Hello Listers! Coincidentally this article came to me with Microsoft's POV
in it. Here it is: Maximum PC: Microsoft Details Product Activation,
Anti-Piracy Efforts
www.maximumpc.com Return to regular view
Microsoft Details Product Activation, Anti-Piracy Efforts
~Maximum PC
URL: http://www.maximumpc.com/content/2001/04/27/12895
During a public presentation on the company's role in intellectual
privacy, Microsoft officials on Wednesday detailed a few more
specifics of
the product activation feature and said the company was working to
bridge
the gap between content providers' intellectual property and consumers'
rights. You'll be able to reinstall future Microsoft applications or
OSes
as many times as you want on your PC, but tweak enough hardware changes
and you may be reaching for the phone to reactivate the OS.
The most controversial offering within Windows XP--as well as Office
XP,
Project 2002, Front Page 2002, and a raft of Microsoft's future
products--will be the forced activation feature. Product Activation
will
require all consumers to activate their new copies of Windows XP or
Office
XP using the Internet or a phone. Activation is far different than
registration, explained Microsoft Product Manager Allen Nieman. To
activate Office XP, for example, the only information a consumer is
required to provide is the country he or she is in. Nieman said
Microsoft
is very aware that many people do not want to register software and are
extremely sensitive about privacy.
"It is not registration," Nieman reiterated.
Product Activation works by looking at the hundreds of different
combinations of hardware in a machine and creating a unique
fingerprint.
This fingerprint is then combined with the serial number of the disc
that
the software came on to create a series of digits that is submitted to
Microsoft. Because the activation ID is keyed to the unique hardware in
the user's PC, the same disc cannot theoretically be used to install
Office XP or Project 2002 on someone else's PC.
Nieman said Microsoft knows how inconvenient it is not to be able to
use
software immediately, so consumers will be able to start Office
applications a total of 50 times before it finally times out. In
practice,
this is similar to "nagware" applications that bug the user enough
that he
finally pays for them. In Office XP's case, however, it simply stops
working after being started 50 times--after the consumer paid full
price
for it. No word on what happens if you simply keep Office running once
you've started it, though we wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of
timeout function.
Nieman would not outline what specific components that Product
Activation
examines to create the code. He did indicate that enough equipment is
looked at that if a NIC or sound card or a hard drive is replaced, a
consumer would not need to reactivate the software. What if the same
application is installed on two machines that are exact duplicates? A
Microsoft official said Office XP would likely work, and that the
company
will err in favor of the consumer. If a person activated XP by phone
and
called back in ten minutes and asked for another activation code on
another machine, Microsoft would likely look the other way. The company
would not be amused if it began receiving requests to activate the same
copy in four different countries, however.
Product Activation will be in retail and OEM copies of Office XP. It
won't
appear, however, in volume-licensed copies, such as those purchased by
large companies. Interestingly, Microsoft said product activation is
aimed
at "casual copiers"--those who get a copy of Office and let their
neighbors borrow the disc. The company cited Business Software Alliance
projections that 50 percent of pirated software is done by casual
copying.
Bradford Smith, deputy general counsel for the Microsoft, stated
that the
company has always been concerned with "casual copying," despite
people's
belief that Microsoft encourages casual copying for individual use.
According to Smith, Microsoft's large-scale deployment of anti-piracy
measures isn't due to explosive growth in individual pirating or the
need
for more revenue. It is simply because the company has finally
developed
the technology.
Smith also acknowledged that Product Activation is Microsoft's first
mass-market attempt to dissuade people from casual copying and that
it may
not stop counterfeiters. Counterfeiters duplicate Microsoft
software--some
making near-perfect copies of the CDs and documentation--to trick small
stores and consumers into paying full price for what they believe is
real
software. It's likely that counterfeiters will not duplicate the
retail or
OEM copies of Office XP or Windows XP and will instead obtain the
volume-licensing copies of the software to distribute.
Smith said he doesn't believe consumers will go looking for counterfeit
volume copies of the software to avoid activation. The company also
acknowledged that it expects cracks that remove the code to
eventually be
available. Microsoft is aiming for the casual user who is unwilling
to use
cracks or unlikely to deal with the Internet underground. One point in
Microsoft's favor is that Nieman said that no crack is yet known to
exist,
despite Product Activation having been on the market in test
countries and
in beta copies of Office XP for months.
Product Activation will not track the IP addresses of people who
activate,
and in no way does it allow Microsoft to secretly grab information or
track users. Nieman said he expects security experts to sniff the
packets
Product Activation sends out and is confident it will pass with a clean
bill of health. Microsoft said it knows the company has slipped on
privacy
concerns in the past, but that this time is different--it's doing the
right thing.
It is interesting how POVs are so different when self-interest is involved.
Barry Aronson -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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