In Microsoft's battle against software piracy, the first round goes to pirates, even though the starting bell hasn't even rung yet. Microsoft's new operating system, Windows XP, won't be in stores for another seven weeks, but pirated copies are already floating . . .
In Microsoft's battle against software piracy, the first round goes to pirates, even though the starting bell hasn't even rung yet. Microsoft's new operating system, Windows XP, won't be in stores for another seven weeks, but pirated copies are already floating around on the Internet. There are also a number of hacks and patches designed to circumvent the operating system's controversial Activation process, a new antipiracy measure.

Copies of Windows XP are widely available on such Usenet newsgroups as alt.binaries.cd.image and alt.binaries.warez.net, as well as on various "warez" channels on Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

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