Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Windows warning
EXCLUSIVE: By CHRISTY LEE S.W.
AT THE LOGIN SCREEN: A message stating ‘This copy of Windows is not genuine’ will be permanently tattooed to the bottom righthand corner of the login screen.
PETALING JAYA: Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of local PC users running pirated Windows operating systems will soon face the shame of being reminded of their illegal action every time they switch on their machines.
The feature will be added to the operating system by Microsoft Corp from tomorrow and cannot be erased. It will nag the guilty users and can be awkward if it shows up on corporate PCs.
There are about six million Windows PC users in the country, according to industry estimates, while anti-piracy watchdog Business Software Alliance has reported that 61% of all software used in local private businesses is illegal.
Current users of PCs running pirated Windows will find their machines “tattooed” the next time they update the operating system.
Basically, a message stating “This copy of Windows is not genuine ...” will be permanently affixed to the operating system’s login screen, and a similar message will randomly pop up on the desktop whenever the machine is in use.
The anti-piracy move is being kicked off in five countries tomorrow – the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia.
Users whose machines have been affected will only be able to get rid of the tattoo if they install a genuine copy of Windows. Prices range from RM320 for a copy of Windows XP Home (OEM version) to RM510 for Windows XP Pro (OEM version).
“Or they can put up with being ‘nagged’ by the pop-up message every time they use their computers,” said K.T. Ng, group manager for Windows Client solutions at Microsoft Malaysia.
If they were businessmen or corporate executives, it would be embarrassing if their clients saw the tattoo indicating that a pirated copy of Windows was being used, he said.
According to Ng, the move was aimed at better serving Microsoft’s genuine users.
For example, he said, counterfeiters had been able to reproduce Microsoft product packaging to the point where consumers were unable to tell genuine from imitation.
“The pop-up message would immediately alert consumers to counterfeit copies of Windows, such as when they buy a new notebook or PC,” he said.
If a user has unknowingly received an illegal copy of the operating system, he will be able to report the vendor concerned by clicking on the “Get Genuine” button at the login screen.
Machines that have been tattooed will still be able to receive software updates for the operating system, but will not be allowed to download Internet Explorer 7.0 (IE7) and Windows Defender.
IE7 is the new, more secure version of Microsoft’s web browser while Windows Defender is an anti-spyware program.
For more details, see your copy of In.Tech in today’s paper.
-dy-
Just for info =)
posted by Internship - IT/IS Jan 03 @ 6:41 PM,
7 Comments:
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At 7:11 PM,
MK said...
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erm..thx for the info
just turn off ur automatic updates. that should solve ur problem. i think. -
At 3:19 AM,
said...
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heheh..lepak pakceek...illusi je tuh..try ko bukak gambo tu gune photoshop..n detect yg tu superimpose je tuh..(menyedapkan ati)
/me tgh try bukak auto updates gk. degil. nk tgk camne. hasil kajian akan dibagitau kemudian.
don't want to have problem with s/w licensing? adopt open source :)
dy..one reminder. kalo post mende camtuh..sila letak link. kang org kata plagiarism :p -
At 8:19 AM,
Ainul Hafiz said...
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adek... dy dah bubuh nama author atas tuh pe sume.. n last skali dah suruh refer intech paper.. so i consider that as not a plagarism
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At 8:30 AM,
Internship - IT/IS Jan 03 said...
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hahha pakcik sengal, dah tau nak widescreen gi bli gak lcd biasa, pastu merapu nak widescreen miahahahha.
menda ni ade org ckp kene time auto update, but ade gak yg kene bile ade popup kuar soh install sumthing from microsoft. well aku ni jenis mls nak format pc, so i'll leave the auto-update off.
-jep- -
At 9:37 AM,
said...
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hahaha..aku cume mampu menggelakkan pakcik dgn angan2 widescreen nye... :p
enol..it is still a plagiarism. Pasal takde menyatakan secara terang dari mana ia diambil. Patutnya letak :
"Source : www.thestar.com.my/lalala/lalaa"
Or "Taken from an article in The Star"
Or "Quoted from : The Star"
Begitulah adanya. Cuma peringatan untuk ditulis dalam FYP or report2 yg penting. Blog ni tak penting..so bole diabaikan. -
At 12:00 PM,
Internship - IT/IS Jan 03 said...
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urm...hehe..sorry aa adeq pasal takda link.. tu first time mengepost di blog nih..nk cari link kat mana nk post pun terpusing2..tu kira baik ade gmbar..haha.. nnt next time org letak link k.
but then, info tu dy dpt dr email dr team mate. so far tak berlaku lg pun sbb kat office gune genuine nye and kat umah takde tenet nk update.. =P
-dy- -
At 10:26 AM,
said...
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nvm dy. tak marah pn. cume mengingatkan. pasal aku kene marah dgn SV aku jawab emel customer bg jawapan tp takde link. hu hu hu ~
hehe..kat opis aku pn tak cuak. kat umah..da ade update di download tp takde lak mende tu lg. cuma security patch.
mangsa pertama windows genuine pop-up : mat!! :p
