The Hindu Business Line : Windows updates only for licensed users

According to those who make a living out of selling pirated copies of Windows OS in India, the initiative is not likely to have much of an impact on their trade as most individual users do not bother to download security patches, updates and so on.

Pune , Feb. 13

WINDOWS users worldwide will soon be required to verify the genuineness of their copy of the Microsoft operating system before they are allowed to download updates, security patches and add-on features from the software giant's main download section.

Microsoft operating system (OS) authenticity checks, as of now, are entirely voluntary.

This initiative to crack down on pirated software will initially be implemented in three countries — China, Norway and the Czech Republic — from February 7 and will subsequently be introduced in other countries under a Microsoft programme dubbed Windows Genuine Advantage which additionally focuses on the protection of intellectual property.Security angle: The Windows Genuine Advantage programme has a security angle to it in that Microsoft believes it is often blamed - unfairly — for problems in this regard by people running bootleg Windows.

Windows Genuine Advantage offers attractive incentives to those who authenticate their copy of Windows, ranging from free software to discounts on other Microsoft products and services.

Further, the initiative is expected to get the support of computer makers using legitimate Microsoft products - and find themselves at a disadvantage in the marketplace when they compete with manufacturers who retail their computers with pirated Windows loaded in them.

The initiative represents the conclusion of extensive testing that Microsoft has been conducting for some months now of a tool which allows it to verify the authenticity of a user's copy of Windows.

Late last year, the company had launched a pilot programme under which visitors to the Windows downloading page were requested to allow Microsoft to verify whether their copy OS was a licensed one. As Microsoft did not want to lose customers who had bought computers which they believed ran legitimate Windows, the company had managed the programme with delicacy and tact. Thus, visitors to the Windows main download page had not been compelled to take part in the programme in order to get their downloads. Nor had those who were found to be running bootleg copies of Windows been barred from downloading security patches and add-ons.

With the introduction of Windows Genuine Advantage, the freebies will no longer be available.

However, according to those who make a living out of selling pirated copies of Windows OS in India, the initiative is not likely to have much of an impact on their trade as most individual users do not bother to download security patches, updates and so on.

They added that institutional users would now be forced to work out the costs and benefits of continuing to use bootleg Windows.

According to The Business Software Alliance, piracy costs software makers $29 billion annually.

The Business Software Alliance is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace.

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