Windows Vista Requires Purchasing…Not Pirating

I
am no saint. As many of the online community have done, I have used
software of various types that have been cracked or less than legal,
and I have downloaded music. Just about a year ago, I stopped doing
anything remotely illegal online with new regard for the law. I am an
advocate of fair use, which means if I buy music on my desktop’s
iTunes, I want to be able to use that music on every music player I
own, forever.  I am extremely vocal about DRM forcing us into a “one use per download” methodology.

Windows Vista like Windows XP, ME, 98 and
even 95 will have a product key that you have to use to install the OS.
The difference between the product key in Vista and the one in earlier
OS’s like Windows 98 is Vista’s will actually do more than allow you to
install the OS. Vista’s product key will regulate the amount that you
are able to use the operating system, decide whether or not you are
eligible for updates and will help Windows Genuine Advantage decide
where it is going to stop you from using your computer sometime two
months down the road.

As I have been advocating fair use I can not
very well turn around and recommend that you pirate an OS, especially
one that is not even public yet. Someone has come up with a registry hack that will allow you to do just that.
This new hack will allow you to hack into Vista and use the product key
you got with your Beta version of Vista and apply it to the RTM
version.

My first reaction to this is. Why?  Why
should any of these software companies listen to us when we ask for
looser restraints on music and software so that we are able to use it
for our own purposes more easily? How can we expect them to be
compliant when we are talking about cracking the OS that they have been
taking so much time to release?  I am not a Microsoft
apologist, I am not apologizing that they have been wasting our time
for months while they “work further” on Vista but I can say that
Microsoft are people and they will respond as people.

At this juncture you might be wondering how
I think Microsoft might “take this out on us” and I would point you to
the upcoming Zune. Zune has reduced functionality, it won’t be able to
play music that you have bought on the iTunes music store, if you share
music you can only keep it for three days, there are countless reasons
Zune is counter play to fair use advocates. Microsoft might very well
decide that

“If they are going to screw
with the OS…we’re going to tighten the DRM on Zune to prevent anyone
from using anything but Microsoft licensed music….”

Don’t get the wrong idea, this is speculation of Microsoft’s “feelings” if Vista is pummeled by the same hackers who go after everything else they should be paying for.

If you want to use Vista, you should buy it, legitimately.