Windows Vista Activation Questions Getting Answered

Ed Bott has been digging in to the Microsoft’s Vista Activation policies in a Microsoft document entitled Product Activation in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Through that document and other research, he’s gotten his head around some of the confusing aspects of Microsoft’s Activation Policy. Check it out.

For nearly a year, Microsoft has refused to release technical details of the changes it made to its Product Activation technology in Windows Vista. The company was more than willing to speak in broad terms about the program and how it works, but it kept the details confidential, classifying them as trade secrets.

Until last week, that is. A newly released Technical Market Bulletin entitled Product Activation for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 unexpectedly appeared on Microsoft’s Download Center last week. Curiously, the document was dated September 2007, but the Date Published field indicates that it was kicking around internally for more than a month before being officially released.