The 'Frankenbuild' monster
Over the last few weeks, we've seen a number of attempts at workarounds for Vista product activation. As of now there are at least two distinct workarounds that have worked to some degree, but I'm sure there are more on the way. One of these workarounds we have affectionately named "frankenbuild" because it involves cobbling together files from an RC build and with an RTM build to create a hybrid that bypasses activation. The other workaround involves the use of some virtualization technology and our practices for activating larger business customers.
For me, it's an interesting moment. We've been investing a lot of resources into continuously evolving our approach to piracy. One of the key "pillars" we focus on is what we call the Engineering pillar - this is essentially the body of work that shows up in the products themselves (as opposed to policy or education efforts). With the release of Windows Vista we're putting into place a number of new anti-piracy innovations. And with these first work arounds we're getting to see those innovations in action.
I thought it would be useful to walk through what our plan is for the "frankenbuild" systems.
Windows Vista will use the new Windows Update client to require only the "frankenbuild" systems to go through a genuine validation check. These systems will fail that check because we have blocked the RC keys for systems not authorized to use them. In other words, the wrong key is being used. The systems will then be flagged as non-genuine systems and the experience will be what we announced back in October (direct link to doc)- including losing certain functionality (e.g. Aero, ReadyBoost) and the system will have 30 days to activate with a good product key. If they don't produce a new product key within 30 days, they will then only be able to access their system in what we call reduced functionality mode - a mode which limits their use to one hour with their default web browser. I want to be clear here that even though they can only use their browser for an hour, we will never limit their access to their data. A user can always -boot their PC into what is called Safe Mode. Safe Mode is a mode of using Windows that has limited driver, display and networking support - but allows a user access to all their files.
We hope that this action will help get the message out that pirating Windows Vista will have real consequences and will, in turn, encourage people to check before they buy.
Comments
Anonymous
December 14, 2006
Microsoft went on the offensive today regarding the recent Vista pirating efforts coming out of ChinaAnonymous
December 14, 2006
Some enterprising individuals were able to work around Windows Vista retail activation by mixing DLL'sAnonymous
December 14, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 14, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 15, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 15, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 15, 2006
You spend a lot of effort and ingenuity try to avoid what might be called in statistical parlance "Type I" errors; that is, errors in which an unauthorized user is able to activate Vista. How much time and effort do you spend on "Type II" errors--that is, those in which an AUTHORIZED user is UNable to activate Vista? My past sad experience with DRM and activation schemes is that it is by no means rare for authorized users to have difficulty getting access to their 100% legitimate, paid-for products. I wonder whether you are getting accurate feedback on the extent of these problems, or whether they are being filtered out by support staff who automatically assume what customers reporting problems are lying (but help the customer anyway).Anonymous
December 15, 2006
lol @ fusion94... Your problem basically is that your software isn't legitimate if you're installing it on another computer. I'm afraid that pre-installed copy is going to be OEM software, if you check the terms of the licence, it's licenced only for the particular machine it's sold with. And I'm afraid that means your attempt to install it on another computer is not legitimate, which probably explains the problems you've had getting it to work. I'm not saying I agree with Microsoft's licence here, but I'm afraid that is the way it works.Anonymous
December 15, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 15, 2006
i dont think microsoft will ever be able to defeat the pirated versions of windows for one the real copy costs way to much and second you really dont need to update. yeah some bad things can happen. i admit i had a pirated copy windows xp but im on the straight and narrow now and have been for awhile and i just turned off the updates that way i didnt have to deal with that sort of stuff i ran xp pro sp1 for 3 yrs and never updated and never had any problems but now ive got a genuin copy the main reason and basically the only reason i had a pirated copy was simply because of the price of the genuin copy.Anonymous
December 15, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 15, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 15, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 16, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 17, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 17, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 18, 2006
Lots of Microsoft-bashing here, and not all of it deserved. People, no-one is twisting your arm to buy it. Having said that, Alex, could you enlighten us on one issue: Do I understand correctly that business-versions of Vista can still install without activation, that is, install only with a proper key? How are you going to tackle widespread misusage of business-editions with 'borrowed' or 'generated' product keys?Anonymous
December 18, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 18, 2006
mgerben" Nope. Volume licenses of Vista will still need to be activated. If you are a large enough orginazation to need 25+ seats, you can go with an internal server to manage the client licenses or do individual activations. Fewer than 25 seats will need to do indiviual activations about like retail and OEM versions do.Anonymous
December 18, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 20, 2006
Hiya! I found the page that Microsoft has with the actual licenses on it here (under Windows Vista): http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx Buying it through the online upgrade thing looks like it doesn't allow transfers to new computers, but the boxed version does. (There are a lot of confusing old webpages left over from previous versions of the license agreement, I had trouble finding the actual text of it at first :( .. I wish it were easier to track down, since the EULA was actually readable this time around :O.) [What are your holiday plans? I'm going to be playing around with the XNA kits and trying to beat the Jak and Daxter games.]Anonymous
December 23, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 26, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
February 26, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
April 13, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 15, 2007
The fact is that Windows Vista is very very expensive, for this reason many downloaded Beta 2 and RC1 and RC2, and now want to circumvent the activation condition. I got my copy through my own finance, a legit copy, but even so, once upgrading after driver failure I got the notice that my copy of Vista was not genuine and my Aero interface would not be available, after activating sucessfully, my aero did not activate, and had enormous problems with antispyware Windows Defender giving error exception errors. I opted therefore to install from the root Windows XP Home, activating before installing Vista in upgrade mode, and since then have had less trouble than the 2 times I installed Vista from the root.Anonymous
June 28, 2008
myxiplx Not true. If you have a valid license and it will no longer activate because you changed the mobo after it burns out like some do for no reason. Just don't talk about that and they will re-activate it for you. I know this from my personal experience with XP Home.Anonymous
April 26, 2009
Esta build (7100. 0. winmain_ win7rc. 090421- 1700) foi compilada na passada Terça- Feira e ao que parece já começou a ser distribuída a parceiros OEM.