This Bootleg Copy Will Self-Destruct in 30 Days
By J. D. BIERSDORFER
WINDOWS XP has many features designed to make it easy for home users to customize and copy their own digital movie and music files, but there is one thing they will not be able to copy: Windows XP itself.
In an effort to reduce the practice of casual sharing of software among family members and friends, Microsoft (news/quote) has built an anticopying mechanism called Product Activation into Windows XP.
The basic premise is this: To keep that freshly installed copy of Windows XP Home Edition functioning, the user must "activate" the software within 30 days — a process that involves providing encoded data about the computer to Microsoft — or the program will simply cease to function. And since the software can be activated only once, any installation on a second computer will self-destruct after 30 days.
Product activation, which Microsoft has put into place with Office 2000 and Office XP, is a direct attempt to cut down on software piracy. The Software and Information Industry Association says that 11 percent of consumers surveyed last year admitted having copied software from someone else's disks.
As word of the product activation requirement circulated in recent months, however, consumers began to voice objections about a loss of privacy and convenience. Some questioned how tightly Microsoft was going to control the user's computer and what information was going to be sent back to the company. Microsoft acknowledged consumer concerns and said it had made activation less restrictive in the final version of Windows XP.
Microsoft's end-user license agreement — the long legal statement that most users affirm with a click without reading while installing new software — has always stated that the customer is allowed to put that particular copy of Windows on only one machine. But some computer enthusiasts expressed dismay that they would now have to buy a copy of the system for each PC that they chose to upgrade. Microsoft announced this week that it was going to offer discounts of about 10 percent for home users who wanted to purchase multiple copies. (On new computers running Windows XP, most PC makers will have activated the software at the factory; corporate customers buying Windows XP in volume are not subject to activation.)
"Activation is a process of just verifying the end-user license agreement," said Allen Nieman, the product manager for licensing technologies at Microsoft. "It is a totally anonymous process. There is no personally identifiable information required to activate." Microsoft has devoted a section of its Web site to explaining its piracy policy and answering questions about activation (www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics /xp_activation.asp).
Activation is accomplished over the Internet or by telephone. The Internet option takes a few clicks. Microsoft estimates that the telephone process will take about four minutes and will require reading a 50-digit number to a company representative. Based on that number, the customer is given a 42-digit number to type in.
Activation sends two pieces of information to Microsoft — a product identification number for Windows XP and something called a hardware hash, a unique number created by running information about some of that particular computer's components through a mathematical formula.
Because the activation component keeps such a vigilant watch on the hardware, however, changing one's system around by adding several new internal components like a CD-ROM drive or a network card could set off alarms within Windows XP. The user would be locked out and would need a new activation code. And that has some users worried.
"To be honest, I do have some concerns," said Brad Blanchard of Salt Lake City, who recently built his own home computer and likes to tinker with its components. "I understand that they're trying to cut down on piracy. But still, it makes me nervous that I would have to contact them after I started making major changes to my machine."
Indeed, doomsday warnings about the risk of deactivating Windows XP have been floating around the Internet, prompting Microsoft to move aggressively to counter them. Mr. Nieman said that in many cases, if the network card remained the same, users could change six different pieces of hardware without any problems, or perhaps more, depending on the manufacturer.
Even in early test versions of Windows XP, product activation has already attracted hackers who want to crack the code for fun or profit, and Mr. Nieman acknowledged that Microsoft presents a big target. "We're not trying to stop piracy," he said. "We're simply trying to reduce piracy."
By J. D. BIERSDORFER
WINDOWS XP has many features designed to make it easy for home users to customize and copy their own digital movie and music files, but there is one thing they will not be able to copy: Windows XP itself.
In an effort to reduce the practice of casual sharing of software among family members and friends, Microsoft (news/quote) has built an anticopying mechanism called Product Activation into Windows XP.
The basic premise is this: To keep that freshly installed copy of Windows XP Home Edition functioning, the user must "activate" the software within 30 days — a process that involves providing encoded data about the computer to Microsoft — or the program will simply cease to function. And since the software can be activated only once, any installation on a second computer will self-destruct after 30 days.
Product activation, which Microsoft has put into place with Office 2000 and Office XP, is a direct attempt to cut down on software piracy. The Software and Information Industry Association says that 11 percent of consumers surveyed last year admitted having copied software from someone else's disks.
As word of the product activation requirement circulated in recent months, however, consumers began to voice objections about a loss of privacy and convenience. Some questioned how tightly Microsoft was going to control the user's computer and what information was going to be sent back to the company. Microsoft acknowledged consumer concerns and said it had made activation less restrictive in the final version of Windows XP.
Microsoft's end-user license agreement — the long legal statement that most users affirm with a click without reading while installing new software — has always stated that the customer is allowed to put that particular copy of Windows on only one machine. But some computer enthusiasts expressed dismay that they would now have to buy a copy of the system for each PC that they chose to upgrade. Microsoft announced this week that it was going to offer discounts of about 10 percent for home users who wanted to purchase multiple copies. (On new computers running Windows XP, most PC makers will have activated the software at the factory; corporate customers buying Windows XP in volume are not subject to activation.)
"Activation is a process of just verifying the end-user license agreement," said Allen Nieman, the product manager for licensing technologies at Microsoft. "It is a totally anonymous process. There is no personally identifiable information required to activate." Microsoft has devoted a section of its Web site to explaining its piracy policy and answering questions about activation (www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics /xp_activation.asp).
Activation is accomplished over the Internet or by telephone. The Internet option takes a few clicks. Microsoft estimates that the telephone process will take about four minutes and will require reading a 50-digit number to a company representative. Based on that number, the customer is given a 42-digit number to type in.
Activation sends two pieces of information to Microsoft — a product identification number for Windows XP and something called a hardware hash, a unique number created by running information about some of that particular computer's components through a mathematical formula.
Because the activation component keeps such a vigilant watch on the hardware, however, changing one's system around by adding several new internal components like a CD-ROM drive or a network card could set off alarms within Windows XP. The user would be locked out and would need a new activation code. And that has some users worried.
"To be honest, I do have some concerns," said Brad Blanchard of Salt Lake City, who recently built his own home computer and likes to tinker with its components. "I understand that they're trying to cut down on piracy. But still, it makes me nervous that I would have to contact them after I started making major changes to my machine."
Indeed, doomsday warnings about the risk of deactivating Windows XP have been floating around the Internet, prompting Microsoft to move aggressively to counter them. Mr. Nieman said that in many cases, if the network card remained the same, users could change six different pieces of hardware without any problems, or perhaps more, depending on the manufacturer.
Even in early test versions of Windows XP, product activation has already attracted hackers who want to crack the code for fun or profit, and Mr. Nieman acknowledged that Microsoft presents a big target. "We're not trying to stop piracy," he said. "We're simply trying to reduce piracy."
