Windows Vista Hack Circulating

[OhioChick]

Source: Information Week

Software pirates have reportedly hacked Windows Vista so that a stolen copy can run as though it were a fully licensed and activated version.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
March 3, 2008 11:21 AM

A group of notorious software pirates has hacked Windows Vista so that a stolen copy of the operating system can run as though it were a fully licensed and activated version, according to various Internet reports and blog posts Monday.

The hack, or "crack," as such techniques are sometimes called, was developed by the hacking group Pantheon. It's based on the fact that copies of Vista shipped in large volumes to PC manufacturers don't require full product activation, according to reports.

It was not immediately clear if the hack has been widely exploited.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) estimates that global piracy costs the software industry about $40 billion per year in lost sales.



Read more: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901318

[jgraz]

1. And why, pray tell, would anyone bother to steal Vista?

:shrug:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Easy!

:D

[niceypoo]

15. My first thought too...

We wont touch it where I work until at least the second service pack, and only then when instructor demand (I work on a college network) forces our hand.

[JerseygirlCT]

24. That's what I was wondering!

I thought the headline was going to lead to an article on making it actually work well, or something.

[bemildred]

2. People want to steal copies of Vista?

:wtf:

[OhioChick]

4. My Thoughts Exactly. n/t

[fascisthunter]

20. lol (nt)

[rateyes]

5. Stealing Vista?

Isn't that like having unprotected sex, minus the orgasm?

[Richard D]

7. I don't really get it.

I have vista on my computer and it seems quite fine. A few minor annoyances like the security center (now disabled), but it seems quite stable and so far (knock on everything in reach) no problems.

[wellst0nev0ter]

28. It's Not That Bad

But XP was perfectly fine (in some cases better than Vista), and there are better OPs out there.

[tridim]

6. This is news?

Every piece of software since the 70's has been cracked including all versions of Windows.

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. More on the story here

Unlike cracks which have been floating around since Vista RTM was released in late November, this crack doesn’t simply get around product activation with beta activation files or timestop cracks - it actually makes use of the activation process. It seems that Microsoft has allowed large OEMs like ASUS to ship their products with a pre-installed version of Vista that doesn’t require product activation – apparently because end users would find it too inconvenient.
http://apcmag.com/5512/pirate_crack_vista_oem_activation

[kirby]

9. It is also estimated...

That using Microsoft products cost the industry $6 trilliion per year in lost productivity.

[iconoclastic cat]

10. With Linux becoming so advanced, and OS X ported to Intel and AMD chips,

why even bother getting Vista at all?

[Amonester]

11. Uh.umm.. Cuz I always had PCs running M$ stuff? (...and)

'cuz I AM too lazy to (try to) learn how to use anything else.

There.

BTW, my legal copy of vista home premium works perfectly since the day I bought my pavilion laptop, on Jan. 27 2007.

Not one single bit of a problem to report ever since.

How's that possible?!?

[Kelvin Mace]

13. Now you've done it.

Wait until you get home and find your laptop molesting your toaster and trying to summon Satan with your cat. Then you'll rue pointing out that your copy of Vista worked.

[Amonester]

25. Me don't have a toaster.

Me only eat my croissants et café at my favorite Coffee Bar + free wireless connection. :hi: :donut:

[Kelvin Mace]

27. Great!

Now you've doomed your toilet paper dispenser.

[Amonester]

35. wElcOme tO my Ignore list, Kelvin...

Kidding!!!

[niceypoo]

18. I have a friend that says the same thing about windows 98

Which was about the worst operating system imaginable.

[Angleae]

26. Sorry, that position is held by windows ME

[DCKit]

12. Why do you hate H1B visa holders? n/t

[niceypoo]

16. I agree

But people will buy it anyway. People do not like learning curves.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

29. Believe me, Vista IS a learning curve!

[CRF450]

34. Please...

Everything that XP had that Vista has was still pretty easy to find. Just organized a little differently. Why are people having such a hard time to willingly find something??

I spent a few hours on a friend's mac, and it was way harder to figure out than the same few hours of using Vista for the first time!

[Occulus]

33. DirectX 10.

It only runs on Vi$ta.

I had heard a rumor that Micro$oft was thinking of rewriting DX10 for XP... because Vi$ta is being received rather, um, poorly.

[Q3JR4]

14. As a general rule I never use

a version of Microsoft Windows unless it's been out for...oh...say...five years. Usually by then they've gotten all of the kinks worked out and I've found a way to get a free for me version (Microsoft licensed Windows XP for free student use for everyone taking a class from the computer science department at the local university near where I currently am).

Only then do I upgrade. There will, however, come a time (I'm sure) when I'm not going to be able to exploit the local loopholes to get free versions of Microsoft software, and when that time comes that will be when I move completely to Linux. Currently I use cygwin on my windows machine at home and that works well for me, but I am looking forward to freeing myself of the shackles of windows software.
Even though I'm too lazy to do so until it becomes absolutely necessary.

Q3JR4.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

17. Old news.

That hack's been available since... oh, let's say one hour after Vista was released....

:shrug:

[sentelle]

19. Its Official

Its exactly a year later after this news came out.

http://apcmag.com/5512/pirate_crack_vista_oem_activation
snip----
It's official: Pirates crack Vista at last
4th March 2007 James Bannan Vista


A genuine crack for Windows Vista has just been released by pirate group Pantheon, which allows a pirated, non-activated installation of Vista (Home Basic/Premium and Ultimate) to be properly activated and made fully-operational.

Unlike cracks which have been floating around since Vista RTM was released in late November, this crack doesn’t simply get around product activation with beta activation files or timestop cracks - it actually makes use of the activation process. It seems that Microsoft has allowed large OEMs like ASUS to ship their products with a pre-installed version of Vista that doesn’t require product activation – apparently because end users would find it too inconvenient.
---Snip

You are aware that this crack is a year old and is slated to be fixed in Vista SP1?

[superconnected]

21. I suppose we're supposed to believe someone would want vista?

[Deja Q]

22. "How Microsoft Conquered China"

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/23/100134488/

By 2001, Microsoft executives were coming to the conclusion that China's weak IP-enforcement laws meant its usual pricing strategies were doomed to fail. Gates argued at the time that while it was terrible that people in China pirated so much software, if they were going to pirate anybody's software he'd certainly prefer it be Microsoft's.

Can Microsoft have any credibility on this issue? Is the issue one of absolutes or relative conditions? If this were Windows 3.1 or 95, I doubt MS would care and rightly so... Gray markets do make the situation a bit hazy, but it's too easy to be cynical under the circumstances.

[alfredo]

32. Market share is market share.

[CatholicEdHead]

23. *whew* I thought it was a security hole

A free activication hack is nothing for me to worry about.

/now SP1 on my laptop in a couple of weeks is a different story

[Thepricebreaker]

30. Big deal I know people that have been running Vista Ultimate cracked since it came out.

[fshrink]

31. Entropy at work.

Finally, we're getting to the end of this curse.

[Amonester]

36. Good point.

Maybe it will be just another fiasco after all.



Time will tell.

[hunter]

37. Cracking Vista might be sort of interesting as an intellectual exercise...

... but actually using a cracked installation is sort of pathetic.

It's like watching a pirated copy of Battlefield Earth.

Please, please have some self respect! If you really must watch Battlefield Earth it's available for $1.26 + 2.98 shipping on Amazon.

You only debase yourself by stealing it.