Vista fully cracked

[jmcc]

From uk.theinquirer.net:

Pirates release fully cracked Vista install

Ultimate hacked out-of-the-box

By Dean Pullen: May 17, 2007, 10:06

DISCUSSING PIRATED software is still fairly taboo within the press, but sometimes a scene release is worthy of note, despite the influx of staunch anti-piracy e-mails that will flood our in-box. Don't forget, we don't support piracy, we're only reporting the news.

A widely available release, located at the usual pirate havens, from a scene group entitled 'NoPE' (which doesn't appear to have released much else) has quickly become the most highly sought-after asset of eye-patched, peg-legged, shoulder-mounted-parrot pirate types.

Vista has been leaked in every conceivable form and in all its various releases and flavours, but has still remained difficult to crack for the average swashbuckling black-beard.

Various timer programs forcing the activation to hold off indefinitely and other cracks haven't come close to the efficiency of the recent OEM BIOS emulation tool-kit that has floated about - but which is significantly more difficult to use that a 'normal' crack or serial.

The NoPE release has a major key difference to other previous pirated copies of Vista - it is completely cracked, the product appears activated, updates work, and no key needs to be entered, straight from the installation media without any effort on the part of the pirate.

We presume that the hackers have managed to replace the Vista image on the DVD, with the pre-cracked version. Microsoft moved to an image-based install with Microsoft Vista, as opposed to the usual convoluted set up process.

Several readers have reported it working perfectly.

It's taken a few months since the launch of Windows Vista, but the product now seems to be successfully cracked, and even simpler to install than previous leaked copies of WindowsXP - which always required a serial.

It remains to be seen if Microsoft's new anti-piracy measures, coupled with Windows Update, will be able to counter-measure this new release, even so, now the pirates have found a method to install pre-cracked versions on the installation media, Microsoft will have a significant fight on its hands to keep Vista piracy-free. µ

I don't agree with piracy. I am publishing this as simple information on some software problems.

Thanks to barrapunto.com for the original info

Edit: There is something strange here: I remember to have read that Vista would became very basic (with lots of functions reduced) 30 days after the installation, if you don't register in some Microsoft database with an unique serial number. How can the pirates go over that limitation?

[Oldfart]

The team at Microsoft must be furious!!

[corfy]

The team at Microsoft must be furious!!

Actually, Microsoft Business Group President Jim Raikes said in March, "If they're going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else."

So they might be thrilled over this news.

Personally, I'm with jmcc. I don't agree with piracy, either (although I have to admit, I have done it in the past... I once bought a CD with over $2,000 worth of software on it for about $20 online, but that was years ago and I don't use any of that software anymore, and I certainly won't do that now... I know better).

I like this shirt from Cafe Press about Software piracy. If you aren't willing to buy the software (and with the high cost of software, I can't blame anyone for that), use a legally free alternative rather than risk getting fined $250,000 and spending 5 years in jail..

[Jax]

a $250,000 fine and spending 5 years in jail..., perhaps on paper, but not in real life
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[Jean-Pierre Bazinet]

Yeah? Check this... (slightly off topic.. but very close )

The office of the U.S. Attorney General has submitted a bill to the US Congress with proposals to increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement. The planned measures include life imprisonment for copyright offences which endanger life and Homeland Security reporting to the RIAA when someone tries to sneak a pirated CD across the border.

The proposed "Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007", would among other measures:
- Introduce the notion of “attempted” copyright infringement. Current legislation envisages up to 10 years of imprisonment but only if the actual infringement took place.
- Envisage life imprisonment for the crime of using pirated software.
- Allow to wiretap citizens attempting to infringe copyright.
- “Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America. That would happen when CDs with "unauthorized fixations of the sounds, or sounds and images, of a live musical performance" are attempted to be imported.” (CNet News)

The U.S. Department of Justice believes such measures will help to prevent the crimes “costing victims millions of dollars and, if left unchecked, diminishing entrepreneurship."

[Jake]

^That looks a bit extreme

I don't personally think it should be a criminal violation to break copyrights on consumer items, only a civil offense.

On the other hand is the law talking about only Microsoft and the like or are they talking about government software? If one was to violate a copyright on a say IRS program I can see how that could potentially result in huge damages.

Basically I think that piracy should be severely punished in cases where it results in someone acquiring a software that could not be regularly purchased. Even something as simple as copying a university operating system could allow someone to compromise entire privacy databases and could be very damaging.

[jmcc]

If you take in count that losses are around hundreds of millions of dollars per country, then you will understand that the industry need to react in some way or another.

In Venezuela, piracy is over 80% of the market and specially local artists are suffering lot, some being facing the end of their professions, if I have understood well.

[Jake]

I don't condone piracy but I think criminal charges are really extreme for something like music or consumer software.

I don't understand why murderers are released from prison early to make room for people that copied CDs.

I agree that something must be done but they should be fines, not jail time. People always lent their tapes to their friends or neighbors and the movie industry never complained. A crackdown is needed but let's not pretend like this is some new and freedom-threatening phenomenon.