Microsofts CEO: Less Piracy With Vista
Saturday, December 2, 2006 by Island Dog | Discussion: WinCustomize News
"We're trying to make it easier for people who somehow have received improperly licensed versions to get legal, and we also put more roadblocks in," said Ballmer, declining to specify how much it can reduce the piracy rate. "It will help," he said.
Reply #2 Saturday, December 2, 2006 10:06 PM
Reply #3 Saturday, December 2, 2006 10:20 PM
You're always there, with the latest.
Right now, I'd just like my XP SP2, Office 2003, and IE7 to play nice and keep getting updates.
The whole Vista biz needs to settle down B4 I'm interested in moving "up".
Piracy? As it is, I need to be "validated" just to check into "Microsoft Update".
Nothing new there.
Interesting times we live in, for sure.

Reply #4 Saturday, December 2, 2006 10:22 PM
It really looks to me that marketing is still pricing and segmenting Vista as if it actually delivered on the promises MS made 6 years ago. The pale shadow that the soon to be released Vista has become (re: XP+GUI as far as end users are concerned) is nowhere near worth a HIGHER introductory price point than XP had.
In some parts of Europe you can damn near get a CAR for $800, hehe.
Reply #5 Saturday, December 2, 2006 11:56 PM
| I bet one hundred dolors that Vista Ultimate will be cracked before the 30 day trial is up. |
well here is what I found out, without having too look very hard....I think it is FUNNY!!!!
[While this information is widely available, Wincustomize is not the place to post it regardless of the intention. Removed by ID]
DISCLAIMER: I do not promote nor condone anyone pirating ANY software. This was just to show how pathetic the hackers and Microsoft really are. If you want software buy it don't steal it!!!
Speedy
Reply #6 Sunday, December 3, 2006 12:54 AM
Reply #7 Sunday, December 3, 2006 4:57 AM
Reply #8 Sunday, December 3, 2006 5:21 AM
Reply #9 Sunday, December 3, 2006 3:55 PM
| While this information is widely available, Wincustomize is not the place to post it regardless of the intention. Removed by ID |
I apologize for that ID, lack of good judgement.
Speedy
Reply #10 Sunday, December 3, 2006 5:16 PM
Reply #11 Sunday, December 3, 2006 6:21 PM
Reply #12 Monday, December 4, 2006 1:02 AM
well here is what I found out, without having too look very hard. |
Speedy, I've known about that stunt for a while now....an old acquaintance told me how to do the same with XP, so I'd never have to register, activate/phone reactivate my legit copy. However, apart from it being the wrong thing to do with regards to the EULA, I had already activated and registered my copy and saw no need to be dishonest when everything was working perfectly as was.
Okay, it may have saved me 15 or so minutes when I needed to reactivate over the phone a couple of times, but to me it still seems like a whole load of unnecessary & illegal effort to save such a piddling amount of time - in context to a whole lifetime.
As for Vista, when I eventually purchase it legally, I will activate and register it in the proper manner....cos I wanna do the right thing and not have the OS Police turning up on my doorstep, which would result in considerable discomfort to my lower intestinal tract and a change of underwear.
Reply #13 Monday, December 4, 2006 3:10 AM
| Its not a gui+ improvement. When they say its the most secure OS they've ever released ITS TRUE. |
To end users, who will still need antivirus and antispyware software, Vista LOOKS like little more than a GUI upgrade to Windows XP...and one that their smarter, more savvy friends already showed them 90% LAST YEAR when WindowBlinds 5 came out.

