‘Blackouts’ for users of pirated Windows
By STEVEN PATRICK

PETALING JAYA: Starting Wednesday, users with pirated copies of Microsoft Corp's Windows XP Professional operating system (OS) on machines that are Internet-capable could find their computer displays going black and with no screen icons visible.

There are 8.6 million users of Win XP Pro in Malaysia and about three million are expected to suffer the “blackouts,” according to Microsoft Malaysia.

To continue working, the user would need to reset the machine’s desktop background. Everything will return to normal. But when 60 minutes are up, the black screen will reappear and the user must go through the whole process again.

This will keep happening until the user licenses the copy of Win XP Pro on the machine by going to a Microsoft reseller or getting a licence online at the www.microsoft.com/malaysia/genuine. Each licence costs RM580.

This initiative is part of Microsoft’s antipiracy campaign, dubbed Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), aimed at educating users on the benefits of using genuine software, K.T. Ng, Microsoft Malaysia’s director of client business group, told The Star on Tuesday.

Win XP Professional was chosen for the antipiracy blitz because it is the most pirated version of Microsoft’s Win XP operating system. The other version is Windows XP Home, which is for home users.

This is the second time that Microsoft is needling users of pirated copies of its operating system to go legitimate. Two years ago, it sprang its WGA initiative on local users of Win XP Pro and Win XP Home.

That time, a pop-up message showed up whenever the PC with a pirated Windows OS was switched on, with the intention of shaming business and home users into getting legitimate copies. The message said “This copy of Windows is not genuine.”

It was quite successful. At that time, there were about 5.1 million pirated copies of Windows XP Pro and after the exercise, about two million of the copies were validated, said Microsoft Malaysia.

“We are encouraged by that response,” said Ng. "So this time, we have escalated the penalty to a black screen that reappears every hour until the user validates his or her copy of Win XP Pro.”

Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, chief executive officer of Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), lauded the WGA campaign.

MDeC is caretaker of the country’s MSC Malaysia initiative, which is working to build up the nation’s knowledge economy.

“MDeC respects the rights of companies to protect their intellectual property. It’s a reminder that software piracy doesn’t pay, especially when Malaysians are themselves putting a lot of effort into creating original software,” he said.

Not clear
Several users and industry pundits that The Star spoke to believe Microsoft is using its WGA campaign to herd business users into upgrading to its newest operating system, Windows Vista, which hasn’t garnered interest among companies because of its higher hardware requirements.

“Microsoft has stopped selling Win XP in the market, so you have to wonder why it is spending time and money to take down users of pirated copies of this OS,” said a PC user, who asked for anonymity. “Why isn’t it also targeting users who have pirated copies of Windows Vista?”

“So if I’m using a pirated copy of Vista at this time, I won’t be hassled? Got to wonder about that.”

Ng replied that the concern now is XP Pro, which is widely pirated. “Vista isn’t pirated as much. WGA is continuous and should there be a Vista piracy problem, we will address it down the road,” he said.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...1600&sec=nation

i'm using VLK key atm...

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edit: added sample screenshot


http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft....xp-professional

Alright~ Give ubuntu a try perhaps?

so, any way to overcome or prevent this?.. other than validating the copy.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I've one ori copy but it have installed on my netbook.. can i install it on my comp if my netbook not online frequently?

¿ǝɹɐɥs oʇ puıɯ ʞlʌ sı ʇɐɥʍ

same thing with the tattoo last time ??

i think those who didn't update their windows will not be affected.

i have not update... will i be saved?

"... users with pirated copies of Microsoft Corp's Windows XP Professional operating system (OS) on machines that are Internet-capable could find their computer displays going black and with no screen icons visible.

no Internets for you...

but I think if you turn off Automatic Updates you'll be fine... although I remember Windows / Microsoft update uses 3 services the other 2 being Background Intelligent Transfer Service & Event Log

i think thats how they detect pirate ones.

ok

i have a ori copy of windows....cd

i've install it on EEE that online not frequently

can i use it install on my comp?

TL;DR

When there's a way, there's always another way to break the way.
And this is violation of privacy.

