Windows contains pirated software?

[_kill__bill]

Has it ever crossed your mind to use the editor to open a WAV file installed with Windows XP? Nobody will do that - that's what Microsoft probably thought. After all, countless WAV files are stored on a computer, and they are to be heard, not to be watched, right?

No, not exactly. Our colleagues over at Macwelt gave us the idea. We tried it and examined some WAV files that are stored on a drive with a newly installed Windows XP. And we made a stunning discovery. In fact, we didn't even have to search for very long, as coincidence lent us a helping hand. In the Windows system directory, we had our first find, in the directory

"Windows\Help\Tours\WindowsMediaPlayer\Audio\Wav".  

Located there are exactly nine WAV files, with a size between 80 and 360 Kilobytes. They serve as background sound during the Windows Media Player Tour. When you open one of these files with the notepad, you at first only see scrambled letters. Of course, you think, it's a sound file, after all.

But things become interesting when you scroll down to the very bottom in notepad. Located there is a type of watermarking, which records the software that the Microsoft musician used to create the WAV files.

We found the following text there:
LISTB INFOICRD 2000-04-06 IENG Deepz0ne ISFT Sound Forge 4.5

At first, that sounds anything but spectacular. It seems as if the Microsoft musician or the freelance musician commissioned by Microsoft used the Sony-made software " Sound Forge " (formerly Sonic) in its 4.5 version. Sound Forge is a tool for professionals and enables users to create WAV, AIFF, MP3 and other music files priced at $400.

On its face, all that's not unusual: Microsoft uses professional software. Who would've thought? But wait a minute, who or what is "DeepzOne"?

Bingo!

DeepzOne is (or at least was) member of the Warez group Radium that had specialized on cracking music software. Along with a person using the alias "Sandor," he was also co-founder of this group, which was established in 1997( see in this interview ). In addition, it was DeepzOne who started circulating the cracked 4.5 version of Sound Forge a few years ago.

A few years back, the group "Radium" caused quite a stir. It cracked the original Fraunhofer MP3 codec in order improve the limited MP3 codec that comes along
with Microsoft. To listen to MP3s, the Windows codec was solid, but it offered only limited encoding functions. The Radium codec, by contrast, boasted an improved encoder (up to 320 Kbit/s). During this Warez release, then, the name DeepzOne" surfaced. But what is the name "DeepzOne" doing in nine WAV files in Windows XP? Nothing more than a coincidence? One has the suspicion that that the files were generated with the cracked version of Sound Forge 4.5. It's difficult to say whether Microsoft itself did that or one of the freelancers. Only the Redmond-based employees in charge of the Windows Media Player will know that for sure. It seems, though, as if someone wanted to get around filling out an investment order to buy a software worth $400.

The topic still raises a moral problem, though, as Microsoft is quick to report every oh-so-minor success in the fight against piracy. In the wake of that move, the company also joined the BSA (Business Software Alliance), which has devoted itself to the "fight against software piracy" and persecutes violaters around the globe. But maybe BSA knows which office door it should knock on

Microsoft has yet to issue a statement. It will be interesting to get the company's position on this issue.

Saw this on some site, forgot which.

[worker201]

Oh noez, a word that looks like a hacker alias!

Until a few minutes ago, I was a satisfied Microsoft Windows 98 customer.  However, thanks to this important groundbreaking controversial scandalous info, I have decided to give up Windows once and for all!  You hardcore evangelist, you!

[pofnlice]

I don't see it....

Edited

[worker201]

Uh, posting the content of a Windows .wav file is extremely illegal, no matter how encoded it is.  Don't be surprised if the first mod/admin who sees this gets crazy and bans you for a day or so.

[Lead Head]

If you say so.

[worker201]

Temp-banning was a worst-case scenario.  A simple edit, while more reasonable, didn't sound as scary (we're in a national scare-mongering red alert - I figured I ought to play along).

[WMD]

This is a really old story.  Happened last year.

Yes, pirated software was used to make some of the Windows sound files.  I can't remember if they ever caught the exact person, but the files in question were made for Microsoft by a third party.

[obob]

is there any chance for anyone here to consider an alternate possibility (ok, so we say WMD is truthful here, but I just want to see if anyone will follow along with this here, this is kind of a psychology w/e on my part)

with a lot of versions of BSD there are references to the movie WarGames, and referces to other literature/film/music/culture are not unheard of in software (it's just aliteration, and if you consider software in the context of written word, aliteration shouldn't be illegal at all)

so considering it from that aspect, in regards to the story that was presented here, why does nobody consider the potential that maybe a Microsoft employee feeling like a clever chap just stuck that in there in reference to the events in 1997?

just curious if anyone came up with a conclusion similar to that

[GenuineAdvantage]

Who would really care one way or the other? Is it supposed to make someone feel better over pirating Shitdows? I never felt a thing over it the times I did, other than annoyance at having to bother. And I would say the same thing  about others. Microprick being connected to some lazy piracy is not even a speck compared to the rest of the crap they've pulled and now pull.

[worker201]

is there any chance for anyone here to consider an alternate possibility (ok, so we say WMD is truthful here, but I just want to see if anyone will follow along with this here, this is kind of a psychology w/e on my part)

with a lot of versions of BSD there are references to the movie WarGames, and referces to other literature/film/music/culture are not unheard of in software (it's just aliteration, and if you consider software in the context of written word, aliteration shouldn't be illegal at all)

so considering it from that aspect, in regards to the story that was presented here, why does nobody consider the potential that maybe a Microsoft employee feeling like a clever chap just stuck that in there in reference to the events in 1997?

just curious if anyone came up with a conclusion similar to that

Sorta like an accidental easter egg?  Interesting idea.  Since they wrote it, I suppose it's possible.  It's certainly not the sort of high level code that gets hyper-proofed before release (if at all - nice reputation Microsoft has, eh?).  Personally, I've always wondered exactly why the default hostname in Slackware is 'darkstar'.  I've seen that used as homosexual slang for the anus - how much do we really know about Patrick Volderking?

(of course Patrick is a computer celebrity of the highest standing, in case you think I'm bagging on him)

by the way, alliteration is a repeated emphasis on initial consonant sounds, as in 'Fee Fi Fo Fum'.  I think what you meant is allusion, a reference to another body of work.

[pofnlice]

Or maybe it's just been put in there as a joke. Like the Big throbbing Dick on the little Mermaind cover, or the word sex on the Lion King...How many more were there. Maybe it was something funny to the developers and never thought it would actually get realeased. Afterwards, they realized they coulfn't say anything (much like the Disney artists) and played dumb...

[jtpenrod]

"Personally, I've always wondered exactly why the default hostname in Slackware is 'darkstar'."

I figured it was a reference to the John Carpenter movie: Dark Star

[Jack2000]

as if we didn't all "pirate" software all the time :]

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Uh, well, I don't. I have no reason to. Unless you consider downloading non-free codecs piracy.

[Orethrius]

Uh, well, I don't. I have no reason to. Unless you consider downloading non-free codecs piracy.

 Yeah, I was gonna say, are Blender, XMMS, Gnutella, and OpenOffice warez now?  I never knew...