Microsoft piracy plan means work, concerns for IT

By John Fontana , NetworkWorld.com , 10/05/2006

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Microsoft’s antipiracy plan announced this week is a slap at a multimillion dollar problem, but it leaves a number of questions especially for volume licensing customers who will have to devise new administrative and management plans to ensure their software doesn’t get crippled.

Microsoft’s Software Protection Plan (SPP) is used to validate the use of genuine — that is, paid for — copies of Windows and to partially cripple systems that don’t pass muster. Microsoft has stepped up its attacks on software pirates, including 26 lawsuits it sparked in July.

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“In the business market, [SPP] is a mechanism that conceivably will reduce the leak of volume licensing [product activation] keys, which is believed to be a big facilitator of piracy, but the flip side is that there is a burden for business customers," says Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research. “And that is going to be more cumbersome management."

As Microsoft nears completion of Vista, slated to ship to corporate users next month, SPP is one of a number of volatile issues churning around the new operating system. McAfee and Symantec last week took Microsoft to task over new features in Vista to protect the Windows kernel, a move the two security competitors say harms their products and ability to compete.

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Step program for Volume Activation 2.0
Microsoft says that its new methods for activating volume- licensed products may require some additional planning and management. The company offers five steps users will have to consider to figure out the best plan for their organization.

1.Learn how Volume Activation 2.0 functions using the Business Desktop Deployment guide.

2.Determine which computers can run under the Volume Activation 2.0 solution (must have more than 25 computers to use Volume Activation 2.0).

3.Install the Key Management Service to support activations that need to be validated every 180 days.

4.Set up reporting and ongoing maintenance/troubeshooting using a Microsoft Operations Manager add-on, the new Volume Activation Management Tool or a third-party application.

5.Distribute support scripts to help desk to handle such issues as conversion from Volume Activation system to one-time activation system.

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The feud dates back two years when Microsoft turned on its partners and began offering competing products. But experts say Microsoft will have to give in eventually to keep competition fair.

“I think Microsoft will have to budge on this, say worst-case scenario in Service Pack 1," says John Pescatore, an analyst with Gartner. “It’s not a major issue now, but you look out a couple of years and it will be. Microsoft has to make sure there is a level playing field."

With SPP, the question is what the playing field will look like.

Some are already playing what-ifs, especially given that servers and server applications, such as Exchange and SQL Server, will eventually incorporate SPP. Also, Microsoft will support SPP in current and future reporting and asset management tools such as System Center Operations Manager.