mike_barton
Editor

Vista, Office 2007 already cracked

news
Nov 14, 20061 min

Final versions of Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 have just left Redmond, but already pirate sites have cracked the software and are offering it to willing downloaders, SMH.com.au’s Asher Moses reports.

The download, called “Vista BillGates”, comes supplied with a product key. A separate download called an “activation crack”, bypasses the activation process, the report says.

The sites also have Office 2007 Enterprise available for download. A supplied product key is all one needs to install it, because the new Office does not require product activation.

This time around, Microsoft is capable of deactivating pirated copies by sending a patch through Windows Update, and it can also invalidate certain product keys, the report says.

Full news report to come.

mike_barton

Mike Barton started out in online slinging HTML for CNET.com in the late 1990s and began his editorial career at New Media magazine shortly thereafter. In his early days, he was an editor at Ziff-Davis's PC Computing and ZDNet.com before heading Down Under, where he produced and edited the business and technology sections of The Sydney Morning Herald online. After returning to the States in 2006, he has worked for IDG's Infoworld, PCWorld, Computerworld, and CSO Online. He currently edits and produces WIRED.com's Innovation Insights, and is a contributing editor at ITworld.

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