Steal Windows? Microsoft Is Giving It Away!

Microsoft's latest anti-piracy measure is perhaps its most magnanimous gesture ever. Instead of prosecuting those with pirated copies of Windows, MS is offering to replace it with the real thing, for free. If you bought a PC with a non-licensed version of Windows XP installed, Microsoft will give you up to five brand-new licensed copies. According to Alex Hilton, Microsoft's license compliance manager, "Our goal is not to prosecute the individual; our goal is to get to the source". This sounds like a great idea. If you want to steal Windows for your own PC, that's still illegal, but at least its on a much smaller scale. But any fly by night bargain PC manufacturer who pirated thousands of copies deserves to get caught. I just wonder if regular downloaders will try to "turn in" copies they downloaded for the real thing.