Tuesday, July 8th 2014
Microsoft to Revamp Activation System with Windows 9
Microsoft is expected to introduce a radical new software activation system with its next major release of Windows, in a bid to stem piracy. According to BetaNews, citing a Russian source with a reasonably good track-record in leaking stuff out of Redmond, the company is planning to do away with software keys, 16-character alphanumeric passwords unique to each copy of the software, which let you prove the validity of your purchase, and unlock the software. The next Windows will use a system in which having a Microsoft Store account - which isn't necessarily the same as a Microsoft Account - is mandatory, and acquiring machine-specific images of the Windows installation disc from the store.
The way we understand it, it works like this. After paying for your license while logged into the Microsoft Store, you're made to download a generic install disc image. After its installation, your machine's details (usually just motherboard-related details) are logged with Microsoft, and the software stays activated on your machine. When you need to install your OS on another machine, you untie your current machine from your licence online, and install your software on the new machine. The software will stop working on the older machine, ensuring that only one single-user license is running on a machine at a given time. The concept can be suitably adapted for 3-user and 5-user family licenses.
The same source also goes on to claim that Microsoft's removal of a Start Menu continues to be unpopular, and that its next Windows release - the so called Windows 9 - could bring a highly functional Start Menu back. Microsoft could launch a gargantuan marketing campaign to make sure people are motivated to upgrade from older Windows versions, because they get their Start Menu back. Microsoft could begin talking Windows 9 this fall, with early public and semi-public, pre-retail versions of the OS being circulated.
Source:
BetaNews
The way we understand it, it works like this. After paying for your license while logged into the Microsoft Store, you're made to download a generic install disc image. After its installation, your machine's details (usually just motherboard-related details) are logged with Microsoft, and the software stays activated on your machine. When you need to install your OS on another machine, you untie your current machine from your licence online, and install your software on the new machine. The software will stop working on the older machine, ensuring that only one single-user license is running on a machine at a given time. The concept can be suitably adapted for 3-user and 5-user family licenses.
The same source also goes on to claim that Microsoft's removal of a Start Menu continues to be unpopular, and that its next Windows release - the so called Windows 9 - could bring a highly functional Start Menu back. Microsoft could launch a gargantuan marketing campaign to make sure people are motivated to upgrade from older Windows versions, because they get their Start Menu back. Microsoft could begin talking Windows 9 this fall, with early public and semi-public, pre-retail versions of the OS being circulated.
87 Comments on Microsoft to Revamp Activation System with Windows 9
got it.
(i've got legit windows 7 and 8.1 and i've had to crack over the top of both, since they crack the megashits about me changing hardware. my windows 7 laptop deactivated itself because drivers changed the name the APU reported itself to windows device manager, so it assumed i'd pirated windows to another laptop)
I keep my legit Windows copies activated the right way (even if I have to put up with excruciating 30-minute phone calls), because that's the only way you can run Windows with UEFI and Secureboot (startup in 5 seconds). Cracked Windows installations only work in legacy/CSM mode.
Still got 2 W8 keys so I'm in no rush to upgrade, although if they do the $15 thing again I might. ;)
Or at least they'll do that for the first week, until some crack scene group comes in and wipes the floor with microsofts activation system and entirely undermines all their effort. M$ should just stop bothering to waste time and money on that stuff. Pirates are going to pirate something in any way that they can, making activation a little harder isn't going to stop that. capitalise on paying customers that are going to pay and make their lives easier.
also this is not gonna fly in a corporate environment so assuming M$ offers a KMS/MAK activation solution its just a matter of time before someone reverses that or the sdk gets leaked
when will Microsoft learn that anything they do will be patched inside a week
If windows wasn't crap and was cheaper more people would buy it.
Like many I refuse to buy windows 8 because I think the you need to do acid or some sort of drug to understand it. And yes I know there are shell extensions etc...
Make windows 7 & 8 $40 a copy and piracy problem solved.
And none of this restrictive crap, aka you change a motherboard graphics card you need to reactivate. No wonder people pirate.
This new approach could break this as it sounds like they are linking it to a store account. So kinda like Steam. Forcing the user to sync with the store all the time is the perfect way to make sure a copy is perpetually activated. Trouble is, they will face a lot of flak over this because companies or people on closed networks or those just don't log into the net all the time, will raise a fuss.
This is the same crap M$ got in trouble with on the Xbone. Always on, always connected DRM. This is what publishers and M$ wants to do so I doubt it'll be protested with W9. Trouble comes when, what happens when the activation servers are down or you can't connect to the net? They'll have to have something in place for that, and that is where the hackers will strike. If you can trick Windows into thinking it is in a perpetual offline mode where it doesn't log in to sync, then this DRM is pointless.
M$ can't avoid this because corporate institutions will need enterprise versions which don't require activations. Those will of course be leaked and the hacks will be discovered. Heck my first PC was one a friend gave me that had a copy of XP Corporate on it which meant it could be installed over and over as many times as you needed without activation.
Course this is likely where other OS options will start becoming more popular. Not surprised that Valve went with Linux for Steam OS if they saw this coming. They know this is where the industry is wanting to head and they know it is going to blow up in their faces when people aren't willing to put up with it.
Microsoft: Redefining Stupid.
i prefer like win xp activation :D:D just simple
How long do you think it would take for Msft to have a coronary if everyone stopped buying their stuff? A week? A month? Whatever it is, it wouldn't take very long. People will pony up though.
Feels good to pay for Office Pro and be told I can't use it after 3 reinstalls. The issue is not tech savvy people being lazy, the issue resides with M$ and their activation hoops. I'm out of pocket, therefore I have to pirate my Office software so that I can use what I've paid for.
i'm not saying piracy is the answer - i'm saying microsoft have serious flaws with their current system, and they need to fix that before making it even more restrictive.