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	Microsoft to Crackdown on XP Pirates By James Mason www.jamesmason.ca In a contradiction of sorts, Microsoft has acknowledged that it intends to end support for anyone who uses pirated or unregistered copies of Windows XP in the near future. The shift in philosophy seems to have emerged after Will Poole, Head Of Microsoft's Client Unit told a group of financial analysts last summer that the software giant was missing out on the huge revenue stream potential involved with getting users to purchase licenses or CD's from Microsoft in order to use Windows XP. Piracy is a huge problem for Microsoft right now, and Poole pointed out that despite his unit growing financially by 5% in the fourth quarter of last year, PC shipments had more than doubled in the same time frame which meant that more and more users were likely using pirated versions of Windows XP. Poole estimated that while in the United States pirated versions of XP counted for about 22% of users, overseas that number j umped significantly like in China where it's believed that 1 3 million computers have illegal copies of XP, or 92% of all desktops in the Asian country. "We see good revenue opportunity for us to try and work with consumers to have them understand the value of genuine Windows," said Poole at the time. The move to crackdown on pirated copies of Windows XP is in stark contrast to the company's philosophy six months ago when it released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for XP. "We haven't explicitly done anything to SP2 to exclude it from pirated copies," said Microsoft Product Manager Barry Goffe at the time of SP2's roll-out. "We decided that even if someone has a pirated copy of Windows, it is more important to keep him safe than it is to be concerned about the revenue issue.....Having these unsecured users means bigger worm and virus outbreaks - which also impacts the Internet and consequently, our legitimate users as well". 2004 was a tough year for Microsoft as many began to question the overall security of XP, as security holes, bugs and viruses ran rampant throughout the internet targeted directly at Windows-based machines. Microsoft hoped that SP2 would change all that. However despite their best efforts Apple continues to gain ground on Microsoft in terms of market share, thanks in l arge part to the stability and security of OS X., and the introduction of the Mac-Mini. In addition many corporations and governments have began to cancel contracts with Microsoft and opted to use open source solutions like Linux on their employees desktops and IT infrastructure. The shift in philosophy at Microsoft has already to begun to take shape as users of unregistered copies of XP can no longer download patches or updates from WindowsUpdate.com, although critical updates can still be acquired. "Too much money is being lost, said Yankee Group Analyst Laura Didio when asked about Microsoft's latest crackdown in an E-Week interview. "In the past four years, the percentage of revenues from new software licenses was down across the board. The vendors really have no choice but to get tough." -- James Mason www.jamesmason.ca www.closetgeek.net Inquire About Our Ad And Sponsorship Rates! Copyright © 2004 KRP Productions