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Another blow to piracy

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI: Further to Microsoft's announcement few months back saying that machines running pirated versions of Windows XP will not be able to install the service pack 2, software giant is adopting measures to come down on piracy in a big way. Said an online report.

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The company has put in place a mechanism that will block machines running pirated version of Windows from downloading fixes, patches and software from the company's Download Center Web site. The process installs an ActiveX control on the client machine, which validates the copy of Windows using the Windows Product Activation service on the back end.

Coined as "Windows Genuine Advantage," the program is in its pilot stage and is an attempt to counterfeit piracy and enhance the value of genuine Microsoft products, says David Lazar, its director and part of the Windows client team. This will also help users know whether they are running a licensed copy of Windows and save them from being cheated by hardware vendors, he added.

The process is still under test and presently not all downloads come under the validation scheme and the service is optional. According to Lazar, a lot depends on the kind of feedback they receive from this and if things are accepted well they may think of extending the concept to their other Web sites also.

This is another step that the software giant has taken against software piracy, its Windows Update checks for licensing keys, the company has also launched low-cost Starter Editions of windows XP specifically for the APAC region where piracy reigns.



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