Microsoft Confirms Another Vista Activation Hack Works

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6906

It appears that yet another method for bypassing Vista's activation scheme was been confirmed to work and is being used out in the wild.

The activation hack involves faking an OEM BIOS communication between Vista and the computer, and takes advantage of Vista's pre-programmed action to validate if it detects a certain OEM flag from within the BIOS of any computer. If that flag exists, Vista will apparently never communicate with Microsoft's servers to determine the installation's legitimacy and will automatically validate the copy.

I'm not exactly a fan of the activation scheme, as I've been personally affected by it, and this is just another nail in the coffin showing why this stuff only hurts the consumer in the end.

 

This hack is over a month old.

http://www.digg.com/microsoft/Vista_cracked_totally_by_Paradox_Microsoft_s_in_trouble_now

Nothing new here.

 

The hack is old, but MS's announcement that it works is new.

 

Well, like I always say, the real hackers will always find a way around this activation stuff... it just ends up being the paying consumer that has to swallow the problems in the meantime.