Windows 7 and the OEM SLP Master Product Key Slip-Up · 2009-07-31 13:17 by Andrew Fernandes
By now, most of the hacking community has heard of the massive slip-up made with regard to Windows 7. The OEM SLP Master Product Key was accidentally released online, allowing Windows 7 Ultimate to be easily (and painlessly) permanently illicitly activated.
But was the OEM SLP Master Product Key leak really unplanned? Or at least really that unanticipated?
Think of it this way. How much revenue does Microsoft really stand to lose from this leak, even if they can’t patch or meaningfully revoke illicit activations?
I’m betting not much. Legitimate businesses will still license their software; they can’t afford to be sued for pirating. OEMs will still pay for every copy they ship; if they’re big enough to OEM, they’re big enough for Microsoft to sue.
Who does that leave? the 0.000001% of the population who buy Windows retail. No way they’d pay full price for Windows, so the exorbitant retail price of an “uncrackable” Windows would have them scrambling to OS X, Linux, or FreeBSD.
Of course, now that a simple “crack” is available, they get to continue using Windows. Illicitly, of course, but nobody really cares because every single installation of Windows, be it licit or illicit, continues the Microsoft hegemony.
Which is more likely:
- Microsoft doesn’t “understand chain of custody” or basic “password protection” practices that your bank expects even your grandmother to know, or
- they deliberately cultured an environment that would be highly conducive to an eventual “Windows activation crack” in order to preserve their market
monopolydominance?
Microsoft is a smart company that employs a lot of smart people. I know what I’d bet on!
Well now… The blacklist didn’t take long! I wonder what the next salvo will be… 
A conspiracy theorist? Who, me?!
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