Vista Pirates watch out!

[Robert]

Saw this at GE forum.

 

It demonstrates that Microsoft can enter your computer whenever thay like and damage it.

 

Source

 

Black screen of darkness to haunt Vista pirates

Buy the software or suffer the consequences

 

September 11, 2007 (Computerworld Australia) -- Microsoft Windows' infamous "blue screen of death" has become synonymous with an operating system crash or freeze, but that's nothing compared with what users of pirated copies of Vista worldwide can expect from now -- a black screen of darkness.

 

In an e-mail to a large Windows Vista distributor titled "Pirated Vista -- A darkness descends!" -- a local Microsoft representative made it quite clear what Vista pirates can expect to happen to their unlicensed installations.

 

A copy of this e-mail was obtained by Computerworld.

 

"Good afternoon, as of this week, Microsoft has activated a function in Vista called 'Reduced Functionality.' This is a specific function in Vista that effectively disables nongenuine copies of Windows. Therefore anyone who has a pirated copy of Vista will experience:

 

A black screen after one hour of browsing

No start menu or task bar

No desktop

 

Please communicate this antipiracy initiative from Microsoft to your resellers -- note this function has only just been activated in Vista worldwide and therefore any issues with nongenuine versions will start to arise from now onward."

 

Microsoft's new tough antipiracy move also proves the company still controls its software releases with an iron fist, but it marks the first global use of heavy-handed tactics for pirated copies of Windows.

 

The e-mail message also included what resembled an advertisement of the new antipiracy initiative.

 

Titled "Don't let this happen to your customers," the advertisement indicates nongenuine copies of Windows Vista will lose access to key features, have limited access to updates, and thus risk attack from viruses, malware and spyware.

 

"If Windows Vista is not activated with a genuine product key, your customers will experience reduced functionality," according to the ad. "The blocking of nongenuine product keys is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. To help protect honest partners and fight piracy, Microsoft will continue to block product keys that are determined to be pirated, stolen or otherwise deemed nongenuine."

[BlackKnight]

Well, although everyone's gonna come out with teh 1984-style M$ hate, I think this is perfectly alright. Assuming they don't have their trademarked flock ups with legit users having their functionality 'reduced', this is a good move.

 

Almost everyone I know that bothers to use Vista has a pirated install. Its only fair Microsoft makes them pay up - even this is just an elaborate ruse designed to scare a non-savvy few into doing so.

[prithwin]

free software 4 eva!!!!

Edited September 12, 2007 by prithwin

[Robert]

I would not know how much Vista is being pirated.

Since I would never use it, I'm not in a caring position.

 

What concerns me is that Microsoft are able to enter a person's computer for the purpose of destroying it. It is no better than being attacked by a malicious virus.

[gavin19]

I can't bring myself to use Vista, legit or otherwise. It just feels too claustrophobic to me. With XP I know it inside out and can do what I want without being asked ten questions first. Not to mention how bloated and cpu/ram hungry Vista is, and the software incompatibilities.

 

Microsoft has always been able to manipulate their OSes remotely, this is just the next step. If it weren't for a lack of software I'd go back to Arch (Linux) in a heartbeat.

Edited September 12, 2007 by gavin19

[James]

I would not know how much Vista is being pirated.

Since I would never use it, I'm not in a caring position.

 

What concerns me is that Microsoft are able to enter a person's computer for the purpose of destroying it. It is no better than being attacked by a malicious virus.

 

 

Now where did it say they are doing that? The way I understand it, is the key will be checked, if not legit the OS will stop working. It does not not mean the files on the PC will be deleted.

 

I can't bring myself to use Vista, legit or otherwise. It just feels too claustrophic to me. With XP I know it inside out and can do what I want without being asked ten questions first. Not to mention how bloated and cpu/ram hungry Vista is, and the software incompatibilities.

 

The thing that keeps asking you things is called User Account Control (UAC) this can be turned off.

If you do not want all the bells and whitles then I suggest you use Visa home basic.

 

I am useing Vista Ultimate and its nothing like you claim its like. If your system cannot handle Vista, then its fair to assume your PC is too old for vista..

My PC is only P4 3 gig with 1.5 ram and Vista runs fine, As of right now its useing 640mb ram and thats with NIS 2007 running in the background.

[gavin19]

]

The thing that keeps asking you things is called User Account Control (UAC) this can be turned off.

If you do not want all the bells and whitles then I suggest you use Visa home basic.

 

I am useing Vista Ultimate and its nothing like you claim its like. If your system cannot handle Vista, then its fair to assume your PC is too old for vista..

My PC is only P4 3 gig with 1.5 ram and Vista runs fine, As of right now its useing 640mb ram and thats with NIS 2007 running in the background.

 

640MB? I'm sitting at just under 200 on XP Pro, with Nod32, Opera, Outpost and uTorrent running. 640MB is way too high. Guess I was spoiled with resource-light Linux distros.

My friend has a legit Vista Basic he got from Dell that he's not using. I'll give it a spin and see how it goes.

[James]

640MB? I'm sitting at just under 200 on XP Pro, with Nod32, Opera, Outpost and uTorrent running. 640MB is way too high. Guess I was spoiled with resource-light Linux distros.

My friend has a legit Vista Basic he got from Dell that he's not using. I'll give it a spin and see how it goes.

 

 

Its dropped to 600mb, Its low considering there is alot of stuff running in the background (Vista stuff and software that I have installed)

If I remove Nero 7, Then it would even be less ram ram used.

My PC is not a game PC, so 600MB ram useage is nothing. I would be worried, if it was useing over a gig of ram.

[solidius23]

vista isnt even worth pirating if i could switch my latops back to xp without having to hunt down drivers i would. buut its a bs hassel. if u willinling pirated vista u deserve this discomfort from MS.

[Reaper man]

*yawn* I'm pretty sure that hackers have a work around for it. If I remember correctly, there's a hack around that makes it look genuine, so no big deal, and if so, that's why you have a live CD/XP install CD handy.

[CJ Jackson]

vista isnt even worth pirating if i could switch my latops back to xp without having to hunt down drivers i would. buut its a bs hassel. if u willinling pirated vista u deserve this discomfort from MS.

 

You're right there, pirating vista means emulating the BIOS, which is easy to detect or modifying the BIOS, which can risk in bricking your motherboard. Unofficially you can get DirectX 10 on Windows XP anyway, if you look well on google.

 

As for switching to Linux or Mac and you don't want to leave the Windows apps behind, just install VirtualBox with Windows XP as the guest OS, with the addition tools installed and just enable seamless windows.