[Infowarrior] - Microsoft to Tighten the Genuine Advantage Screws

[Richard Forno]

Microsoft to Tighten the Genuine Advantage Screws
By Mary Jo Foley
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,2001181,00.asp

In a further expansion of its anti-piracy program, Microsoft is building
more 'Genuine' checks directly into Windows Vista, and is expanding the
program to target not just consumers, but PC makers and system builders.

To date, with its Genuine Advantage anti-piracy programs, Microsoft has
targeted consumers. Windows and Office users have been required to validate
their products as "genuine" before being able to obtain many downloads and
add-ons.

Come this fall, however, the Redmond software maker is planning to turn up
the Genuine Advantage heat in two ways: By baking more Genuine Advantage
checks directly into Windows Vista, and by taking aim at PC makers, system
builders, Internet cafes and other sources of potentially pirated software.

Microsoft officials ­ whose Genuine Advantage Notification strategy came
under fire earlier this summer -- declined to share specifics about its new
Genuine Advantage plans. But executives already have been setting the stage
for the upcoming changes in recent keynote addresses.

"We expect to do more to make Windows more differentiated when it's genuine,
and so genuine customers get a truly different experience than non-genuine
customers, as well as to make piracy harder, so that our genuine partners
can do a better job competing with those that don't play by the rules,"
Windows Client Marketing Chief Michael Sievert told attendees of Microsoft's
Worldwide Partner Conference in July.

Microsoft Platforms and Services Co-President Kevin Johnson was more
specific about Microsoft's plans, in his remarks to Wall Street analysts at
Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting in late July.

"We built a set of features and a set of functionality that is only
available to genuine Windows customers," Johnson said. "Windows Defender,
for example, the anti-spyware for Windows XP and Windows Vista, is available
to genuine Windows customers. Windows Media Player 11.0, Internet Explorer
7.0, will be available for download for Windows XP customers who are
genuine, and of course those are built into Windows Vista. Future updates to
Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player for Windows Vista will require
them to be genuine. And certainly there's some premium features built into
the Windows Vista operating system that will require genuine validation as
well. So we're really trying to amplify the fact that being genuine enables
the set of benefits and value to access these types of features and
capabilities."

Johnson did not single out which premium features in Vista will require
validation before use. There are a number of new Vista features which
Microsoft is making available only to users of its consumer- and
small-business-focused "premium" Vista editions -- Vista Home Premium and
Vista Ultimate.

Examples of premium features which Microsoft potentially could lock down
under Genuine Advantage include Windows Photo Gallery; Windows Media Center;
Windows DVD Maker; and games like Texas Hold 'Em Poker that are part of the
downloadable Vista Ultimate Extras products and services.

At the same time as it is baking into Vista more Genuine-Advantage-required
features, Microsoft is stepping up elements of its Genuine Advantage program
aimed at the reseller channel.

"We expect to do much more as a Windows business to help our partners to
sell products based on Genuine Windows to compete with pirates. This is a
major opportunity both for Microsoft and our partners, " Windows Client
Marketing Chief Sievert told channel partners in July.

Platforms and Services Co-President Johnson had the same message for
financial analysts later that month.

"There's a higher level of genuine Windows attached to PC shipments in
developed markets than emerging markets, which means, if we want to continue
to drive growth of Windows client OEM units faster than PC shipments, we've
got to have a great compelling value proposition for the user for genuine
Windows software and for the channel," Johnson said.

One element of Microsoft's OEM-focused Genuine Advantage strategy could be
increasing the number of copies of Microsoft Office that are preloaded on
new PCs. Under an internal Microsoft program known as the Unlicensed PC
Initiative, the company is working to reduce piracy by curbing the number of
new PCs sold without Windows ­ and, increasingly, Office -- preloaded on
them.

Microsoft announced on July 11 that it has decided to allow PC makers/system
builders to pre-install Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 edition on
new PCs. Previously that version of Office was sold only are retail.
Microsoft officials at the Worldwide partner Conference also announced they
will allow system builders to provide customers with a free 60-day trial of
Office on new PCs, allowing them to sell the Office license after the PC
purchase via a program called "Office-Ready PC."

Outside the U.S., Microsoft has begun distributing stickers to partners
selling software to Internet Café operators that read "This Internet Café
uses genuine Microsoft software." In order to obtain the stickers, the cafes
must validate their software through Genuine Advantage.

Roger Kay, president with Endpoint Technologies Associates, said he had no
doubts that the channel would be a big Genuine Advantage focus for the
Microsoft, going forward.

"For the channel, which is in general more complicit than end users,
Microsoft will pursue a combination of education, engineering, and
enforcement," Kay said. "Education is telling people how to figure out
whether they have bogus copies and warn them of the dangers and is aimed at
those trying to do right. Engineering covers technologies put into Windows
to prevent counterfeiting and alert customers to the fact that they have a
bad copy. Enforcement is aimed at the people who know they're wearing black
hats and involves working with law enforcement and other measures to bring
installations into compliance."

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