Microsoft takes a harsh stance on Vista piracy

Microsoft takes a harsh stance on Vista piracy

Microsoft Corp. is taking a tougher stance against pirates when it launches its new operating system, Windows Vista. The company said on Wednesday that any users who in its view are using an unlicensed copy of Vista would be denied access to some of the most eagerly awaited features of the system like Windows Aero, which is an improved graphics technology.

Thomas Lindeman, Microsoft senior product manager also revealed that if the users do not legitimize their copy of Vista within a month even more features will be restricted and allow users to use only the Web browser that too an hour at a time.

He added that when connected to the Internet, the user can browse and send e-mail and also send some, but will not be able to access Outlook e-mail software. However Redmond said it would not completely cripple a computer running a pirated copy of Vista and would continue to send security updates to it.

Experts say Microsoft's tough stance might not endear it to customers. This year Redmond introduced Windows Genuine Advantage, which checked if copies of Windows XP were genuine. Instead of curbing piracy, this tool became an annoying one.

Microsoft is confident that with Vista there will be no such problems. "This is actually a little more open in Vista [than in Windows XP]," Cori Hartje, the director of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative pointed out. "Today, if you don't put in a key [within 30 days], you can't use the computer at all."

Meanwhile Bloomberg News reported that for the first time, Microsoft has reduced the pay packets of its chairman, Bill Gates, and chief executive, Steve Ballmer in the light of slowing profits. Earnings have dropped as Redmond races to get its Xbox video-game console in stores ahead of the holiday season.