Microsoft, Vista activation researcher butt heads
Microsoft yesterday declared that a technique to delay Vista's activation as long as a year just "doesn't work." The researcher who published the activation extension claimed otherwise. "A quick analysis determined that this purported workaround doesn't work," said Alex Kochis, senior product manager of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), in an entry on the team's blog.
The blog has been Microsoft's sole public response thus far to reports last Friday in Computerworld and elsewhere of research published that day by Brian Livingston, the editor of the Windows Secrets newsletter. Then, Livingston showed how a single change to Vista's registry lets users put off the operating system's product activation requirement for an additional eight months.
Kochis also explained the purpose of "rearm," another Vista command that lets users delay activation for an additional 90 days beyond the 30-day grace period. "Rearm is used to reset the activation grace period timer to 30 days as one of the final steps the builder of the image will perform," Kochis said. "Doing this enables the builder of the image to ensure the customer has the full 30-day period in which to activate."
