Tag: antipiracy

WGA Antipiracy Mechanism Adapted to XP SP3

Microsoft has adapted the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool to the third and last service pack for Windows XP. Designed to inform the end users that their operating system has failed to pass the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation process, the WGA Notifications component is now set up to integrate seamlessly not only with XP SP2 but also with Service Pack 3.

While avoiding terminology such as “pirated” and “counterfeit,” WGA Notifications will provide end users running Windows XP copies detected as non-genuine with the necessary information and assistance for them to get valid licenses for the operating system.

“Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications notifies you if a copy of Microsoft Windows XP is not genuine. The notification messages only appear on computers that have failed the Windows Genuine Advantage validation process and that are running a copy of Windows XP that is not genuine. If you are running a validated, genuine copy of Windows XP, you will not receive notification messages,” reads an excerpt from the tools description. Read More»

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With Vista, MS Had Pirates In Mind

With Windows XP, antipiracy measures were a bit of an afterthought. But with Windows Vista, Microsoft had pirates in its sights from the get-go. Even the unique Vista retail packaging–a plastic box with one round corner–was designed, in part, to thwart counterfeiters.

And the packaging is just the start; most of Microsoft’s antipiracy work is built-into the software itself, meaning that just copying the code and getting a product key isn’t enough. “It’s a different game for the counterfeiters,” Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative, said in an interview. “They’re having to resort to this full attack on the product.” Read More»

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