Pirates release Server 2008 and Vista SP1
Arrrrr maties....it be no more than an hour two after ye olde RTM announcement, that Server 2008 hit the scurvy pirate boards, with Vista SP1 not far astern. Avast!
It never takes an especially long time for RTM software to hit the pirate boards from the time it was announced, and the cases of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 have proven to be no exception.
Within hours of Windows 2008 going RTM, DVD ISO images of both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions were doing the rounds on pirate boards. Vista SP1 took a little longer to start circulating – and currently only the 32-bit version is available – but it’s still there also, as well as the RC2 refresh release of Windows XP SP3.
Interestingly, the groups which tend to be responsible for distributing Microsoft product code ahead of time – WinBeta and BetaInsiders – are actually drawing this code from legitimate Microsoft resources. Although neither Windows Server 2008 nor Vista SP1 are available for general release yet, they are available to TechNet and Microsoft Connect subscribers, and the product code doing the rounds is exactly the same as that available on these sources.
Bear in mind that these releases aren’t true warez as neither group has published product keys or any other sort of activation bypass. However this doesn’t make their release any less piratical, as software available from these sources is explicitly forbidden from being redistributed (so much for that warning).