Microsoft hunts down Win2K pirates

Microsoft began shutting down Web sites offering illegal copies of its upcoming Windows 2000 weeks before the program's official release date.

In January alone, company officials say they uncovered more than 100 Web sites posting the program for download.

Microsoft designed several new security measures for Windows 2000 to help prevent illegal copying, including a complex hologram etched across the entire face of the software's CD-ROM.

The next-generation business operating system that will run servers and corporate systems will be formally unveiled by Microsoft's co-founder and chairman Bill Gates next Thursday in San Francisco.

The complete story can be found at www.zdnn.com.