The Clever Trick That PC Makers Used to Unlock Software

During the Windows 95 era, PC manufacturers found a sneaky way to offer full versions of trial software without paying for licenses. This trick was discovered by Microsoft while they were working on the Plug and Play (PnP) standard, which was supposed to make setting up hardware easier. Microsoft collected many different PCs to test and add PnP support to older systems. While looking at the BIOS firmware, they noticed something odd. Some computers had a string that said, "Not Copyright Fabrikam Computer. " This seemed strange because BIOS firmware usually has a copyright notice.

Here's what was happening: Some software companies made "lite" versions of their programs that would unlock full features if they detected a specific copyright string in the BIOS. For example, if the BIOS said, "Copyright Fabrikam Computer, " the software would unlock all its features. But other PC makers, like "Contoso, " figured out a way to trick the software. They added a fake string, "Not Copyright Fabrikam Computer, " to their BIOS. This made the software think it was running on a Fabrikam computer, so it unlocked all the features without the manufacturer having to pay for the license. This practice was likely illegal, as software piracy was already a big issue even back then. Microsoft had to be very careful while adding PnP support to older systems. They had to make sure they didn't mess up any existing hardware. This story shows how companies tried to cut corners and how Microsoft had to navigate these tricky situations while developing Windows 95.

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