May 7th, 2009
With Windows 7, 'Genuine' is out; 'Activation' is in
Microsoft is giving its anti-piracy/DRM technology a PR face lift with Windows 7. The “Windows Genuine” branding is being supplanted by a new name: Windows Activation.
The choice is interesting. Microsoft’s anti-piracy technology consists of two parts: Activation and validation. By emphasizing “Activation” with the new name, Microsoft is downplaying the part of its Genuine technology that has been most criticized for both heavy-handed punishment tactics and false-positive results. (Microsoft fixed some of those problems with its Genuine DRM/validation with Vista SP1.)
(The “Genuine” brand isn’t going away completely, however. Microsoft will continue to release “Genuine” updates and notifications for XP users, officials said in a press update on May 7.)
Windows 7’s Activation technology will be built on the same “Software Protection Platform” that was part of Vista, according to Microsoft. There will be some minor tweaks, officials are acknowledging. From today’s press statement (a Q&A with Joe Williams, general manager, Worldwide Genuine Windows):
“While we have seen success with our implementation in Windows Vista, as evident from the lower levels of piracy, we also knew we could do better in Windows 7. For example, with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, if a PC was not activated during the login process, customers would periodically see a dialog box as a visual reminder they still needed to activate their copy of Windows. Within this prompt, they could choose to activate immediately or later. But the option to push the ‘activate later’ button was grayed out for 15 seconds. Customers told us that while the prompt grabbed their attention, they didn’t understand why they needed to activate immediately and that the delay was annoying. In Windows 7 we modified this process: When customers choose to activate later they will see a dialog box highlighting how activation helps them identify if their copy of Windows is genuine and be allowed to proceed immediately without a 15-second delay. In Windows 7 we’ve made changes so that users will see more informative notifications messages and be able to more easily complete the tasks they need to.”
It sounds like some changes are in the works around enterprise Activation in the Windows 7 timefame, as well. Again, from the press statement:
“We also spent time thinking about how we could make activation and validation easier for enterprises. For example, we think IT professionals will appreciate support in Windows 7 for virtualized images and volume activation technologies. When Windows Vista was being developed, virtualization was primarily a server scenario, but today many companies have it in their production environment on both the server and the client. We listened and adapted our management tool for organizations by making them more easily available.”
Bottom line: Microsoft isn’t removing its anti-piracy/DRM mechanisms from Windows 7. Let’s see whether the company actually makes them less onerous.
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