Microsoft Announces Some New Activation Procedures For Windows Vista

In their effort to protect their business partners from having to compete with illegal copies of Windows Vista, Microsoft has announced some new measures in protecting their prized operating system under their Software Protection Platform. This new plan will incorporate a series of events which will be triggered when it detects that a non genuine version of Vista is running on a PC.

Microsoft states on their Partner website:

Now, it is even more important for your customers to get only genuine Windows Vista software. The new Software Protection Platform disables valuable enhanced features—such as Windows Aero and Windows ReadyBoost—on non-genuine versions of the Windows Vista operating system. Increase your revenue and customer satisfaction by ensuring that your customers use only genuine Windows Vista software.

There will also be some other changes made when a illegal copy is located which Microsoft also describes as:

Reduced PC Functionality

 

The new Software Protection Platform, built into Windows Vista, makes the user experience noticeably different between a genuine version and non-genuine version of Windows Vista. When it detects a non-genuine version of Windows Vista installed on a PC, the Software Protection Platform will disable key features of Windows Vista, including the desktop, Start menu, and task bar. Windows Vista functionality will be restricted to the default Web browser for one-hour periods.

It should be interesting to see how this new built in protection works in the real world. As time passes I am sure there will be plenty of discussion on how well or not so well that this new system functions for those choosing to run illegal copies of Vista.

What is your opinion? Will these added protections actually detect illegal copies or is this a scare tactic?

Comments welcome.

Full Microsoft article here.

[tags]vista, protections, illegal, copies, reduced, functionality, [/tags]