provide customers with the most convenient user experience possible by enabling them to more easily and directly upgrade to a higher edition of Windows Vista from within their current edition," he said. Consumers will have their choice of several versions of Windows Vista when it becomes available, which is scheduled for January 2007: Windows Vista Ultimate, which will cost US$399; Windows Vista Business, which will cost $299; Windows Vista Home Premium, which will cost $239; and Windows Vista Home Basic, which will cost $199. Microsoft has said it plans to urge customers to purchase premium versions of Vista in favor of Windows Vista Home Basic, the entry-level version for U.S. consumers.
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As businesses and consumers upgrade to meet Vista's demands, old hardware needs to be dealt with.
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Top executives will be the first to use Microsoft DRM technology when Mathias Thurman rolls it out. So what could go wrong? Best not to find out.
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The change does not apply to existing Windows XP installations upgraded to SP3. Those copies, which have presumably passed the activation stage previously, will not request the key again, Microsoft said.
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(InfoWorld) - MicrosoftÂ on Thursday released an update to Windows Vista that will shut down unauthorized versions of the OS that allow users to skip the product's activation system. The move comes asÂ pirated copies of Vista are already making the rounds, mere weeks after the product was released to business customers. The update, which Microsoft has dubbed "frankenbuild," detects tampering of Windows Vista code that would allow users of the OS to work around the product's built-in activation system, which requires users to validate their copy of Vista with a product activation key to use the full version of the product after 30 days. Frankenbuild mixes files from various test and final versions of the software. It will require only systems in which it detects specific tampering to go through a validation check for authenticity, according to a posting on the Windows Genuine Advantage blog. If a version of Vista that has used a workaround to avoid product activation is detected, a user of that software will have 30 days before the OS goes into a reduced functionality mode, Microsoft said. In this mode, all users can do is access their existing files and surf the Web for an hour before having to log back on to the software. The pirating of Windows has been a perennial problem for Microsoft, particularly in developing countries. The company began coming down hard against piracy last year withÂ a widely criticized systemÂ it called Windows Genuine Advantage, which initially required users to validate their copies of Windows if they wanted to use Microsoft's update services. Microsoft took its antipiracy campaign one step further with Vista by building the validation system directly into the OS. This system requires a Windows Vista user to validate the software through a product activation key within 30 days of using the OS to avoid having the software go into reduced functionality mode.
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Some Windows advocates are using my post about Leopard as "proof" that Vista is really what you need. When I said Leopard feels like Windows, I meant that it locks up, disappears, freezes and crashes. That I have to trick it into doing the right thing. I wasn't paying Windows a compliment, geez, you guys need to learn how to read. And by the way so do some of the Mac advocates. I didn't say you're having no fun with Leopard. Glad you're pleased. I wish I could gloat at how great an upgrade it was, nothing would make me happier. And btw, since writing the piece yesterday, it's been performing pretty well on all four systems I have it installed on. Maybe getting all that out in the open is just what was needed. For the record, I've never used Vista, I don't want to, honestly I'd rather live in Bucharest than use Vista. Not today's Bucharest, which I hear is actually pretty nice, I'm talking about the Bucharest of Ceausescu. The one who taught Cheney and Bush all they know about torture.
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Our countdown to next week's CES centers now on whether the CE industry will at last reach a solution to the DRM conundrum. The new trend toward DRM-free music doesn't appear to be shaking the Blu-ray and HD DVD folks, who continue to cling to proprietary disk formats. Will consumers seek a video alternative, and might it come from China?
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Software giant Microsoft confirmed Monday that the first update to its Windows Vista operating system will be available as an official download in mid-March. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will address various performance and stability issues and improve the desktop OS's hardware support.
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Microsoft Corp. is cracking down harder than ever on software piracy as it tries to boost profits, but some say the harsh repercussions facing people who use unlicensed versions of its new Windows Vista operating system could spur a backlash.
