Microsoft: no patches for pirates

Microsoft announced that they will be starting a program that will deny security patches to all pirated copies of Windows.

While on the surface this seems like a valid business plan (why provide updates to people who STOLE your product?), this essentially blocks anyone from being able to protect their system from turning into a zombie that serves up email, DDOS attacks, etc. etc. etc. These zombie computers account for terabytes of data being sent over the internet every day, which slows down everyone elses connections, piles the spam into their email box, and if a website that they're trying to get to is experiencing a DDOS attack, they won't be able to access those services.

Microsoft is just washing their collective hands here. "Not our problem. They should have bought their copy." This may have been valid in the past, but in an era where we need this infrastructure to operate at all times, Microsoft is just handing tools over to the destroyer, by thinking about themselves first. Although I don't advocate people stealing their operating system, millions of people on this planet steal it anyway, and their unprotected systems will affect everyone else in profound ways.