Microsoft piracy check draws complaints
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When Microsoft Corp. said it planned to begin checking for pirated copies of its Windows operating system using the method it set up to send people security fixes, even some of the company's traditional critics could sympathize.
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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 Corp. is scrambling to update its Windows Media software after a hacker released a program that circumvents a safeguard designed to prevent people from freely copying digital movies and songs.
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Microsoft's attempt to win over new users with a cut-down version of Windows has come in for strong criticism.
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(SEATTLE) - A Raleigh-based company is named in a lawsuit filed by Microsoft on claims of counterfeit and illicit certificates of authenticity, the labels on software and computers that are supposed to show the products are legitimate.
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Microsoft's attempt to win over new users with a cut-down edition of Windows comes in for strong criticism.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is suing a group of hackers who apparently gained access to the company's proprietary source code, creating a program that wipes media files clean of file-sharing restrictions. The suit, which Microsoft filed last Friday in a district court in Seattle, Washington, gives only a nickname for the ringleader, "viodentia," who is one of 10 "John Does" whom Microsoft believes are responsible for breaking its Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. Last month, a program calledÂ FairUse4WM surfacedÂ that removed the DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology from Windows Media 10 and 11 files. Many major download services, such as Napster, use Windows DRM, and its removal would allow the files to be copied without restriction or uploaded to file-sharing networks. Microsoft is suing for copyright infringement, since FairUse4WM uses code from the company's Windows Media software development kit version 9.5, a toolset used by software developers to build applications. Microsoft said the hackers have caused it more than $75,000 in losses. It is seeking a permanent injunction against the defendants and compensation. In a separate document filed with the court, Microsoft said the defendants have gone to substantial lengths to hide their identities. It asked for extra time to issue subpoenas to e-mail service providers, to track down some e-mail addresses linked to the individuals, to help it to identify them. The hackers have proved enduring foes for Microsoft. Soon after FairUse4WM was released, Microsoft issued an update to its DRM software, making the hacking program ineffective. The hackers responded less than a day later by updating FairUse4WM again. Their efforts are unlikely to affect the growth of legitimate download services, however, since content providers are aware that no DRM is unbreakable, analysts said. "I think in the long term it's not going to deal Microsoft any crushing blow, but it's certainly an irritant for them," said Jonathan Arber, research analyst for Ovum in London. Technology companies will have to make it too hard for hackers to break the DRM, a leap that could be difficult considering any update to the DRM technology would still have to be compatible with hardware in the market, said Paul Jackson, principal analyst at Forrester Research. Additionally, frequent software updates tend to alienate users, he said. "Itâs a question of highly determined hackers desperate to prove their moxie, versus a corporation that can't release updates every 10 minutes because that annoys people," Jackson said.
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Microsoft Corp.'s forthcoming Windows Vista will take much harsher steps to curtail piracy than previous versions of its operating system, including crippling the usefulness of computers found to be running unlicensed copies of the new software.
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What hope then for Vista toughness? Some, or maybe many, Microsoft volume license customers were told on Monday and Tuesday that their PCs were running pirated software.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft on Thursday filed lawsuits against 23 companies in California and Florida, alleging distribution of counterfeit software. The lawsuits were filed in various U.S. District Courts in the two states and seek to halt the distribution of pirated software by the companies named as defendants, Microsoft said. It did not specify whether it will seek damages from these companies. The company is not shy in using its legal department, especially to stop the manufacture and sale of what it alleges are counterfeit or pirated versions of its software. It cited 125 action it has filed against alleged pirates and merchants over the last year in an effort to stop piracy. Earlier this month,Â Microsoft sued spammersÂ that had either sent unsolicited e-mail to users of its Windows Live Hotmail service, or used Hotmail to send spam. Â
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UK users will be able to replace pirated versions of Windows that they have purchased. Software pirates&#39; increasing skill at creating counterfeit versions of Windows XP has prompted Microsoft to introduce
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Computerworld readers across the country have written in angered and frustrated by antipiracy features that are included in the new Vista operating system.
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Microsoft Corp. is offering an olive branch to users of pirated versions of the Windows XP operating system. The software giant on Wednesday unveiled the Windows XP Counterfeit Project in the UK, offering
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Windows Operating Systems must be some of the most pirated applications in the world. And the sad thing is that some computer dealers sell pirated versions packaged to look as originals to unsuspecting buyers.
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The cat-and-mouse game continues between Microsoft and a group of hackers intent on breaking the copy protection technology on its Windows Media files. This time, an individual has cracked the latest DRM scheme employed by Microsoft.
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The mystery faces on Vista -- not to be confused with the bogus face on Mars -- are only the latest in a long line of Microsoft efforts to knock down software piracy efforts against their products. Some were weirder than others, some more successful as PR, but so far just one's engendered government complaint for including a shirtless baby.
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A Microsoft representative made it quite clear what Vista pirates can expect to happen to their unlicensed installations.