Software pirates and hackers intent on foiling Windows Vista activation have succeeded to some extent, a senior manager at Microsoft stated in a blog post earlier this week.

There are two methods that seem to work, and the software giant is monitoring both to see if they pose any substantial threat to the company's business model. One technique requires a special editor for the the software that acts as the interface between the PC hardware and the operating system, known as the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). By editing a special value that PC manufacturers use to pass the product activation test, a hacker can run Windows Vista.

SecurityFocus