Software giant Microsoft yesterday said that the number of times its Vista operating system is illegal copied is less than half that of the previous incarnation of Windows, XP.

Denying that this merely reflects lower demand for the software, the company claims that the reduced rate of piracy results from tightened security measures within the software.

When the company published quarterly results in October 2007, it attributed 5% of the growth in Windows software sales to a reduction in piracy.

Further reading

Microsoft still booming despite its size - Financial Report November 2007