Black screen of darkness to haunt Vista pirates

Post by **fac51** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:59 pm

Microsoft Windows' infamous "blue screen of death" has become synonymous with an operating system crash or freeze, but that's nothing compared with what users of pirated copies of Vista worldwide can expect from now -- a black screen of darkness.

In an e-mail to a large Windows Vista distributor titled "Pirated Vista -- A darkness descends!" -- a local Microsoft representative made it quite clear what Vista pirates can expect to happen to their unlicensed installations.

A copy of this e-mail was obtained by Computerworld.

"Good afternoon, as of this week, Microsoft has activated a function in Vista called 'Reduced Functionality.' This is a specific function in Vista that effectively disables nongenuine copies of Windows. Therefore anyone who has a pirated copy of Vista will experience:

A black screen after one hour of browsing
No start menu or task bar
No desktop

Please communicate this antipiracy initiative from Microsoft to your resellers -- note this function has only just been activated in Vista worldwide and therefore any issues with nongenuine versions will start to arise from now onward."

Microsoft's new tough antipiracy move also proves the company still controls its software releases with an iron fist, but it marks the first global use of heavy-handed tactics for pirated copies of Windows.

source

vinnieza · Post by **vinnieza** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:06 pm

Microsoft's new tough antipiracy move also proves the company still controls its software releases with an iron fist, but it marks the first global use of heavy-handed tactics for pirated copies of Windows.

They say it's harsh etc but imo it's what should happen anyway tbh. They didn't buy the software so therefore have no right to use it. I thought they didn't do this just because they couldn't identify the pirated copies. However, i bet someone cracks it

.

Saying that software is expensive no a days which i think is because m$ and other companies are taking advantage of us (saying that a lot of work does go into development). Luckily an OS comes with the computer

.

Is the email true though?

Post by **fac51** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:36 pm

Vista OEM is very cheap so there's no real excuse not to buy it if you wan't to use it as your main OS.

arfur · Post by **arfur** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:32 pm

buy xp.

Post by **mr mixin** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 11:12 pm

*cough* Ubuntu *cough*

Post by **117** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 11:33 pm

mr mixin wrote:*cough* Ubuntu *cough*

write me some drivers for my wireless card then

Post by **mr mixin** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:28 am

Buying a wireless card that already has drivers written for it is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a copy of vista

Post by **fac51** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:46 am

Try gaming on Ubuntu, no thanks :alt:

Post by **117** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:14 am

mr mixin wrote:Buying a wireless card that already has drivers written for it is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a copy of vista

what's the deal with WPA security on Ubuntu? I brought home a wireless USB adaptor from work, had checked the list provided via ubuntuforums.org which said that that model worked fine 'out the box', however the only security option it had when I booted was WEP so I couldn't connect to my network (as I use WPA).... does Ubuntu/linux not support WPA yet? Or is it a case of further narrowing down your choice of wireless devices to fund one that supports WPA?

Post by **mr mixin** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:18 pm

Regarding the whole world of darkness for pirate vista users - http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/ ... vista.html

Regarding the WPA on ubuntu - Not sure because my network is set on WEP at the mo

Post by **117** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:36 pm

pah! some help you are!