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Trust us Microsoft has offered little satisfaction to Windows Vista Ultimate users frustrated by the dearth of goodies used to justify the operating system's premium price.â¦
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Microsoft confirmed Thursday that its invite-only group of about 15,000 testers has had the final version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) for the past two weeks.Other Vista users, however, will have to wait until March to obtain a legal copy of the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) version of Vista SP1, the company reiterated.According to a Microsoft spokeswoman, the build designated Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2, which was seeded to testers on Jan. 24, is identical to&#160;the code that company developers shipped&#160;out the door on Monday as RTM.&quot;In final stages of a product, Microsoft likes to get as much validation as possible before releasing,&quot; the spokeswoman said in an e-mail. &quot;The release candidate ended up being a high enough quality to be approved to release to manufacturing.&quot;The shift in nomenclature, but not bits, is common. Eventually, a vendor must approve a build as &quot;gold code,&quot; at which point that edition becomes the shipping version. Last November, for example, Apple Inc. issued a test build of Mac OS X 10.5.1 to developers one day, then called it good to go and posted it for download the next.However, users who weren&#39;t part of the SP1 testing group must wait until March to get their hands on the update, the spokeswoman repeated today. In five to six weeks -- mid-March according to Microsoft -- the service pack will be offered via Windows Update as a 65MB optional update and posted to Download Center as a 450MB stand-alone installer that supports five languages. A month later, in mid-April, Windows Update will automatically download and install SP1 on Vista-equipped PCs whose users have set Automatic Updates to do hands-off updating.Subscribers to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet will get a slight jump on the general public. &quot;In early March, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be able to get the &#39;Windows Vista with SP1&#39; full DVD,&quot; the same spokeswoman said in another e-mail. The updated operating system will be offered to MSDN and TechNet subscribers through their respective download centers.Microsoft is holding SP1 so that it can identify device drivers that won&#39;t reinstall -- as they must -- during the service pack update process. On Monday morning, Mike Nash, vice president of Windows product management, said that while SP1 had met the RTM criteria, it would not be available for several weeks because of the&#160;driver problems.That generated a firestorm of criticism from users, who vented by posting over 200 comments to Nash&#39;s announcement, calling the decision &quot;stupid&quot; and &quot;one of the all-time worst moves&quot; by Microsoft.Judging by the tone of nearly 120 comments left on Microsoft&#39;s official TechNet blog, IT professionals and developers are even angrier. The subscribers called the withholding of SP1 &quot;boneheaded&quot; and a &quot;slap in the face,&quot; or dubbed it &quot;the Vista SP1 RTM Debacle.&quot; Others questioned the value of their TechNet subscriptions, admitted that they had had to download a pirated copy using BitTorrent so that they could start testing, and said they would postpone Vista deployments for months because of the delay.Several wondered why reviewers in the press had the finished bits before they did.But a commenter identified only as Joe put it most succinctly: &quot;This is the lamest decision since Microsoft Bob. I get this the same time as my mom?&quot;The backlash may have gotten through to Microsoft. On Monday night, Kathy Dixon, the TechNet Plus team member who normally writes the blog, said that she was looking into the possibility of moving up the availability date of SP1. But as of Thursday night, she had no solution for users. &quot;I have escalated this and am continuing to push internally for a solution ASAP,&quot; Dixon wrote around 8 p.m. EST. &quot;Please hang in there, I should have something more specific soon.&quot;Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Microsoft is including a set of nonsecurity updates that prepare customers to install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 as part of its monthly &quot;Patch Tuesday&quot; security fixes.Two of three prerequisite updates needed to install SP1 are hitting Microsoft&#39;s Windows Update for the first time Tuesday along with the usual batch of security updates it releases every month. The technologies -- called KB937287 and KB938371 -- are marked &quot;Important&quot; and will install automatically if a Windows user has Windows Update set to the recommended configuration, according to a post on the Windows Vista team blog.KB937287 is an update to Vista&#39;s servicing stack, and KB938371 is a multicomponent update, according to the blog post attributed to Nick White, a product manager on the Vista team. Both must be installed before a machine can successfully be updated to Windows Vista SP1.The third prerequisite to installing SP1, KB935509, also is being released through Windows Update Tuesday. However, that technology is an update of a previously released technology, not a brand new release.Microsoft plans to release Vista SP1&#160;in its first five languages -- English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese -- to the Windows Update and the download center on Microsoft&#39;s Web site in mid-March. However, some computers may not work with the update right away because of device-driver incompatibilities; Microsoft is hoping to resolve those by mid-March, which is why it is putting off the release until then even though the final code for SP1 is available now.Following its first release, Microsoft in mid-April plans to make SP1 available in the first five languages to anyone who has chosen not to download it. Microsoft will follow with the remaining language releases of Vista SP1 soon after. Many believe the SP1 milestone is the one that will bring about a new wave of adoption for Vista, especially among&#160;business customers that have been awaiting the service pack&#39;s release&#160;before updating employee desktops.Microsoft releases security updates every second Tuesday of the month, which is why security researchers call the day &quot;Patch Tuesday.&quot; The company often includes nonsecurity updates with these releases, although it also will release nonsecurity updates on the fourth Tuesday of the month.
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Real said Monday that its Rhapsody service would switch over to its own in-house DRM software, ending a partnership with Microsoft for its PlaysForSure Windows Media technology. The SanDisk Sansa e200 line will be the first with the DRM embedded.
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Windows update doesn't play well with all applications, even Redmond's. Also: CNET Reviews on security work still to be done.