Microsoft Publishes a technical market bulletin about Windows Product Activation Today Microsoft published a new technical market bulletin about Windows Product Activation (WPA). To view this market bulletin, please click here: http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/xp_activation.asp. As you may know, product activation is a technology designed to help reduce casual copying and is designed to respect the privacy of the end user while protecting Microsoft's intellectual property. It will be included in Windows XP as well as other Microsoft products, such as Office XP, and is one part of Microsoft's broader anti-piracy effort. The latest WPA bulletin helps to clarify the product activation process and underscores the fact that it is anonymous, unobtrusive and easy to complete. The document also provides information on how the activation process works in Windows XP, and clarifies on what customers will/won't need to complete the activation process. For example, did you know that most new machines will include Windows XP pre-activated? Or that the majority of hardware upgrades won't trigger the need to reactivate?