I manually update? still not safe?

i will change my firewall setting blocked changes from microsoft.com

time for ubuntu
oh wai-, my system sux on ubuntu time to install windows 98

Try the latest 8.04, it can detect almost all the hardware correctly. Even my Broadcom wireless is detected after a single update.

ubuntu 64-bit ftw...

oh nooooesss..
no wai-
im using vista :lulz:

imma usin ori vista

that one i help u buy one geh...

They should do this earlier...

Ubuntu can play games?

yes, with Wine... http://www.winehq.org/

waiting for 8.10 release in october, intrepid ibex!

not 100% compatible

u know what is 'VLK' ?

just get it from some organization or university la

Not all games compatible with WINE.

if i got stock SP2 XP.. will it blackout if i disable the WU?

i'm sure some components from WU that enables this

my window XP is very old one "APRIL 2007"

it does not have WGA....XD

It's illegal to pirate but it's illegal to break people's computer as well. Just like sending malware to destroy one's computer. People can sue.

No chance bro u dun even has that "computer"(which is the OS) legally in the 1st place how do u claim damage on it?

I'm not worried about myself. I own a legit Vista. I'm just saying if this goes too extreme, well, people can sue. How would they know that the ATMs are not using illegal WinXP and caused a bank to face suits? The bank will sue for sure. The bank wouldn't be able to find out if one of the service engineers used a pirated WinXP on the ATM instead until they detected the piracy.

The article didn't explain how it works. Some journalism they are

Sounds more like a propaganda to scare people rather than providing news information.

and why is the information only available at theStar.

If anything, shouldn't it be worldwide implimentation?

IMO, it has to be done through auto update. You can't just magically shut down everyone's window xp when it never came with that feature in the first place, nor was there any such news involving SP3 implementing such stuff

I think they detect WGA. If the WGA is not cracked or it has detected piracy, then they will send in the code to shut the computer. Exactly why people condemned MS when they applied the WGA and OGA.

If this happen to any business and cause losses, the one who used pirated OS will bare full responsibility and also can face legal action from microsoft. That's why all business related IT system got software license and deployment checklist well documented to avoid all this issue.

Anyway why people are condenming Microsoft when they are themselves being unfair to Microsoft and to other who pay for genuine OS in the first place.

Microsoft have full rights to their products coz (if ure blind to legal terms here it goes)

The kids needs to go to school and the guys working in MS needs to eat. Besides, put urself in their shoes and see if ur hardwork gets pirated.

btw, my desktop is already black and i have zero icons on my desktop for months now. i like it clean...lol

for goodness sake, stop whining, get urself a license or VLK and everything's solved... no more searching for cracks...

OEM licenses are much cheaper...

just ghost ur pc.. prepare for somtin to happen.. hehe

I always format my com anyway besides I dun do not use those coms to go online.

Meh they probably just want people to pick up sh*tty Vista or something..

I thought Vista has this blackout thing as well IINM.

I got the original copy of XP SP3 but heck the validation of the OS won't work !!!!
Time to move to Linux.

the new WGA has appear in WU

disable automatic updates. you will be safe.

use original, you will be safe

I lol'ed. Go on, be original. You can spend thousand of bucks upgrading your PC but can't fork out like RM300 for the OS?

what time?

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Added on August 27, 2008, 7:47 amand if they can blackout all pirated they already done that years ago

enable update, but it havent appear on my WU, yet i wont install that WGA. I will install others, which means I will be safe

Just set auto update to notify only and uncheck windows genuine advantage.

izzit will blackout of another tactic of d losting gohmen saja wan takut us?? we turn off d auto updates n firewall den can d la.. dun click any link tat related or duno send from who den can solve d mar..

I f***ing lol'ed at your stupidity lack of knowledge. The WGA has nothing to do with the government. It's a worldwide effort by Microsoft to crack down on pirated XP users. It has been around For a long time already. It's their right as the property owner of the software. I mean I still wondering why people are still like "Oh.. I am using pirated but you can't do shit to me" crap. You are using ILLEGAL software. Basically you are stealing. Repeat after me. S-T-E-A-L-I-N-G.
And don't give me crap about Microsoft are rich enough that piracy is nothing to them. It's wrong and you know it's wrong and heck for the love of god if you are decent enough you should know better than doing something wrong
If you want to use a free OS, go download something free like linux or such.

go for original, yes... been into pirated software since like more than 10 years , but after that it's just not right, then slowly "migrated" to original software from OS, and game... , want it free? there's a lot free software available to download...