Microsoft’s new anti-piracy controls for Windows Vista may stop illegal copies of the software being used, but they could also cause difficulties for IT staff and delay adoption of Vista in large organisations. On the other hand, they could make it easier for firms to demonstrate licence compliance, a capability IT departments have been crying out for.

The Software Protection (SP) system will require Vista to be activated within 30 days of being installed, without which it will switch to a reduced functionality mode (RFM) and users will only have access to their web browser. The latter move is so that consumers will still be able to get an activation key by purchasing a licence from Microsoft’s web site.

Volume customers will be able to operate a key management service (KMS) on their LAN to activate Vista clients and Longhorn servers. However, this method requires systems to renew their activation at least every 180 days. A worry for IT managers is that properly licensed systems could fail the validation renewal checks because of some unforeseen circumstance, such as configuration changes or a flaw in the KMS itself.

Microsoft said it would work with customers to resolve such a situation, and that it is doing everything it can to prevent it happening.

“We have to be very careful about false positives,” said Microsoft’s UK anti-piracy manager, Michala Alexander.

However, Microsoft said firms can simply avoid the situation entirely if they purchase pre-activated systems from enterprise vendors.

In light of this, and Vista’s heavy system requirements, many firms may simply wait until their next desktop refresh to deploy Vista. Another good reason for delay is that the KMS service itself needs to run on a Vista or Longhorn system, and will not be available for existing Windows servers until six months after Vista ships.

Ram Dhaliwal, Microsoft’s licensing programme manager, emphasised customer choice.

“Some customers will choose to install Vista themselves and some will choose to buy pre-activated systems. What we are trying to do is ensure that the activation process is as straightforward as possible for those customers who do choose to manage activation themselves.”

On the plus side, the activation process may benefit administrators, as it makes it easier to demonstrate that their company is fully licensed for the copies of Windows it is using. “This will help with compliance and monitoring,” said Alexander.

Julie Strawson, chair of anti-piracy body the Business Software Alliance (BSA), agreed, and said the move was in response to customer demands for simpler means of managing software.

“Auditing is onerous and demands a lot of resources, so IT managers have been asking vendors to make it easier,” she said.

The move may also increase pressure on other vendors to develop similar tools. “This will be of interest for other vendors,” said Strawson. “From an industry point of view it makes sense to make asset management simpler.”