Anyone wanting to use a pirate copy of Microsoft’s Windows Vista will be coming up against Microsoft’s toughest anti-piracy features yet.

Activation will be required for Windows Vista, as it currently is for Windows XP, Office 2003 and other selected Microsoft software. You’ll have 30 days to activate, and if you don’t, you’ll find that only Internet Explorer will run and connect you to the Internet if you’re connected to a working network connection. You’ll then be given options to get your software license in order, by paying for a legal key, entering in a new legal key or getting telephone support.

After one hour you’ll be logged out, but you’ll be able to log in again for another hour. Windows Vista will also check the authenticity of the Vista OS when you download updates and other software from Microsoft’s website.

Using ‘Volume License Keys’, the keys used to activate corporate copies of the software for use on thousands of machines, will be tightened up so the current abuse of this system by pirates will cease.

Reports online have indicated that Microsoft may also make this system available to third party companies who will then be able to verify that the software on your system, from those companies, is genuine. Some concern does exist, however, that the system could fail genuine users, by somehow ‘glitching’ and telling you that your legally acquired system ‘may not be genuine’. Time will tell if this truly becomes an issue or not, but the facts will soon be that if you pirate software, you will probably be found out and the software will stop working until it is authenticated as genuine.

Perhaps a much larger paying user base will encourage some companies, including Microsoft, to make their software packages more affordable, with software famously expensive compared with the price drops that hardware has seen. Speculation is also underway that many users will stick with Windows XP for the time being, that some will change to one of the flavours of Linux, or some will simply buy a Mac, but whatever happens, this technology is here to stay and is likely to see more software being properly and legally paid for.

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Entry was posted on Friday, October 6th, 2006 at 2:14 am under Technology.

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