Windows Vista will ship with anti-piracy technology that will lock down the OS if it has not been activated within 30 days of first use, Microsoft announced today. If the OS is not activated, Windows will switch to a reduced functionality mode that will cripple the OS. This is but one of many planned features of Microsoft's new Software Protection Platform (SPP), shared by both Windows Vista and the forthcoming Longhorn Server, due sometime late next year (at the earliest).

Anti-piracy at installation

As with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Longhorn Server will both feature newly revamped versions of what we've come to know as Windows Product Activation (WPA). After installation, users will have 30 days to "activate" Windows, by which Microsoft means that users will have to provide a product key to fully unlock the OS. If a user fails to supply a valid key in that timeframe, Windows Vista will respond with a new set of options:

Reduced Functionality Mode : this allows minimal use of the OS until it is validated. Microsoft has not disclosed full technical details, but they have indicated that

the web browser (presumably IE) will work for about an hour before interrupting the session and forcing you to log off. Additional limitations are described below.

: this allows minimal use of the OS until it is validated. Microsoft has not disclosed full technical details, but they have indicated that the web browser (presumably IE) will work for about an hour before interrupting the session and forcing you to log off. Additional limitations are described below. Buy a key online : hop online, buy a new key, and you're done.

: hop online, buy a new key, and you're done. Phone in for activation : instructions on how to activate over the phone rather than the Internet.

: instructions on how to activate over the phone rather than the Internet. Enter your key: Oops, it was under the coffee table book the whole time.

Notably, Microsoft is adamant that these technologies "cannot and will not turn off your computer."

Reduced functionality mode will also disable Aero, the new Windows Vista interface, and any "Premium" or "Ultimate" features of the OS will be completely locked down. Additionally, users will only be able to obtain security updates marked as "critical." Other downloads and updates will not be available.

This anti-piracy mode will also disable other installed applications such as Office, making it impossible for a user to edit documents. Users can view documents by using the web browser, but Microsoft has essentially designed the system to prevent "read/write" access. The general approach is quite clear: reduce the computer to a web browsing station and make it inconvenient to be a pirate. Microsoft has not taken the extra step and simply disabled the computer entirely, apparently in an effort to court users trapped by counterfeiters. It also has ostensible public relations benefits stemming back to the days of the WGA phone-home scandal.

Keeping an eye on things

Unlike Windows XP, Vista will monitor the activation status of the computer even after the initial 30-day period. If the technology later decides that a key is no longer valid, through either a software update or via some other means, it will give the user another 30-day period to rectify the situation. This is where Windows Genuine Advantage comes in. WGA will not throw the machine into full reduced-functionality mode if activation has been completed once. Instead it will disable Aero, ReadyBoost, and Windows Defender, and it will display a persistent notice in the lower right-hand corner of the desktop that reads: "This copy of Windows is not genuine."

WGA is intended to monitor systems for evidence of tampering post-activation. In our estimation, this is in large part because Windows Anytime Upgrade will allow users to add new features to the OS on the fly, Microsoft is keen to protect this feature by watching for post-activation hacks on the system, and the OS will reportedly perform occasional internal checks on itself to search for evidence of tampering.

Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative, made it clear that Microsoft intends to use this technology in additional Microsoft products at a later time. Hartje cited a Business Software Alliance report on piracy which claims that there were losses of $35 billion across the software industry due to piracy.

As we have reported before, Microsoft's primary concern at this point is stopping both casual piracy and counterfeiters. I know from conversations with people inside the company that there are conflicting approaches to how to deal with this problem, but no one is under the illusion that that SPP, WPA, or WGA is going to completely eliminate piracy. The company is interested in continuing to build tools that make it difficult and inconvenience to be a pirate, however.