Tech & Biz

"But I'm Not a Pirate!"

by Jordan Yerman | August 25, 2007 at 08:47 am

728 views | 2 Recommendations | 5 comments

That cash you just dropped on a Vista license, or the larger chunk you spent on a new PC could get your copy of Microsoft Windows XP or Vista flagged as a pirate version, cutting off its interactive capabilities. If you just purchased a PC or OS upgrade, hang on before setting it up until this situation gets resolved. Or install Linux in the meantime...

DRM bites again: the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage servers (which every XP and Vista install phones home to) all failed sometime earlier today.

The result? Every single Windows XP and Vista installation -- except possibly those with volume license keys -- is being marked as counterfeit when it tries to check in. Installations which are flagged as counterfeit switch to a "reduced functionality mode" which results in features like Aero and DirectX being disabled.

(Disclosure: I'm a Mac user primarily, but I test in the XP and Vista environment, and in Linux when the urge grabs me)

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PEP

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:09 on August 25th, 2007

Good stuff, Jordan. There'll no doubt be a lot of legitimate consumers who are surprised to find that they have been labelled "pirates."

Jordan Yerman

at 10:14 on August 25th, 2007

Exactly! That's the problem with DRM: it catches dolphins in its tuna nets: legitimate users get penalized whilst true pirates simply bypass the whole system.

Watcher

at 12:18 on August 25th, 2007

The DRM is and the Windows phone home was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I bought a computer that was running Vista and wiped it and now run Linux. I could not be happier

SthPacific

at 07:55 on August 26th, 2007

When Vista launched and Could not connect to Broadband, I dumped the OS on all the Machines on the Network (they were running XP) and went to SUSE Novell 9.2. I now only have a single box running Win XP pro. This is my old Gaming box at home and it has not connected to the net for months. I think I'll stick with OSX. Cant wait for 10.5. though. The old tiger is getting a bit fat with all these versions I wonder if it will go to 10.4.11 before Leopard ??

On a lighter note, notice when someone thinks they may have a proof of concept for an OSX hax, and the Blogospere and tech news goes into overdrive with Nitro, but this, yet another fatal flaw in the Antique M$ OS doesn't get a front page.

To all those reading this using XP or home. you have my deepest sympathy.