Most all Windows users are familiar with Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool, which aims to minimize piracy of its operating system and promote legitimate use.

The system was succeeded in Vista with the Software Protection Platform (SPP), and as we learn today, a new tweaked version of this will be featured in Windows 7 (ironically, the new OS doesn't like some forms of DRM, at least not at this stage).

The new system is called Windows Activation Technologies (WAT), and, so says Microsoft’s general manager of Worldwide Genuine Windows Joe Williams, will make life harder for pirates, even moreso than SPP did over WGA.

Williams observes they're "seeing fewer copies of non-genuine Windows Vista on customers’ machines," incentive enough for them to push this new tech along, not to mention “up to a third of customers worldwide may be running counterfeit copies of Windows" (we're pretty sure that means they're not customers, however).

He states: "As a public company, we have a responsibility to our shareholders and employees to protect our intellectual property and get paid for the products we bring to the market."