I just finished attending a live webcast and boy, do I have news for you! Microsoft is coming for ya!
If you are running illegal software, your web browser will be redirected and you will be informed of your evilness coming next week. I'm not sure if this is a stack-level intercept that will affect all browsers, or if this is an application-level intercept that is specific to IE. Well, you might say, "Hey, that's cool, I am legal." Then again, you might not be.
Do you have a machine with no recovery discs? Did you reload with a different disc than what came with your machine? If so,
you are a pirate! ARRRRRRRR!
Don't believe me? Check out these post-seminar questions I copied from the question and answer chat session...
Quote:Question: Currently with Dell, etc machines if a standard OEM CD is used, it will never pass activation and a call to MS is required. We do plently of reinstalls on Dells etc, customer's don't have their recovery CD, and this increases service time. Are there plans to change this recent new policy?
Answer: If you use an OEM CD to reinstall on a Dell machine and the customer doesn't leave with it, you are pirating software. When a customer purchases a machine from Dell, HP, etc. it is their responsibility to maintain that recovery CD.
Question: If I perform a repair of the OS with an OEM CD on say a Dell and it will not activate and I call to activate, is this considered piracy?
Answer: Yes. Your client needs to use the oringal DELL media. If they don't have it they need to call DELL to receive.
Question: It would seem that Microsoft should require Dell, HP, etc should be require to include media then, instead of relying on the uninformed consumer to have to backtrack and get the media. Microsoft has set this up allowing this.
Answer: When the purchase is made that purchase is between the customer and the reseller. Essentially you're asking that GM require dealerships to go to customers' homes and demand their car keys at oil change time.
They did a pretty good job of making it someone else's problem. Microsoft is good at passing the buck.
-b0b
(...hangs his head in shame.)