This has little to do with optical drives, but it certainly speaks to piracy, which is a frequently discussed legal topic around here. According to this report over at Yahoo! News, the Redmond giant has taken some giant steps against scofflaws that are using what they suspect, is a pirated version of their new operating system.
At first, they will tantalize the end user, with a refusal to grant use of the much anticipated, Aero interface, that uses 3D acceleration to dazzle anyone within eye-shot of your monitor. Then, as time goes on, if the situation continues, without resolve, you will eventually be hobbled to using only the web browser for a one hour period of time.
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If a legitimate copy is not bought within 30 days, the system will curtail functionality much further by restricting users to just the Web browser for an hour at a time, said Thomas Lindeman, Microsoft senior product manager. Under that scenario, a person could use the browser to surf the Web, access documents on the hard drive or log onto Web-based e-mail. But the user would not be able to directly open documents from the computer desktop or run other programs such as Outlook e-mail software, Lindeman said. |
Ouch! Take that scalawag! Microsoft says that it will not completely shut down the workstation, (though it certainly is hobbled) and will continue to provide updates for security reasons. This is a blessing, as we certainly don't want any pirated versions spreading Trojans around town.
Source: Yahoo! News
