Dismissed rumours that Microsoft is planning to bring in a
"Black Screen of Death" for pirated copies might have some validity after
all.
The rumours, which were denied by Microsoft originally, seemed to
have been confirmed by Microsoft's senior director for worldwide antipiracy
at Microsoft.
Keith Beeman claimed that a software protection
platform has been embedded into Windows Vista that automatically shut down a
number of key features, and produced an automatic log-off once every
hour.
Beemen said, then they would only be able to use Windows in a
reduced functionality mode, in which the monitor would turn black and the computer would automatically log off every hour.
He said that he
Black Screen mode will be introduced in a few months and a date will be
announced soon.
More here.