Microsoft Tests Blocking Of Bogus Windows

Dubbed "Windows Genuine Advantage," the program is voluntary at present and "is a pilot to learn more about delivering genuine software," said David Lazar, its director and part of the Windows client team. "It's designed to combat counterfeiting and enhance the value of genuine Microsoft products."

Along the way, the process and program intends to help users figure out if they own a legitimate copy of the OS. According to Lazar, 23 percent of Windows machines in the U.S. are running bogus versions of Windows, often without users knowing they've been ripped off by hardware sellers.

"Piracy has always been thought to be a big problem in other jurisdictions, but not in North America," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "Apparently that's not true. Piracy hurts genuine system integrators, who do the right thing but have a hard time competing with that shop down the street that's loading a counterfeit copy of Windows and cutting the price of the box by $100 or more in the process."

The checking mechanism now on Download Center "validates" that the copy of Windows is legit by installing an ActiveX control on the client and using Microsoft's Windows Product Activation service on the back end, said Lazar.

"It's related to activation," he said, "but it's doing things differently."

Not all downloads at Download Center -- a locale for retrieving everything that Microsoft offers with the exception of the security fixes it posts on Windows Update and pushes via Automatic Update -- are tagged with the new validation scheme. Users can also opt out of the validation process.

"It's been a very low key introduction," said Cherry. "Conceptually, I don't have a problem with it. I think it's sensible for Microsoft to say 'we're not going to give out software to pirated copies of Windows.' But the mechanism could be better."

Perhaps it will. This is only a test, said Lazar, to scope out the necessary infrastructure for such checks. The company hasn't even decided whether it will roll out validation across more of its Web sites, and if so, when. "It's just too early to speculate," said Lazar. "We're only working on getting a lot of feedback."

The pilot has a goal of bringing in about 20,000 participants, said Lazar, a mark that shouldn't be tough to make since some 9,000 users have validated Windows in the week since the test began.

Cherry sees more behind the idea. "I think this is an attempt by Microsoft to expand its software activation beyond Windows XP," said Cherry.

His take is at least partially borne out by Genuine Advantage's particulars. Windows XP is currently the only operating system which requires activation, but the validation process that Microsoft's testing applies to both Windows XP and Windows 2000, said Lazar.

While Lazar touted some end-user benefits -- most prominent the security for users in knowing they have a legitimate copy of Windows, not a counterfeit that "may not include all the code of the real thing" -- he also said that Microsoft is considering more tangible payoffs, but refused to elaborate.

This isn't the first time that Microsoft's implemented some sort of block on pirated copies of Windows. Windows Update, for instance, has for some time checked for licensing keys known to have been used to illegally activate XP.

Microsoft's also battling counterfeiters with other strategies, including the time-proven one of helping authorities arrest software pirates and low-cost Starter Editions of Windows XP that are specifically crafted for counterfeit-plagued countries such as those in south and southeast Asia.

*This story courtesy of Techweb.com.