Microsoft initiates Anti-Piracy Campaign

My friend Pappu Yadav (name changed) was a worried man today, his newly acquired desktop computer had started displaying strange pop-up messages telling him that his copy of Windows is not genuine. At first he suspected it to be a nasty spyware infection but on discussing this problem with some of his contacts (me included), he came to know that the pop-ups were genuine and were part of Microsoft's Anti-Piracy Campaign.

As a part of the campaign, users who are detected running pirated software receive constant alerts on their monitor screens telling them that they are using pirated software, and that they should click on a link which will take them to a website for further instructions. A similar message pops up at random times from the system tray section of the Windows taskbar.

If one chooses to ignore the messages, Windows plants a permanent banner at the bottom of the screen that reads, "You might be the victim of software piracy. The copy of Windows installed on this computer is not considered to be genuine by Microsoft." When people get frustrated and click on the link mentioned in the pop-up, they are taken to a Website where Microsoft gives them gyaan on the benefits of using genuine Windows, and tells them how to purchase a genuine copy of the software.

While some people have ignored the warning messages completely, broadband users (and others with static IP addresses) like my friend are taking it very seriously because they know that the next step in this campaign could well be tracing the physical location of computers running pirated software (by having tie ups with Broadband providers and government) and litigation. Ultimately my friend had two options - stop using the Internet or buy a genuine copy of Windows, he obviously opted for the latter. One down, many more to go.

Way to go, MyCrowSoft :D

P.S: I use a genuine copy of Windows XP Home ;)