Last week we mentioned that Microsoft was backing away from sales forecasts
that it's now calling "aggressive" for Windows Vista through 2008. A lot
of people marked slow sales up to a combination of hardware and software support
lagging, and the lack of compelling reasons to move away from Windows XP
considering how stable of an OS it has become in the last 5 years.
However, it seems Microsoft sees the issue a bit differently.
In the same call last week with analysts saying that estimates on sales were
overly aggressive, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says one way to improve sales is
to tighten the screws on pirates through strengthening of the Windows Genuine
Advantage protection system. Claiming "Piracy reduction can be a source of
Windows revenue growth..."
Specifically mentioned, was targeting emerging markets in Asia, currently
hotbeds for software piracy.
The question is, will making it harder to pirate encourage more sales?
Or will these protections just prove a minor annoyance that will just take a
little while longer for hackers to overcome? And what will be the cost to
legal users who find themselves having to prove their "legal" copies to
Microsoft in the future?