Pirates crack Vista Activation Server

Yes:

So who said Micro$oft doesnt encourage innovation? Well done to the pirates, who show that no matter what Micro$oft do, there is a always a crack. Business is war someone said and Micro$oft always seem to lose the piracy war. Maybe they might lower the extortionate prices on their ridiculously bloated Operating System, stop trying to put innovative 3rd Party software houses out of business and people just might pay for their software. Until then all power to the pirates!

Anonymous:

am i getting one copy too?

Robin Hood:

Yes i agree 400$ for a OS! MS are crooks! until they bring down the prices to be affordable for average consumer under 100$ we will continue to steal their product and give it out!

Anonymous:

As usual, the honest people are the ones who suffer under such schemes... the hackers don't.

Microsoft should drop these schemes. They will be seen as a "cool" company and more than make up for any loss.

bill bo:

Linux all the way. Screw microsoft and their privacy violating policies.

Anonymous:

But Vista Enterprise does not require a product key, it only requires activation.

Pritpal Singh:

hi
i installed vista 1 day ago but i cant find anything yet for activate it ,, can somebody please help me with this ??

regards
pritpal

APC administrator:

Sorry Pritpal, APC cannot provide specifics on activating an illegal copy of Windows. We report news on the software industry including major exploits/cracks, but we don't condone or encourage people actually doing it.

Anonymous:

install and activating is done in a opk from the clintsever and the licences are held on the server

jgbiggs:

People are more prone to pirate things that are overpriced. They don't feel the need to pay for something that has no vaule.

Who wants to shell out big money for an O/S that is bloated, buggy, and requires me to upgrade my hardware, when you can get linux for free?

Anonymous:

Go away, Linux geek. Geez, you guys are getting old with your schpiel.

ST4LK3R:

Sure... Linux is free and is a great OS if you know how to use it... but soon Microsoft will be in the same boat... with all the new advancements made Vista Is just as Hard to use as Any Linux Distro... Don't get me wrong I love and use Linux and Windows but when it comes down to cost... lots of people are side stepping to Linux

Redneck243:

i feal i do have a bit to say about this i have ben using microsoft os for a wile started goofing off with pc's when ther was dos 6.22 and windows 3.1 and 3.11 and i have found over the years that windows suck and is a crapy knock off of mac. and to tell you the truth mac prity much sucked till OSx
and i do have vista it came on my lap top
and i am triple booting it with xp and ubuntu linux os and for every day use i prefer Ubunta it is so cleen of a os and mail wear is no problem it is just a safe os
and yes it is free but it was easer to install then Vista by a long shot i will keep 1 copy of vista around for 1 reasen only dx10 gaming and i have xp for dx9 gaming do to the fact that under Vista with dx9 games ther seems to be a big lag problem and my system in no wus with 3gig cpu 3 gig ddr 2 800 and 300gig hd with a 7600 gt vid and i have found vist just sucks.,for every day use i pick Ubuntu

Anonymous:

Problem with Linux now'a a days too is that they try to be too much like Windows by mimicking them and yet, they're mentality is so 'anti-MS' and/or 'anti-anything_not_linux'. Linux now'a days is even more bloated and slower than say WinXP. Even the Linux kernel (and most over fragmented Linux distros contain non Open Source code, binary blobs, NDA's up the wazzu (contrary to Linux's *original* goals and beliefs). The only *true*, OSS, secure, clean and not bloated is and will always be OpenBSD! www.openbsd.org compare for yourself.

Peter Hickman:

"but the fact that it’s taken the acquisition of a KMS server shows that Vista activation is still holding strong in its own right."

It doesn't matter which link in the chain is the strongest, only which is the weakest.

Snappy!:

Its true. But in the case of home versions, the KMS server is not part of the link anymore; Vista activation is, and which in this case seem to be holding strong, and hence is the 'weakest' strongest link ... at least for home versions.

tin:

Ha!
This is the kind of activation workaround I'd always expected. Of course since the activation servers were previously a closely guarded secret, it was harder before...

