VistaBillGates.com | Vista!

Can Microsoft?? latest anti-piracy protections really stop the Vista and Office 2007 pirates, or will pirates finally have to walk the plank?

Efforts to stamp out piracy have been with computers since it became possible to make a copy of a program and run it on another computer successfully. Anti-piracy software, code wheels, license keys, hardware dongles and more all failed in some way, either through the use of a master key code, a crack that turned trial software into the full version, removed the check for dongles, or somehow picked the lock of anti-protections.

But now that almost all computers and an increasing array of electronic devices are almost permanently connected to the Internet, or can be wirelessly Net connected in just a few seconds, anti-piracy features that are delivered and updated over the Internet are starting to change this forever.

Copies of Vista and Office 2007 installed from a friend?? CD or DVD will need a valid license key within 30 days or will enter into a ??educed functionality mode?

Sophos Anti-Virus version 6.5 protects against viruses, spyware, adware, potentionally unwanted applications(PUAs) and automatically updates every 10 minutes.

Forsyth said that earlier issues around Microsoft?? PatchGuard security product, which blocked security vendors from Vista?? kernel code, had not affected the roll out of the product.

??e didn?? have a problem because we approached [Vista security] in a different way. We get to files before they reach the kernel, before a file is unpacked; we look into it and analyse it,?

SEOUL: Microsoft’s Vista operating system may do little for shares of Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor, the largest makers of memory chips in Asia, because most new computers already have enough memory to run it.

Micron Technology, the top U.S. maker of memory chips, and Qimonda, the largest in Europe, have joined Samsung and Hynix in predicting rising demand because the first major upgrade of Windows since 2001 requires more memory in personal computers.

The system will be offered to companies starting Nov. 30.

Two-thirds of the desktop computers in the United States have the 1 gigabyte of memory that Microsoft says is required for the consumer version of Vista, and buyers may not rush to install the new system. Shares in chip makers, which have rallied 5.3 percent this month in advance of Vista’s introduction next week for companies, may go little further.

“The Vista effect may be smaller than expected initially, as there is not much merit to switch systems right away,” said Kim Hyun Tae, who counts Samsung Electronics among the assets he manages at Landmark Investment Management in Seoul. “It’s too early to see explosive growth in demand and Vista is more of a long-term factor for chip makers.”

Shares of Samsung, the world’s largest maker of memory chips, climbed 7 percent this month and Hynix, the second largest in Asia, gained 4.1 percent as Microsoft said it would release Vista to corporate users on Nov. 30 and the general public in January after a two-year delay. The Bloomberg Asia-Pacific semiconductor index of 17 companies rose 5.3 percent, while the Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific index gained 0.5 percent.

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets says two-thirds of desktop computers in the United States, which accounted for 27 percent of worldwide shipments, already have more than 1 gigabyte of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM.

“Demand for memory chips won’t increase that much even after Vista is released,” said Song Myeong Seob, an analyst at CJ Investment & Securities in Seoul who has “buy” recommendations on Samsung and Hynix. “New computers already have pretty high density of memory.”

Computer users switching to Vista may also shift more slowly than when Windows XP was released in 2001, according to analysts at Credit Suisse Group. About 29 percent of computers will have installed Vista in two years after the release, compared with 40 percent for Windows XP in the same period since its release, Credit Suisse said in a report in September.

“We do not expect an immediate pickup in Windows Vista penetration in the first half next year and DRAM demand may not grow as quickly,” as Samsung hopes, Lee Do Hoon, who has a “neutral” rating on Samsung at Macquarie Securities, wrote in a report last month.

Slower global economic growth could also pose risks to shipments of personal computers in 2007, said Song from CJ Investment. Economic growth and PC shipments have a 98 percent correlation, according to Song. The International Monetary Fund predicts world growth will decelerate to 4.9 percent next year from 5.1 percent this year.

Chip makers disagree. Samsung said last month that it had increased its semiconductor capital spending budget this year by 18 percent, while Hynix said the company had raised its budget by about 30 percent. That optimism is spilling over to Tokyo Electron, which makes equipment to produce chips. The company this month raised its full- year profit forecast.

Investors like Kim Yung Min say the demand growth from Vista will be significant and concerns about oversupply in memory chips are overdone.

“Vista is having and will continue to have a positive impact on technology companies, including chipmakers,” said Kim, who owns Samsung shares amid the $1 billion he manages at SH Asset Management in Seoul. “The expectations are there and chip prices and Microsoft’s stock price are reflecting that.”

from Bloomberg News By Kevin Cho

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