All right, so who had “one week after the RTM release” in the bets? Almost everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before Windows 7 got cracked by pirates, but to have its security already compromised just a week after it was released to manufacturing is a new low, even for Microsoft.
The company’s operating systems have been notoriously easy to crack and are very widely pirated, especially in countries with non-stringent copyright laws like India. Come on, you have to know at least 10 people using a pirated version of Windows, right?
Neowin reports that the new crack and activation, allegedly by Chinese hackers, is built on the Windows 7 Ultimate version given to Lenovo. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are given copies of the operating system much before it is released in the market, so that they can get their various devices ready for the launch.
“The news comes from various Chinese forums who state that you can already pass Windows Genuine Advantage validation offline, OEM style,” the site said. “The leaked .ISO was originally posted on a Chinese forum, which was then downloaded in order for people to get hold of the boot.wim, and in turn retrieving the OEM-SLP key, plus the OEM activation certificate. Microsoft uses the same digitally signed OEM certificate, which has an .xrm-ms extension, as that in Windows Vista. Another point to note is that the key is a master one, which can be used to activate other OEM branded installations, like ones from Dell, HP or indeed Lenovo.”
A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed to Neowin: "We are aware of reports of activation exploits that attempt to circumvent activation & validation in Windows 7, and we can assure customers that Microsoft is committed to protecting them from counterfeit and pirated software. Microsoft strongly advises customers not to download Windows 7 from unauthorized sources. Downloading Windows 7 from peer-to-peer Web sites is piracy, and exposes users to increased risks – such as viruses, Trojans and other malware and malicious code—that usually accompany counterfeit software."
Live Stats!!..
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz (left) and Microsoft CEO Steve
Ballmer sign a mock deal at Yahoo headquarters
And then there were two. It’s official, folks, Yahoo is out of the search engine battle and now it’s all down to Microsoft vs Google.
On Wednesday, MS and Yahoo announced a search partnership as reported earlier, where Yahoo’s search engine will be powered by Bing while the company still gets a large share of the ad revenues. And it saves on all the massive costs of maintaining and developing a search engine and its servers.
Bing, on the other hand, gets access to one of the largest user databases on the Web, given that Yahoo is still one of the biggest online entities and has a huge loyal fanbase. For a new search engine, this deal is nothing less than striking gold.
“Users will continue to experience search as a vital part of their Yahoo! experiences and will enjoy increased innovation thanks to the scale and resources this deal provides,” said Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz.
“Success in search requires both innovation and scale. With our new Bing search platform, we’ve created breakthrough innovation and features. This agreement with Yahoo! will provide the scale we need to deliver even more rapid advances in relevancy and usefulness,” noted Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO.
The actual nitty-gritties of the deal are really not that interesting to most of us as they talk about the amount of share that the two companies get, what kind of ratio the monetary split will be, etc. The one big item was the period of the deal: 10 years.
Essentially, Microsoft could get all the data it needs and kick Yahoo out of the equation in this period. It’s the ominous ring of the death bell, and the rejection of MS’ initial offer to buy them out is now sounding like a fatal step for Yahoo.
With the two companies combined, they now control about 30% of the online search business, while Google remains the dominant player with around 65% of the share. The MS-Yahoo deal actually throws up a valid competitor to Google – something that generally works in the favour of consumers as the two parties try to outdo each other.
The partnership will start rolling out within the next 24 months, the two companies said. A full run-down of the deal can be found at Microsoft’s press page and the special site set up for this deal, Choice Value Innovation.