MS would have been better off just sticking with the no-activation-for-corporate deal.

raindog:

The greed of the hacker verses the greed of Microsoft, hasn't this all got a bit silly with both these camps driving legitimate users through all these hoops. You can choose to go through all this palava but if all you really need to do is run office applications in a quick and stable environment then the older versions have a lot going for them. It's a piece of software and nothing more and it's time a lot of the industry gained a little perspective. Software lockdown is a holy grail that will never be achieved and it has become a major annoyance that makes we the legitimate users more and more receptive to alternatives. If Microsoft put the same effort into innovation that they put into rehashing and securing the same old donkey the would have little or no concerns about lost revenue.

Anonymous:

i couldn't have said it better myself :)

justthething84:

CMON one grand for a OS too expensive

Desmond Foulger:

Greed is the key word here. If Microsoft charged reasonable prices for their software (Look at the cost of Apple's OS X for example) then the need for piracy would diminish. The old rule of "Halve the cost, triple the profit" would apply here. Of course this brings into question whether its too little too late. With Apple's OS X 10.5 about to hit the shelves coupled with their reliability and virus free environment, Microsoft should be ordering disposable daipers. Withs Macs actual market share accelerating daily to a current 6.8%, then vista may well go down as Goliaths last stand.

syed murtaza zaidi:

hi
this good window
iam relybale
plz send mee ok

Herbys:

First, the average price for a Windows License is about $40. I don't know how much does OSX retail for, but there are two differences you need to consider:
1) OSX is attached to hardware from the same manufacturer, so you could say it is partially subsidized by it.
2) Each minor build of OSX is for profit, and stuff equivalent to the changes included in Windows XP SP2 were paid for in an Apple release, so if you add the charges for the successive releases of OSX you get way above what you pay for Windows. There are a lot of good things you can say about OSX and many bad things to say about Windows, but Cheap OSX and Expensive Windows arent two of them.

Second, halve the cost, triple the profits is a dream in this case. Worldwide piracy level for Windows is well below 50%. If Microsoft halved the price of Windows, even if 100% of the pirate copies were suddenly replaced by leval versions, they would still be making less money than what they are making today. So apparently Microsoft managers are at least not dumber than you: they can do math.
By the way, Vista's market share is today way bigger than the whole Apple market. Why would microsoft order diapers?

Tenoq:

I'm sorry, but please link me a location where I can buy a fully functional version of Vista for $40. You can't even buy a Vista Home Crippled (tm) version for $40 at cost price. If we could, we would already have phased out XP so we could make an extra $60+ on every PC sold by selling with a cheaper OS.

The fact is, Vista costs $100 for an OEM license of the crappiest, crippled version. If you want a fully-functional version, you're looking at a helluva lot more. While the price has limited relation to piracy (other than the fact people only 'buy' Windows when it's bundled with a PC) it is still an important consideration when you look at cost vs. benefit. You could pirate and get a working version for nothing - or you could pay and get an version that constantly requires reactivation, that sometimes breaks and will treat you like a criminal while you use your own PC.

Gee, a tough choice.

Acidripp:

well... i think you will find very interesting what i have tosay. I installed windows vista a few days after it's release as RC2 ultimate. Of course, after 30 days i got a message that sayed that i have to activate my product, but i closed it. My computer was running a little over 2 days when that happened. 18 days later i unfortunateley had to restart it, and guess what! windows was not working anymore and required activation... in the hope that i could work my way arround that, i clicked other ways to activated and choose the phone call. The software gave me a Romanian phone number where i called and i was transfered to the US activation service. A microsoft employee answered... i think her name was Christie, and asked me for the first 6 digits of the activation number and in a few minutes she gave me the activation key. Now i'm proud to say that my windows vista displays a Microsoft genuine product logo in stead of the 30 days trial period :D

Anonymous:

did you use one of the key's listed on one of the many different serial sites or what?

Anonymous:

I used torrent file, Vista business full, and installed Vista Ultimate with comming serial. But, when my PC started up it asked for activation key! Since my notebook has wireless connection I couldn't turn it off previously. That may have given the MS chance to blacklist me!
Now, the problem is severe than I could have thought, this because my laptop is blocked, I cannot get into and may be I have to reinstall my clean XP remoeving all previous softwares installation and data!

Regards
Giri

aa:

please u can share windows vista activation code with me i would be very thank full to u .

