It looks like the Windows 7 beta is not 100% ready today as there are problems with the actual beta product keys.  Maybe Microsoft was so worried about the product actually working for once they forgot to add in all of their typical licensing excesses.  It’s doubtful but it would be a nice change for consumers as their “protection” methods end up being nothing but intrusive for those that actually pay for the software.

It is important for companies to try to protect their software but it is not possible to do so 100% of the time.  Companies need to have a better strategy other than “make it difficult to steal”.   Most thefts of software either an OS or other type is typically committed by employees.  Windows 7 itself is a good example as it was leaked to the Internet and torrent sites before the actual beta even began.  The only way that this could have occurred was due to an internal leak.

Actually getting the software out to torrent sites and the like is the biggest part of the battle for hackers because once they have the software they can then find out how its locked down.  Typically hackers are much smarter than your average software developer and can crack a software’s protection methods within a few days.  A good example of this was the early Windows 7 alpha’s that were leaked to the Internet and then had the reporting features and activation timers removed.

There only one way to truly make the software invulnerable to these kinds of piracy problems.

Make the software so good that people are willing to pay for it!

It’s not rocket science and Microsoft should have figured this out by now.  Their Office products are a really good example of this as companies are more than willing to pay for it because it simply works. Even typical people are willing to pay for it if they can buy editions like the Student Teacher editions that don’t cost $600.  To spend huge portions of one’s budget on a piece of software that won’t really change their life doesn’t make sense for most people.

Another area that Microsoft needs to pay better attention to is it’s international market.  It’s so easy to buy a pirated copy of Windows for $20 but next to impossible to find a legitimate copy of the same software.  Sometimes it’s a mere matter of availability of the software.

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