MS using pirated software??
 

By Wolfgang Gruener, Senior Editor - Tom's Hardware

Chicago (IL) - Members of a former software cracking group have discovered that audio files created with one of its cracked programs are distributed with each copy of the Windows XP operating system, possibly exposing Microsoft to a large-scale copyright infringement lawsuit.

The content in question can be found on every computer with Windows XP as operating system installed. Nine WAV audio files located in the folder " "Help\Tours\WindowsMediaPlayer\Audio\Wav" in the Windows installation directory include a signature of "Deepz0ne", a member of former cracking group "Radium". If the files are opened not with an audio player, but with a HEX editor or simply in Windows' own text editor Notepad, the last line displays as "000-04-06 IENG Deepz0ne ISFT Sound Forge 4.5".

A source confirmed to Tom's Hardware Guide, that the signature is "authentic for the cracked version of Sound Forge 4.5" and relates to the cracker Deepz0ne. "The Radium group has been dissolved about four years ago, but still meets every week in a casual manner," the source said. "One of the members circulated the information at a birthday part last weekend and then pitched the story apparently to Germany's PC Welt magazine," he said. PC Welt published the story the same day.
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Shit happens sometimes and I think MS just got caught with thier pants down...