Microsoft released Vista via MSDN on November 17

Nov 29, 2006 13:46 GMT  ·  By

Windows Vista RTM MSDN manages to stand out of the amorphous mass of cracked copies of Windows Vista RTM. While pirated copies of Vista began emerging as soon as Microsoft released the product to manufacturing this edition has been released on peer to peer networks after November 17.

This because on November 17, Microsoft made Windows Vista available for download via Premium MSDN Subscriptions. On a single P2P website there are in excess of 50 copies of one or other form of Vista RTM build 6000.16386.061101-2205, complete with RTM universal key that will allow the installation of either Home Basic, Home Premium, Business or Ultimate editions, for both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms.

The NFO file of a Vista.RTM.32Bit.and.64Bit.AIO.DVD-WinBeta even displays a case of ethics as its uploaders state that: "we are NOT providing workarounds or 'fixes' for WPA. You are still required to activate your software within this time. While we are aware of possible workarounds in the wild that may work with Windows Vista, we suggest keeping yourself out of trouble. Most release groups will tell you, "if you like it buy it," we say the same."

But finding an alternative to activating Vista is not as difficult as it may seem at first glance. This because on the same P2P site the copies of pirated Vista are only outnumbered by the volume of activation cracks for the operating system.

On the same website, there are also two copies of Windows Vista RTM MSDN. As far as I can tell, the 2.5 GB ISO files contain the 32-bit editions only. Remember Windows Vista BillGates? Well?it's back. But there are some differences in the name BillGates ISO to MSDN DVD Patch/BillGates.to.Official.MSDN. This one even contains a Patch file that will take care of the installation/activation related issues.