Reply #14 Monday, December 4, 2006 4:13 AM
Reply #15 Monday, December 4, 2006 9:22 AM
| After installing the new dvd burner and booting up windows pops up and tells me hardware configuration has changed since activation and i must reactivate windows in 3 days if i want to keep using it. |
I got the same message after replacing a mobo and CPU recently, and yeah, I needed to speak with customer service because my copy of XP was showing as being activated and had reached its activation limit. However, once I had explained the hardware upgrades and how they had prompted the 'reactivate popup' on my activated OS, reactivation was not a problem for MS and was completed inside 10 minutes.
However, I'm a little confused by this one....the need to reactivate Windows over a DVD ROM replacement
A while back I upgraded two ROM drives, two HD's and added two 1gb sticks of RAM without receiving a 'reactivation popup'....and this was only one of several hardware upgrades (over time) that did not require activation. Windows allows for several minor hardware changes without the need for reactivation, and then you get more than just the one, so is it possible that your PC has undergone several hardware upgrades/reinstalls since initial activation, or that perhaps your copy of Windows was initially activated on another machine, then transferred?
***BTW, no accusations/insinuations here, just possible explanations that may help***
| This is not a problem but all the bullshit that pops up in the system tray insinuating that my copy of windows is pirated and i should contact microsoft to buy a legal copy. |
I registered and activated my legit copy of XP Pro and have never ever encountered a systray popup insinuating I have a pirated copy, so I don't know what that's about. Since installing the 'Windows Genuine Advantage' tool, I've had absolutely no phone home/insinuation issues with MS and can access Windows updates/downloads unhindered ....so maybe you've a fault/error in the authentication process, being no OS/software is infallible/flawless
Reply #16 Monday, December 4, 2006 9:54 AM
| Why don't they charge $70 or $100 for Vista? |
Maybe someone will buy you a clue for Christmas.
| Vista LOOKS like little more than a GUI upgrade to Windows XP...and one that their smarter, more savvy friends already showed them 90% LAST YEAR when WindowBlinds 5 came out. |
At least try to educate yourself before showing your ignorance.
| Maybe Steve Ballmer should open his eyes and get his hand off his dick as he seems to be dreaming about less piracy. |
| If MS had real OS competition in the PC space (re: Apple did TONS of work on legacy drivers, etc.) then MS would be charging LESS for a more FULLY FEATURED OS, instead of a MORE for a GUI+ improvement to XP. It's our own damn fault, folks. |
| Microsoft and their stupid activation. |
OMG what a bunch @#!$^&% Hypocrites.
You bash/criticize MS like crazy for trying to protect their work and how they're trying to do it, but when someone borrows one pixel out of someone else's skin...

Reply #17 Monday, December 4, 2006 12:30 PM
Reply #18 Monday, December 4, 2006 1:26 PM
| I bet one hundred dolors that Vista Ultimate will be cracked before the 30 day trial is up. |
I hear that!
Reply #19 Monday, December 4, 2006 2:17 PM
| However, I'm a little confused by this one....the need to reactivate Windows over a DVD ROM replacement A while back I upgraded two ROM drives, two HD's and added two 1gb sticks of RAM without receiving a 'reactivation popup'....and this was only one of several hardware upgrades (over time) that did not require activation. |
Yes i think it has to do with mine being Windows XP Media Centre Edition i have been told they are very fussy about it.
Reply #20 Monday, December 4, 2006 2:25 PM
| Microsoft and their stupid activation. OMG what a bunch @#!$^&% Hypocrites. |
Well it is stupid activation if you cant change a DVD burner without having to reactivate windows.
| At least try to educate yourself before showing your ignorance. Maybe Steve Ballmer should open his eyes and get his hand off his dick as he seems to be dreaming about less piracy. |
And yes if Steve Ballmer thinks he will have less piracy he needs to face reality, some people will always pirate software. If you read the whole story he talks about Office 2007 less piracy and if you read my comment you would have read that i said "Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise Edition which doesn't require activation is already doing the rounds on bittorrent sites". So much for less piracy. How many thousands of people do you think have downloaded Office 2007 Enterprise Edition. And this was less than a week after they released it.
Maybe it is you who is the hypercrit as you select one line from someones comment and call them a hypercrit without taking into context the whole comment they were making.
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!







Reply #1 Saturday, December 2, 2006 8:32 PM