Windows Vista DVD: Who Are Those People In That Picture?

*Updates below*

Windows Vista Virtual Easter Egg:

Kwisatz has discovered a picture of three guys on the Windows Vista DVD cover. Who are they? What's the purpose? Does Bill Gates know about it?

I guess it's just a prank, but by whom?

He has taken the photos with a Nikon 5700 (click on images to enlarge):

















































He also says there are three more holographic pictures on the cover, but he hasn't been able to figure out what's depicted in them.

Do you have a Vista DVD and a microscope?

Head over to the Kwisatz site (spanish language) for more photos.

Update: Paul McNamara over at NetworkWorld sent a mail to the Microsoft PR agency to ask about their identity. The PR agency: "No comment".

Update: I see some people are suggesting the hologram could be an anti-piracy measure. But, then again, the pictures are on the cover, not on the DVD itself.

Update: Solved:

"Conspiracy theorists will be disappointed," said White. "The photo is only one of multiple images contained in the hologram design, all of whose inclusion serves to make it more difficult to replicate a Windows Vista DVD." The three men in the photo, said White, are members of Microsoft's antipiracy team who worked on the Vista holograms. Other images on the disc -- Kwisatz said he had found three others, but couldn't make out details -- are art masterpieces in the public domain, added White.

"These security measures were never intended to be impossible to find, but rather difficult to reproduce," said White.

Microsoft stepped up the DVD antiduplication measures used for Vista and embedded numerous holograms in the plastic. "While it's extremely difficult to replicate a holographic design in general, the inclusion of original images makes it that much more so," White said.

Photos via Flickr.com (click on images to enlarge):





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