BatWing:

I think that perhaps raindog should gain some perspective. Just to

remind you Vista is just a product. Companies sell products to

attempt to make profit to make further products. This concept has

nothing to do with greed. They do put effort in to innovation, that

is why they have to put so much effort in to protecting their investment in research and development. So to

confuse normal business models with greed is a surprise to me.

Perhaps you do like to work for free? Perhaps you do like to have

your hard work stolen or undervalued. If you can't personally

afford to own a computer with a legal, paid for version of an

operating system then there are internet cafe's or some charity or

library may let you use theirs. You seem to find the

"inconvenience" of software activation such an impost, perhaps

maybe take up a sailing career instead? That is of course if you

don't expect the yacht builder to provide a life time of free

sails.

It isn't rocket surgery :) Good day to you.
BatWing

Riptide:

Dude you miss the point here... When most of the executive at microsoft are bilionaires it is safe to say that there is some milking of the system. It is a well known fact that microsoft has in the past eliminated competition in some verry dubious ways. And thus have the courts been full of lawsuits . Eg. Antitrsut suits Monoply suits etc. Read the history on this Dude and then maybe open your trap.
Later man
Have a nice day

BatWing:

Dude - I disagree with your arguement. They are billionaires because the produce and market some of the most widely used products on the planet. People use their products for all sorts of purposes and in tern to make their own money from their businesses. To equate wealth with milking the system without displaying evidence is ridiculous. Regardless if you are a fan of their products or not, they have made many people rich. Not just themselves.
Have a great day Sir. BatWing

Spiralsorrow:

To lend a little perspective to the practices of Micro$oft:
90% of the actual coding done by microsoft deals with limitations such as DRM, Product Activation, and Obfuscation. The DOS kernel was bought, not created by microsoft. Since its inception microsoft has "Borrowed" innovation from others, all the while claiming credit. Examples: Vistas new "Desktop Search Feature" Which M$ claims was their ingenious implementaion of Googles Desktop, is actually a clone of GNU's Beagle tool, which has been available on linux for years. The Aero eye candy (Only user appreciable feature of Vista) is based almost wholly on composite implimentation that was originated by the open source/Linux community (See Compiz, Beryl, xcompmgr, Xorg). This list goes on a very very long time.
As for M$ being wealthy due to providing a superior product: Microsoft has yet to release an OS that is not broken to its core. Windows 98 first edition was so broken that 98 Second Edition had to be issued to replace it within a year. XP is completely useless without installing the Service Pack 2 package (Which was M$'s clever way of selling an incomplete product and finishing it nearly a YEAR after releasing XP. Service Pack 2 is LARGER THAN MY ENTIRE OPERATING SYSTEM.
I recently recorded an mp3 file from my computer mic and sent it to several friends who run XP, and none of them are capable of playing the file. They recieve an error that is essence says, "Uncle Bill has not authorized you to play this file, as microsoft doesn't have a record of having made money from the file in question". Vista has tightened rather than loosened these restrictions, which I believe just may mark the downfall of the Giant...when people can no longer play a simple audio file without first calling microsoft to certify the file to appease the Windows Genuine Advantage malware, MacIntosh, Linux and other options will become more and more attractive. Microsoft has held the baton on computer technology through the decades for 1 and 1 reason alone: A fantastic Public Relations department. As long as Microsoft is associated in the public eye with innovation and security, it doesn't matter that they produce the least innovative and secure OS on the market. Image is everything. Or so it has been...times are changing. People are coming to realize that productivity is more important than Appearance, and thus are quickly finding that the windows operating system simply lacks the power to handle much of anything. As the false public idea that "Windows is the only user friendly operating system" vanishes, and people are presented with the beautiful interfaces found on Linux/MacIntosh and others, the glamour is dissolving...for the first time ever Microsoft is going to be forced into a "Put up or shut up" contest on a field that is not theirs to rig. They are choosing to enter that field with a vastly inferior operating system (Vista), and the Aero interface is the only thing it has to offer that the average user can see. 5 years ago this may have been enough, but with the strides being made on alternative OSes, Aero is too little too late. I do believe Microsloth has shot themselves in the foot with this one, but time will tell just how much invasion the average consumer will allow in their lives before saying, "Enough is enough"

Matt:

batwing, the fact that they are billionaires are proof that the majority of the public are buying the software rather than cracking it. Cracking Vista (especially in this sort of way) requires a fair amount of knowledge in both networking and general computing.

