14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft confirmed officially that it was aware of methods to circumvent the normal Windows 7 activation process being available in the wild. The Redmond company did not offer any specific details on the cracks for Windows 7 pre-release versions, or on any eventual measures to render them useless. However, it appears that, even before the operating system has been released to manufacturing, hackers have already taken a crack at it, producing bypass methods for the activation and validation processes of the platform, which Microsoft has touted as the most advanced out of all Windows releases. In this sense, the next iteration of the Windows client is following irremediably in the path of its precursors.
“As we look ahead, we know there will be new exploits that pirates will try once Windows 7 ships. In fact, we've already begun to see evidence of these efforts; our customers and partners have our pledge that as long as pirates keep trying to exploit Windows for their own ends, we'll be working to beat them through the technologies we develop and the programs we run to protect our customers, partners and Microsoft's intellectual property,” revealed Alex Kochis, director, Windows Genuine.
It took me only seconds to locate no less than three active and valid (at least according to reports from a website I will not link to, or provide any details about) cracks designed to circumvent the Windows 7 anti-piracy measures and activate the operating system illegally. As far as I can tell, the cracks work only up to Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100, being focused on the Beta Build 7000 and the pre-Beta development milestones of the operating system. The fact that Windows 7 RC has been released to the public just this week might have something to do with the fact that cracks are missing at this point in time.
It is important to emphasize that Microsoft is offering not only the Windows 7 bits for free, but also a set of product keys designed to legitimately activate the operating system. Why the need for cracks then? Well, Microsoft's Windows 7 Beta and RC, as all pre-release software from the company, come with an expiration date. Both Windows 7 Beta and RC are time-bombed and will expire, Build 7100 on August 1st, 2009 and Build 7100 on June 1st, 2010. The cracks for Windows 7 Beta are set up to permit the use of the platform indefinitely, removing the expiration deadline.
Kochis added that the new activation and validation components in Windows Vista and Windows 7 would no longer feature the Windows genuine Advantage name, and be called Windows Activation Technologies instead. “In this latest generation of the technology activation and validation work together to protect Windows from being compromised or tampered with for the purpose of working around product activation. The notifications experience and the steps required to resolve issues are largely similar between Windows Vista and Windows 7 though we have made a number of improvements. In most cases a customer simply needs activate Windows with a genuine product key to resolve issues,” he stated.
With the advent of Windows 7 and the new Windows Activation Technologies, Microsoft's anti-piracy infrastructure also evolved. The online service at the backend of the activation and validation processes has been optimized through the addition of systems monitoring and geo-redundancy, with the company promising that it has taken extensive measures to cut down on the volume of false positives.
“One of our design goals in this generation of the technology is to enable Windows to get smarter over time so we added the ability to receive new information that Windows can use to detect and protect against the latest activation exploits, tampering or other attempts to circumvent product activation,” Kochis explained.
But most importantly, in Windows 7, and Windows Vista SP1 and SP2, Microsoft has done away with Windows Genuine Advantage. WGA will only make an anti-piracy couple with Windows XP. The activation and validation technology in Windows 7 and Vista is a different breed compared to XP, and the Windows Activation Technologies vs. Windows genuine Advantage disparity is meant to reflect just that.