There are some worrying aspects to the anti-piracy technologies that are part of Microsoft’s new Vista operating system.
In any case, the entire concept of significantly reducing the functionality of running systems is saturated with risks. Microsoft notes that their products aren’t supposed to be used for “critical” types of applications. That’s a fine sentiment, but Microsoft has succeeded all too well in getting developers to use their operating systems in all manner of exceptionally important applications. That’s the reality.
Of course, just because Microsoft says that they can use such drastic anti-piracy measures in any particular situation, doesn’t mean that they necessarily will, but can we really afford to take that chance? Even if you are the most 100% squeaky-clean human on planet Earth, and would never even dream of running pirated software, you may want to think twice (or more than twice) before jumping into bed with Microsoft on this one.
The End User License Agreement (EULA) for Vista is also much more restrictive than previous EULAs. So your chances of inadvertently violating it, and hence being a software pirate, are much higher.