A Hamilton computer store has been caught selling pirated Microsoft products that are useless when customers get them home.
Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, is investigating Angelsea St store Smart PC
asked Smart PC for a genuine copy of the software he was handed a Microsoft Windows XP certificate of authenticity sticker containing a 25-character product key licensed to an IBM machine.
"They said we did not need the disk," Mr Schmitt said.
Asked if she knew such a sale was illegal, she said: "I think it's OK. If it's a retail version it should be OK. I am not sure where it came from."
Dr Mark Rees, chief technology officer at Microsoft New Zealand, said transferring software product keys without a valid software licence was illegal and and a breach of copyright *.www.smartpc.co.nz/
http://www.pchell.com/support/windowsgenuineadvantage.shtml
Microsoft is offering a variety of options to customers who unknowingly purchased a counterfeit copy of Windows XP