IT may have cost Microsoft millions of sales, but Redmond claims that Windows Genuine Advantage has forced punters to buy legitimate copies of its software.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Vole had tried everything from court cases, to threats, to try and counter piracy. But now that Windows Genuine Advantage has locked down its Vista product, piracy is more or less a thing of the past.
The SMH admits that Microsoft does not have any actual figures to back up its startling claim. The closest thing it has said was that Windows sales were up 20 percent while worldwide PC sales were up only 14 to 16 percent.
It claims that this was because people with counterfeit copies of Windows were having to put the real thing on their computers or the software does not work.
Lockdown software has been traditionally avoided by software companies who fear that the technology just annoys users so much that they go elsewhere.
However pirate hunters, the BSA is calling on them to follow Microsoft's lead and install more of this type of blocking gear.
Are You Ready for Windows Live Messenger 9.0 Beta?
Are you ready for Windows Live Messenger 9.0 Beta? Windows Live messenger 8.5 is barely out the door, but the question is not without a solid foundation.
Microsoft hardly spent any time lingering on the success of version 8.5 of its instant messaging client and is already moving forward with the development of Windows Live Messenger 9.0. With Microsoft gagging all details about the upcoming version of its instant messaging client, details are scarce about the direction the development process of Windows Live Messenger 9.0 will take.
But just the fact that the Redmond company has already debuted the beta testing of the instant messaging client is illustrative of the commitment to the world's largest IM community, numbering almost 300 million users. At the same time, the initial testing of Windows Live Messenger 9.0 is a private process, accessible exclusively by invitation.
