In the absence of the activation code Windows Vista will be locked. This is the result of Microsoft stepping up its game with the antipiracy technology implemented in the upcoming operating system. A simple registration code won't be sufficient to deliver the Vista experience to the public. Microsoft customers will be allowed a period of 30 days to activate their operating system, following which Vista will enter into Reduced Functionality Mode.
"At the end of 30 days, the machine will move into reduced functionality mode for validation, and users will only get an hour of reduced experience Internet access before being logged off. They will then have to log on again before getting another hour of Internet access," stated Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Software Initiative.
An integer part of Microsoft's new Software Protection Platform to be integrated into Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn," the antipiracy technology will be universal, meaning the Redmond Company will not make a differentiation between retail and volume licensing customers, all being tributary to activation within 30 days.
Failing to activate will prompt users with four options, online activation, Reduced Functionality Mode, entering a product key and phone activation options. “Piracy is one of the most significant problems facing the software industry. Fifty percent of the piracy, we think, uses keys issued to volume licensing customers”, Hartje said. If at any time an activation key will be entered into Vista while it runs under Reduced Functionality Mode, the operating system will revert to its full functionality. Furthermore validation will be required with each software update, and if the product is labeled not genuine, the user is yet again granted a 30-day activation period.
Mandatory activation is a solution already implemented by other software developers with little success. Only time and crackers will have a say in confirming the success of Microsoft's Software Protection Platform.