Perhaps milking the system is a harsh term, however one cannot deny if one looks hard enough with open eyes. Why will DX10 not be ported to XP when it so obviously can? is this not a primary push for users to upgrade? I would be quite a happy gamer were it not for the fact that i now have to purchase an overpriced resource hogging operating system which basically requires a hardware upgrade (mainly ram) just to be on-par with the performance i have now in XP.... and yes I have a 8800gtx and must buy vista just to use it to it's full potential. If that is not milking the system what is it? an extreme case of having a business opportunity and using it to their advantage. The difference seems sleight if at all.

Anonymous1238120947014:

The only reason their products are most likely used is because they are smart. But if you know the facts they don't program half the stuff the just copy it and they are complaining about all the hackers, well if they sold it for lower prices there wouldn't be as many it only takes about $10.00 to make one. And also the people who bought the products made their money by themselves anyway not because of microsoft, anyway microsoft is easy to hack im only 14 and i can bypass most of its security so in turn it makes people broke and thats why alot of people have problems with it. The only reason that i have it is because all the games come out for it unfortunately. And also Microsoft is saying my copy of Vista isn't genuine cuz they are idiots alot of people have always had this problem both with Vista and XP.

Turtle:

It doesn't matter how wealthy executives are, except to the stock holders as part of a compensation package, or a violation of the law. You know like Enron. When did making money become wrong anyway?
All companies want to be the only ones in a market and don't really want competition, fortuneately that's not the case in a free enterprise system. I quote, "Greed is good."
There are few companies that haven't had lawsuits - the larger the company the more lawsuits they incur. The rule of law does prevail.
Buy another O/S or write your own Operating System and you won't have to use Microsoft anymore. Tip when it is as good as theirs, market it and become a billionaire too. Based on all the complaints Microsoft earns on every O/S shouldn't be difficult perhaps for you, Dude. You can always keep the O/S one you purchased with your computer in the first place. I have an Apple //e that works today as well as it did when I bought it-it does run VisiCalc and Applewriter but not Excel or Word. :o) I suggest, finally, if you want to use Microsoft's product line-pay the price or buy something else.

Turtle:

It doesn't matter how wealthy executives are, except to the stock holders as part of a compensation package, or a violation of the law. You know like Enron. When did making money become wrong anyway?
All companies want to be the only ones in a market and don't really want competition, fortuneately that's not the case in a free enterprise system. I quote, "Greed is good."
There are few companies that haven't had lawsuits - the larger the company the more lawsuits they incur. The rule of law does prevail.
Buy another O/S or write your own Operating System and you won't have to use Microsoft anymore. Tip when it is as good as theirs, market it and become a billionaire too. Based on all the complaints Microsoft earns on every O/S shouldn't be difficult perhaps for you, Dude. You can always keep the O/S one you purchased with your computer in the first place. I have an Apple //e that works today as well as it did when I bought it-it does run VisiCalc and Applewriter but not Excel or Word. :o) I suggest, finally, if you want to use Microsoft's product line-pay the price or buy something else.

Ballero:

True microsoft do put effort into their products, but can you really say the cost of each vista is relative to the programmers salery, microsoft are making billions here... and we, the consumer, are getting raped into spending huge amounts of money on their products... and about activation, its all a load of bolllucks!!! how can anyone copyright what is essentially 1' and 0's, !! all is does is make the product annoying... not everyone in your sad little world earns loads of money so after we buy a computer it annoys us off that we have to pay another £400 to have 'Legal' and 'Legit' software... THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS A PILE OF WANK

Anonymous:

Full stand alone versions windows vista ultimate are going for $399 at some vendors

Anonymous:

I'd like to know who are the vendors offing full ultimate for $399?

deniz:

Windows Vista Ultimate for CHF 279.-- CHF is Swiss Franks, 1.24 CHF = 1.00 USD that means 225.-- $
Here you go:
http://www.brack.ch/aspx/default.aspx?ID=4074&mod=gruppe

Matt:

very nice comments raindog, however i still believe that MS's greed is greater overall. Keeping DX10 for vista only is not only selfish it's on the boarders of criminal.

