Users making the leap to Microsoft's latest OS will get a few months' free Wi-Fi usage courtesy of hotspot aggregator The Cloud.

To activate their free trial punters just visit The Cloud website and enter their Windows Vista registration code, which is verified online before they're allowed free access to all The Cloud's hotspots until 30 April.

US hackers quickly discovered that their equivalent service was only checking the UserAgent to confirm that a customer was using Windows Vista; something which is easily changed with modern web browsers. This loophole is likely to be quickly closed, and the requirement for a Vista registration code would indicate that in the UK the offer will only be available for genuine Vista users.

It would be interesting to know who is paying who for this service - for Microsoft it's a useful demonstration of the capabilities of Vista, but The Cloud will be hoping that many users will decide to continue using their service after the end of April. ®