Microsoft corroborates Windows Vista OEM hacks

At least Redmond can't say that no one told them so, as the folks at Microsoft are finally holding up a hesitantly-raised white flag and admitting that Windows Vista is indeed far from crack-proof. After depressing the mental "Allow" button, Microsoft Senior Product Manager Alex Kochis has come to grips with the Vista hacks that are currently floating around (and apparently functioning). Interestingly, he insinuates that the company will be looking at ways to "disrupt the business model of organized counterfeiters and protect users from becoming unknowing victims," but also mentioned that it wouldn't be rushing out in a likely futile attempt to nab every "mad scientist" (saywha?) on a mission to hack Windows. Hmm, wonder if that has anything to do with the barren efforts it exhausted trying to one-up FairUse4WM?

[js @ Apr 12th 2007 9:12PM]

You are pointing Vista's flaws, cancel or allow?

[boe @ Apr 12th 2007 9:29PM]

Frankly I think there would be a lot more hacks/cracks/keygens for Vista if it was worth pirating. MS was so proud that no one had cracked it early on - but that is like saying I have a pile of turd in my wall safe and no one can get passed my security - do you think a lot of people are trying? I think they'll probably hope more people start pirating that turd so that they can claim higher numbers for installed Vista clients.

[Bryan Flocks @ Apr 12th 2007 10:28PM]

Dont you Mac fanatics have enough disasters from Apple on your plate to be trying to take pot shots at Microsoft?

"Frankly I think there would be a lot more hacks/cracks/keygens for Vista if it was worth pirating."

Just like they said for XP, 2K, 98, 95.... blah blah blah.

I thought that talking point had already worn itself out. Keep telling yourself how much Vista sucks if it makes your little iHeart feel better.

[David Orozco Jr @ Apr 15th 2007 2:44PM]

Numerous applications have evolve thorough the years and so have some languages such C++, and therefore most old applications will not be compatible to the new which is the key on keeping the security intact. But once these new language has caught up with the ties, hackers, crackers and “skid dies” will swarm like hungry hyenas in full attempt to exploits any vulnerabilities. History repeats itself once more through the hands of time, and the best way to ride the wave is by being prepare for the big bang.

Peace!

..

[kamokazi @ Apr 12th 2007 10:05PM]

Best way to catch Vista pirates: build WGA into Crysis...

[Teve Torbes @ Apr 12th 2007 10:24PM]

As Bill Gates has said in the past, Microsoft owes much of Windows success to piracy. Microsoft needs some piracy of its products, especially among influential people like programmers, execs, etc... who either make Windows more valuable as a platform (more Windows developers means more Windows apps) or have the influence to make big purchasing decisions (the CTO uses Windows at home, so the whole corporation should too). The bulk of Windows revenue comes from PC OEM licensing and corporate licensing. Microsoft putting the squeeze on the average Joe and making Windows harder for him to pirate is just Microsoft's way of squeezing more revenue out Windows. Microsoft could easily make pirating Windows impossible, but they won't because they want savvy people to pirate it, and (learn to) develop for it. Thus, the major loop hole of the OEM licensing system.

[boe @ Apr 13th 2007 4:11AM]

Actually I support both PCs and Macs and prefer PCs. I'm no mac fanboy but I'm not a MS fanboy either XP is good, vista sucks - pretty simple. I give credit where credit is due. I've supported PCs for 20 years now and used every OS MS ever created and I would say Vista is about as good as OS2 - which wasn't good either. Even in beta, windows 2000 was far more finished than Vista is even though Vista has been out for quite a few months now.

[LongshotX @ Apr 12th 2007 10:52PM]

I happen to like Vista Ultimate. I don't understand all the hating. The Windows environment really isn't all that bad. Sure I have some issues, but I never get BSODs and I can do everything I want: surf, game, record live tv, listen to music, radio, watch a plethora of video formats, word processing, and if I need to go somewhere else and print a document I don't have to worry about whether its compatible on X-Y-Z operating system...it just works.

[Peter @ Apr 12th 2007 10:57PM]

"Dont you Mac fanatics have enough disasters from Apple on your plate to be trying to take pot shots at Microsoft?"

Assuming those commenters use a mac. Quotes you provided not supporting your accusation=fail.

[multiple.paradox @ Apr 12th 2007 11:27PM]

Concerning the debate about being "worth pirating"... I think it's not that false;
The upgrade we had between 98SE and XP was a big leap/improvement;
After we had some "officials" words from MS about Vista (Longhorn at the time), the new Os was full promises, but it took just too much time to be released, with less than half of the new features... result, the hype was just decieving.

When I installed Vista on my laptop, I honestly thoughta few things:
1. The interface is a bit better, but not enough to change anything in terms of ease-of-use/productivity;
2. "Security is better" - maybe, but now I can't even use my shared printer, have a lot of problem with the lan, etc... (I'm working as an IT by the way...) and "cancel or allow"... come on, it's a real joke
3. It does uses more ressources for nothing (oh... that 3d "thing" yeah, completely useless... alt-tab is still better, plus they could have done that same effect in 2D... come on guys)

results: I wiped it out and resintalled a fresh copy of XP ...

[LongshotX @ Apr 13th 2007 12:45AM]

Good for you...I'm not going back to XP. Vista all the way.

[Trevor Duke @ Apr 12th 2007 11:50PM]

how do i get that screen that they have pictured?

[Eric Pham @ Apr 12th 2007 11:56PM]

I dont want to get a bootleg version of vista cause my computer although "vista ready" would probably take a performance hit because of it. Not something im willing to put up with...yet.