Serves them right i say. both extremes are bad, but one must have the other in order for balance to be maintained i guess...

raindog:

Greed is greed, Microsoft's greed is no more or less contemptible than that of the pirates.
It's a question of balance and I believe Microsoft have tipped the scales. I know only too well what it is like to have intellectual property stolen, but I cannot lock my wares down to a point of limited customer usability and still expect a marketplace.
Microsoft has become so paranoid of competition and piracy that they have lost the ability to innovate. All their efforts are now devoted to quashing competition and dictating how the marketplace should suck it's eggs.
The more Microsoft disadvantage the consumer the less attractive their products become. Something Batwings simple profit model doesn't take into account.

There is no less piracy now with all this genuine advantage, and product activation guff than there was in the days of DOS, Yet the newerMicrosoft systems Genuinely Disadvantage the honest consumer, making the product unsuitable for its intended purpose.
If Microsoft believe that blocking protocols and buying or hindering competitors is the way to go then that is their choice.
I care little that Bill and his cohorts have luxury yachts and the trappings of success, good luck to them. But if they think they can continue to survive by re-releasing more and more hostile version of the same old stuff, then good luck to them too, they'll need it. History has a habit of repeating itself, remember IBM?

dramenbejs:

What? Software lockdown never achieved? Do we live in the same galaxy?

LoadStar:

The KMS server - based on everything I've been reading here at work - is available right now, as long as you don't mind dedicating a Vista desktop to be a KMS 'server.'

What comes next year is the plugin for Windows Server 2003 to be able to do KMS as well.

Anonymous:

There seem to be alot of "fanboys" here, making statements that the whole world should move to linux... well, you're being very short-sighted if you think this is realistic, or even possible, for the majority of people. At home I use a combination of Windows XP, Ubuntu linux and Puppy linux, and have to say that most the time I use linux. It is a great day-to-day O/S, with loads of decent software available. However, linux has some MAJOR drawbacks which prevent it from being adopted. Whereas I am quite prepared, when necessary, to visit one of the excellent online forums and/or ask questions, and configure things using the command-line, how many "ordinary" PC users can really be bothered with this? Lets face it, linux is a steep learning curve for "newbies". Also, what happens when something goes wrong & they want to call a friend to help fix it (as is so common with Windows users)? Consequently, whereas I use it extensively myself, I would NOT recommend it to any of my friends as I would be the ONLY person they could call if something broke (plus I would most likely have to set it up for them in the first place;)) My point is, most people use Windows, and Windows alone, for one good reason... it's what they know, what everyone else knows, and it would be a load of hassle to change.

Anonymous:

So if everyone know Windows XP WHY do they need to install an unknown OS like Vista?

I will tell you, because they want to play 3D GAMES and MS owns games development thanks to directx. Now that WINE is getting directx 9 done, they have to move to directx 10 and force people to move to Vista for that reason.

non-geek pleople use windows because they are so dumb that are unable to try other things.

Windows just has one advantage over Linux, it is that A LOT OF PEOPLE use it. So please stop that loop and move to a better, FREE alternative.

ashok pai:

This is the best news in several years! Microsoft has hopefully finally chopped their own feet. now all the governments, end users and anyone using windows can all move to linux en masse!

Anonymous:

"...end users and anyone using windows can all move to linux en masse!" You've obviously never met an end user. You think that secretary down the hall has trouble with windows, drop a linux box in front of her and see what happens... Linux is nowhere NEAR ready for the enterprise user. GREAT servers...sucky desktops/apps.

Anonymous:

How do i install linux? Can i play pc games or access my files as if i were using windows? I need to know cause i am a gamer and my games dont run on linux

Anonymous:

So if everyone know Windows XP, WHY do they need to install an unknown OS like Vista? I will tell you, because they want to play 3D GAMES and MS owns games development thanks to directx. Now that WINE is getting directx 9 done, they have to move to directx 10 and force people to move to Vista for that reason. non-geek pleople use windows because they are so dumb that are unable to try other things. Windows just has one advantage over Linux, it is that A LOT OF PEOPLE use it. So please stop that loop and move to a better, FREE alternative.