Microsoft is doing much more than simply fighting pirated versions of Windows with Service Pack upgrades and crack killer updates. According to details offered by the software giant itself, new anti-hacking technologies are cooking for Windows. A job post for the position of Senior Development Engineer – Windows mentions that the Redmond company is getting ready to up the ante on bootleggers, hackers and crackers (via MSFTKitchen). Of course, actual details are extremely scarce, and the listing doesn’t even mention the platform that will benefit from the integration of new anti-piracy technologies, or if there’s a possibility that they will be included in Windows 8, for example. “Our group is on a mission to build a rich, powerful platform to help protect Microsoft products against piracy. Here is your chance to join a team of exceptional developers as we build an extensible cross-company platform to support this vision. This is a fast-paced group that rewards smart and motivated individuals. We are looking for an experienced software developer to help us design and build new anti-hacking mechanisms, hack detection, and work on the security processor driver,” the job post notes. Microsoft released the Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 earlier this year, providing a refresh designed to identify and render useless over 70 cracks used to illegally bypass the Windows 7 activation mechanism. The update was initially offered as a standalone download, and subsequently delivered via Automatic Updates to all Windows 7 users. The company stressed that the Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 was a voluntary update, designed to be deployed only by users that wanted to make sure their copy of Windows 7 was genuine. “The work touches many layers of the operating system and includes opportunities for partnership with MS Research and other security teams at Microsoft to productize exciting innovations and ideas that help shake hackers and crackers off Microsoft products. It’s not for the faint of heart, but the diversity of the problem space in this area is rich in growth opportunities just waiting for the right candidate. You will have ample opportunity to diversify your skill set and grow. In this position, you’ll get a chance to work on many aspects of the platform, starting with an assignment to drive the design of our application and Operating System (OS) virtualization support,” it is added in the job post.
If they are in their right mind they will never try to produce un-hackable OS, in that case lots of users will go elswhere or stay wth older OS & that is what M$ certainly does not want sebus
Uhm, well...anti-piracy as in Windows Vista, 7, KB970133 etc? We will see about Windows 8 Maybe they want to work more together with the OEMs... And M$ would be the first company to build a system that totally cannot be hacked.
They'll do what they always do. Fight commercial piracy - their only deadly enemy and they know it. They will step up security just high enough to keep them at bay. End users are of no real importance - their real profits come from company licenses. One thing they know exactly - they loose their monopoly exactly the same moment their security is too high. Not enough end users growing up with windows - they'll loose big. Windows 8 will bring new security features and we will circumvent them. As long as these methods are not too interesting for commercial pirates, they won't care (Vista loaders still work, not that they didn't have enough time to kill them, they didn't want to). If every commercial pirate uses them, they will kill them.
Gee, I heard similar words about Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Yet all can still be easily pirated.
@Michel: I posted that exact piece yesterday - got it off Softpedia, dunno where it is now though. Weird...
There is only one way MS can really defeat the pirates......Stop selling the os for silly money. make it so cheap it is not worth cracking! They had the right idea in the beginning when they sold home premium for £50, shame then that they hiked it back up to around £100 after launch. But Ultimate is still a lot of money, which is why it is the most cracked version... Just my two sense mind
Next M$ OS defense In my opinion, Micro$oft is going to have it's entire OS in the "Cloud" - there you can sign on and off and have your entire OS - it would solve MANY problems for them - "barbaric" mods and slics, and programs would be a thing of the past. How would that one work out. Anyone think it's possible? R.
Hazar Would you really work for them? lol. they would prob pay you a a$$ load of cash. as long as they didn't arrest you first lol.
If a virus can take your system out so can M$ - But obviously they won't!! All this talk is nothing more than hype. They want to keep their market share at any cost. As for the cloud - that is just hype as well - the bandwidth required to realistically do this sort of stuff is beyond most of the world at the moment and the investment in infrastructure is huge - ain't gunna happen in my opinion - at least not for many years. Finally - how are they going to keep their market share with OEMs and Business if they don't keep it simple for them ?? This is why they pulled back on Vista's much hyped anti piracy lockdown - no OEM or business wanted any computer (let alone a critical one ) locked down for any reason - especially something they have no investment in such as M$ antipiracy. It's funny that the most modular OS at the moment is Linux. I don't think business or OEMs are going to want anOS where they get basic functionality and have to pay for each "extra" - I think such an approach would see a stampede to a fully functional alternate OS.
What I think is "EVERY WORKING SYSTEM CAN BE CRACKED" If they hiring people better hazar,daz&others... could work for them for $$ but dont forget to create a loop hole..