[Andir3.0 @ Apr 13th 2007 12:04AM]

The best way to get market penetration for your product is to give it away for free. Microsoft doesn't hate pirating. For every person using their OS, another person will see it and will have that much more of a chance to pick it up the next time they buy a PC. For every person using their OS, another vendor will create an application for whatever has the most market penetration (legal or not.) Applications = tie in. Tie in = stranglehold. Stranglehold = guaranteed sale of the "next version".

They are only interested in limiting piracy to a point. If nobody pirated Vista, usage numbers would be lower and vendors might start to look for alternatives. In a way, piracy helps Microsoft (especially with the critical reception Vista is getting.)

[Sam @ Apr 13th 2007 1:30AM]

So...uh...did the Bios Emulation Crack finally get stopped?

[rainygrass @ Apr 13th 2007 1:06AM]

i have both macbook and vista pc...i don't see any point mac is better than pc (not even xp sp2)

[colek42 @ Apr 13th 2007 3:59AM]

Vista is having a much better reception than XP did when it came out. If you dont like it it is probably because you have an older gen PC.

[boe @ Apr 13th 2007 4:11AM]

Reasons I don't like it -

VERY slow network file transfers compared to XP - yes, I have the latest drivers, I've turned network indexing off, I've tried turning off any third party firewalls and antivirus, I've tried eliminating any unnecessary protocols, I'm going through an unmanaged switch, not router - it is a known issue with Vista, confirmed by MS.

Chatty - the larger the network the more it slows down - confirmed by MS.

Explorer still not stable - confirmed by users - not admitted by MS yet (of course they denied all the network issues initially too).

Due to lack of interest many hardware manufacturers and software vendors have yet to create Vista compatable versions of their products software/drivers at this time.

[treetrunk @ Apr 13th 2007 5:32AM]

@boe:

You tried this?:

http://forums.winxpcentral.com/showthread.php?p=43263#post43263

[Jeff Lewis @ Apr 13th 2007 4:44AM]

I'm... confused... people are dumping on Vista... because it's CRACKABLE?

And this is a 'flaw'?

Exactly WHO does this harm - other than Microsoft?

From the POV of the typical user, this is irrelevent (and really not that different from what the experience was in XP).

On top of that - you'll notice that Microsoft is focussing on real pirates (ie: people who are making money by reselling Windows Vista) rather than on casual copiers... which should be a positive message.

Man - I guess when you have to get yer grudge on, you'll take any opening.

[VuckFista @ Apr 13th 2007 11:03AM]

people are dumping on Vista because Gates dared hackers to try to hack Vista and it turns out that ms left the door wide open for them to do it, much to the benefit of the legitimate user that finds his legit copy non-functional and must resort to aforementioned hacks.

vista is pretty, I'll give it that, but there was no need to take what is essentially XP SP3, change the look of the menus and call it a new OS.

Vista reminds me of Windows ME in oh so many ways.

[TyphOOn @ Apr 13th 2007 7:28AM]

OMG! "Best way to catch Vista pirates: build WGA into Crysis..." dont give them ideas... They will fuck up crysis..

[VuckFista @ Apr 13th 2007 10:49AM]

I just bought a Toshiba laptop with vista preloaded on it. I figured i'd give it a try and it was alright. I reformatted it and did a clean install to get rid of all the toshiba preinstalled "value added" crap. Everything went fine.

Then 30 days later i got a popup saying my copy was not genuine even though i used the cd key off the bottom of the laptop and made sure i installed using the right version for the key, home premium.
In the end I had to use one of these hacks to make my legitimate copy of vista function.

Vuck Fista

[Neal @ Apr 13th 2007 12:50PM]

You do realize that if you bought a laptop from Toshiba, it was likely an OEM copy of the O/S which is only allowed the install it came with right? So when you reinstalled you nuked the only legal (single) copy of the O/S you had. While I can understand wanting to get the OEM 3rd party junk off the install, it's your fault this happened.

[PM @ Apr 17th 2007 10:12PM]

" Bryan Flocks @ Apr 12th 2007 10:28PM

Dont you Mac fanatics have enough disasters from Apple on your plate to be trying to take pot shots at Microsoft?

"Frankly I think there would be a lot more hacks/cracks/keygens for Vista if it was worth pirating."

Just like they said for XP, 2K, 98, 95.... blah blah blah.

I thought that talking point had already worn itself out. Keep telling yourself how much Vista sucks if it makes your little iHeart feel better."


Please...do us all a favor, and dont pronounce yourself stupid without knowing the facts. The only "disaster" that Apple actually faced was towards its OS9 cycle back in 98...when it was at the brink of collapse. After that, OS X came out, and literally bitch slapped XP AND Vista with 10.4 Tiger. Why cant you Microcrap fanboys ever start realizing your "My Shit", and start knowing who's copying who,and which operating system is actually more productive, more stable, and and has much better quality softwares for the end user RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. And just for the information, I did use XP for 4 years...until sadly I realized that there was a better (really better) alternative to this operating system...and then moved to OSX. The only real reason why I still use XP is for playing games...thats all. Vista even crippled that part of using an operating system. Those who use Vista simply don't want to admit that they wasted $400 precious dollars on a completely useless and utter garbage operating system...heck, I wouldn't like to realize that fact either..but that doesn't mean you have to go take your feakin ignorance on us Mac users.

[David Orozco Jr @ Apr 15th 2007 3:10PM]

Applications or software alike are as good as they come regardless of which directions the vendors wants the application to travel between Microsoft, Mac or any other. No application or software is perfect just as any human have their own vulnerabilities so does these applications and software; it is just a matter of time when those applications or software will become corrupted and absolute through programming evolution cycle.

Peace!

…

[Trent @ Apr 16th 2007 2:01PM]

Yeah, Vista is tolerable if you don't do anything that wakes up the DRM.

This OS would have been a nice update if the DRM wasn't there.