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Microsoft Corp. this year will put a piracy lock on two of its download Web sites, requiring all Windows XP and Windows 2000 users to validate their copy of Windows as genuine before downloading software, the company announced today.
The lock will be placed on the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update Web sites by midyear. The sites offer applications such as Windows Media Player and the new Windows AntiSpyware product, as well as security updates for Microsoft products.
Validation isn't required for Windows Automatic Updates, said David Lazar, a director in Microsoft's Windows client group. Automatic Updates is a feature in Windows that is used to download and install security updates to Microsoft software.
The move to lock out pirated copies of Windows from the download sites is part of Microsoft's effort to fight software piracy. The software maker has been testing the lock on the Download Center Web site since September. So far, more than 5 million users have voluntarily taken part in the test, according to Microsoft.
Before requiring all users to validate their copy of Windows at an unspecified date in mid-2005, Microsoft on Feb. 7 plans to expand the current Windows Genuine Advantage test to increase the number of language versions of Windows XP covered from five to 25 and cover most downloads on the Download Center, the company said.
Also starting on Feb. 7, Download Center visitors using Norwegian, Czech and simplified Chinese versions of Windows will be required to participate in the test and validate their copy of Windows, Microsoft said. Users who discover that they have a pirated copy of Windows will be offered a genuine version of Windows at a discount.
To qualify for the discount, which can be significant and varies by region, users will have to prove that they were duped into buying an illegal version of Windows when they thought they were buying a legitimate copy, Lazar said. This could be done, for example, by submitting a piracy report, proof of purchase or a CD-ROM, he said.
"Our goal is not to now have an amnesty or to have a discount version of Windows generally available. We merely want to take care of any customer who may have been cheated, and we want to recognize that they spent some money already, even if it was not paid to Microsoft," Lazar said.
 Read More: ComputerWorld
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