It's not a hack, but a feature of Vista

I came across this article "Run Windows Vista for 120 days without activation key" @ Downloadsquad and began to think about the many articles out there that misinterpret this command as a hack. I would say that the mere fact that it is something that can be run from the command line is a clue that Microsoft had it there for a reason. This reason I am sure is more of a feature than anything...in the sense that it usually takes someone more time than 30 days to sink their teeth into an OS and see if it is the right fit for their needs. So why not have a means to extend that "trial" period and not give someone an adequate time to test the OS's usability or as a more sinister means to get a person locked into using Vista.

In any event...I like the fact that Microsoft gave users the ability to extend the time in which they have to test run on Vista. Just keep in mind that the evalution period is for 30 days and the command that will follow this post will "rearm" or reactivate the trial period for an additional 30 days for up to 120 days or 3 times after the initial trial period.

To me...it seems more of a good faith that a sinister means...and that is alot considering my paranoia of Bigness (big Business). You make the call...hack unveiled or feature?

1. Click on the start button and type "Cmd" into the Start Search box.
2. Press Ctrl-Shift-Enter to open the command prompt.
3. Type "slmgr -rearm" and hit enter.
4. Reboot the computer.
5. Make sure to re-arm the system again 29 or 30 days later.

Microsoft Quote on this:

Q. What is Initial Grace?
A.

Initial Grace (or OOB Grace) starts the first time you start your computer after you install the operating system. It provides 30 days for the computer to be activated. The Initial Grace period can only be restarted by running sysprep /generalize, or by using slmgr.vbs –rearm. These processes reset the Initial Grace timer to 30 days. This will only work three times.

Resetting the Activation Grace Period
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Sysprep /generalize. Using the Sysprep command-line image preparation tool with the /generalize option resets the grace period for activation, providing an additional 30 days to activate the system. Because this is Sysprep, team members will also be resetting the system state, creating a clean slate as they would when imaging the computer.
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Slmgr.vbs –rearm. A computer can be returned to its initial activation state for the current license by using the Slmgr.vbs script with the -rearm option. This option resets the computer’s activation timer and reinitializes some activation parameters, including a KMS client’s unique machine ID (also known as client machine ID, or CMID). The number of times this can be repeated is limited and depends on how many times sysprep /generalize has been run to create the distribution media. The maximum number of rearms possible from shipped media is three.

Note Using -rearm requires administrator privilege.