From Infoworld, via Yahoo News:

Once Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is installed on a PC, that computer will no longer go into limited functionality mode if a user or administrator fails to activate Vista on that system in 30 days or if the system fails Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation, which checks to see if a version of Vista is pirated or counterfeit. In Vista, WGA is called the Software Protection Program feature.

In limited functionality mode, a computer will shut down after 60 minutes and then allow only browser use. Now, instead of going into that mode, a version of Vista that has not been activated in 30 days will start up with a black screen and a dialogue box that gives users the choice of activating Vista now or later, said Alex Kochis, a group product manager at Microsoft.

And if they choose later?

If users choose to activate later, all the usual functions of Windows will start up, but with a black screen in the background instead of whatever customized background screen a user had set for the system.

Then, after 60 minutes of use, a balloon dialogue box will appear on the screen reminding the user to activate Vista. It also will reset the background to black even if a user had replaced the black screen with a customized view.

The experience will be similar for machines that fail the WGA validation, except that users will be reminded that their copy of Vista is not valid and that they need to purchase a valid copy of the OS.

This is quite a step back from Vista’s ability to shut the machine down. Microsoft apparently heeded the complaints of its big corporate customers. Going through a manual validation process for each copy of Vista in an enterprise is no easy task. The new system will allow users to work while the IT department catches up with the licensing for each copy.

The embarrassing failure of their validation system this past August, which caused an uproar, probably contributed to the change in approach. Microsoft realized that if that service were to fail again (they blamed human error, like they always do) and shut down Vista users across the globe they would have a huge PR problem on their hands.

And for the millions of users of pirated versions of Vista? The black screen background and a dialog box every 60 minutes is an annoyance, but I’m not sure it’s annoying enough. It all depends on how big the dialog box is, whether or not it will interfere with a running application, and how long it sits there. This could wind up being a problem for internet cafes with PCs loaded with pirated copies of Vista. LAN-based Halo deathmatches will be a drag if you get fragged every time you’re reminded that Vista isn’t properly licensed.

Microsoft claims that it’s winning the war against Vista piracy. They say that the pirating of Vista is half that of XP at the same point in the products’ lifecycles. Although the number of pirated copies is sure to rise, Microsoft is slowly winning the piracy war.

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