Pirated Vista Versions OK After SP1?
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The news is that along with the performance and security functions that SP1 will offer Vista users, Microsoft has decided to forgive those using pirated versions of Vista. With the problems that genuine users faced several months ago when their legitimate copies were deemed illegal, the software giant has changed the process in which it disables pirated versions of their new flagship operating systems. Pirated versions will be allowed to upgrade to SP1 but will still retain full functionality with some minor nag screens.
But I think the real problem has been one that we have all faced before. Starting with XP, Microsoft has continually failed in their attempts to stop pirated versions from being used. With Vista they claimed that piracy would be a thing of the past. But apparently this has not been the case. Once again it appears that we consumers who have purchased legal copies of the software are being punished. Let me explain.
Pirates get a pricing scheme that seems extremely generous. They can purchase copies of Vista to make their pirated copies legit for:
Windows Vista Home Basic, $89, Windows Vista Home Premium, $119, Windows Vista Business, $145 and Windows Vista Ultimate, $199.
Does this seem fair to you? Or is it just me?
Comments welcome.
Tags: vista, pirated, versions, sp1, wga, deactivate, free ride,
6 Comments
the oracle
December 4th, 2007
at 5:17pm
Ron, those prices are very close to builder versions of Vista, available on NewEgg.
Let’s face it, MS simply wants to get more sales for Vista, and has done some research on the reasons why people are not switching.
I guess the company couldn’t do anything about the performance comparison showing Vista with SP1 was still half as fast on most machines.
[BLOCKED BY STBV] Windows Vista News
December 4th, 2007
at 5:30pm
Pirated Vista Versions OK After SP1?…
Interesting: feed.lockergnome.com…
Ron Schenone
December 5th, 2007
at 5:30am
Hi Marc,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Pricing does seem close to the SB pricing.
Jeremy
December 5th, 2007
at 7:21pm
Actually, I give MS some credit here. They may have finally realized that people pirate there software because they can’t afford to purchase a legitimate copy of it….
That and while MS keeps saying that they want to stop piracy in its tracks, in reality they probably aren’t doing as much as they could. They once stated that they estimated that 20% of all windows users are using pirated copies (it’s probably a little more than that). If they shut those copies down in a heartbeat, that’s 20% of MS’s future customers gone (y’know, potential customers of MS Office, the Zune, etc.) and 20% of there people switching to Linux (or some other affordable OS), and that much less of the market share that they can control. So even if there was a perfect way to end the piracy of their OS, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t enact it anytime soon.
Ron Schenone
December 6th, 2007
at 4:23am
Hi Jeremy,
Interesting take on the situation. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It is appreciated.
In countries like China that 20% figure may be low.. I understand that pirated copies of Vista sell for $3.
Bongo
January 28th, 2008
at 7:12am
$3.00 ?? Its still overpriced.Do they still sell Windows ME anywhere or did they kill that version of Vista long ago?