tinyurl.com/dwe25 -> slashdot.org/articles/05/07/26/1329231.shtml?tid=201
checking for pirated c opies of its Windows software when users attempt to update. Security upd ates are supposed to be exempt from the check. Upon detection of pirated software the user will be given the oppportunity to purchase a legitima te copy of the software for a discounted price, upon providing proof of purchase etc."
Wednesday July 06, @07:10AM ) If you used the Security Center and set it to receive Automatic Updates a utomatically it would work, even with a counterfeit version of Windows.
To quote from the article: "The company will scan machines for a variety of information, including product keys or software authorization codes, operating-system version and details on the flow of data between the operating system and other hardware, such as printers."
com/) If you used the Security Center and set it to receive Automatic Updates a utomatically it would work, even with a counterfeit version of Windows. I submit that Microsoft always tries their best to make things better, bu t overlooks some Monday detail that ends up shooting them in the foot. Y es, I'm aware that's just hearsay and conjecture, but those are kinds of evidence, your Majesty.
com/) Sadly, for those of us who constantly change the operating systems on our "hobby" computer, we'll probably get marked that we've pirated their op erating systems, even though we're just using it on one system at a time , and bought it legitimately, and have a valid key and everything.
org/) This might sound like it's way out in left field, but this has happened t o me. I have this second hard drive that alternates between holdi ng my rips of DVDs and being a Windows drive for gaming. That only worke d three or four times (switching back and forth, I mean) before it would n't let me use my key anymore. No message explaining why, just the stand ard "Invalid Key" dialog.
But after a few hardwa re changes it stopped working and I had to call Microsoft (who don't see m to speak english very well) to get a new key. And then ten minutes lat er realised I still had an archive HD in the box. I wasn't making another phone call, so I inserte d a cracked windows cd and reinstalled the OS. Should the illegal versio n really be THAT much more user friendly than the store bought copy?
One thing you do do is prevent good software from being writt en. What hobbyist ca n put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his pr oduct and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invest ed a lot of money in hobby software.
But if you use the CD key thing as I mentioned above it changes the Windo ws XP to another key such as the one the anonymous user above gave, serv ice pack 2 will install and there is no annoying blocking of Windows Upd ates. Microsoft only wanted to stop the "casual pirater" considering every vers ion of windows is already cracked. Not to sound like a mad pirate but to disable the activation is sadly VERY easy. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\WPAEvents That's frickin it ... and for all you tin foil hats you don't need to reg your Windows XP. You think MS would of m ade it so easy if they didn't want people to pirate there OS. They would of made it so if some file isn't downloaded from there (encrypted of so me kind) the OS simply won't work etc etc. it's some silly regest ry hack that takes less then 2 minutes to do and lasts the lifetime of t he product. I know that the activation thing I mentioned above works in Windows XP MCE and Windows XP x64, im not sure about XP Pro ...
But legal M$ users have been suffering these problems for years, and they haven't cleaned-up their act. Even after you announced what you had don e, no one could tell if their copy had been deliberately boobytrapped, o r was just a normal copy of Windows.
com/) "Bambino's don't do this" Sorry, but if I buy a computer that comes with a pirated copy of the OS ( from a white box OEM) I will go after them tooth and nail should I find out. So long as I expect to get paid for my wor k it would be very hypocritical of me to support the illegal software tr ade.
edu/) the user will be given the oppportunity to purchase a legitimate copy of the software for a discounted price, upon providing proof of purchase (! If they mean a possible pu rchase of a machine with, or a standalone copy of, a counterfeit version of Windows, assuming the user purchased it legitimately in good faith, how in the hell is this the user's responsibility or fault? I'm not talk ing about someone who got Windows from a guy in an overcoat for $10 on a street corner (not to mention you probably wouldn't have a "proof of pu rchase" for that kind of sale); I'm talking about purchases reasonably b elieved to be legitimate.
especially if the customer has a "proof of pu rchase" of an illegitimate copy of Windows in the first place, which pre sumably contains some element of contact information for the source if i t can reasonably considered to constitute any semblance of "proof of pur chase". They should be offering amnesty and/or discounts to people who a re running straight-up pirated versions of Windows with no "proof of pur chase" at all, if this is any attempt to reach out to people running unl icensed copies!
Windows Service Pack 2 would apparently not be included in this, for example, because it's not a "security update"; but it can be strongly ar gued that SP2 did more for general Windows XP security than any "securit y update" ever has. In other words, not updating the multitude of for-wh atever-reason non-legal copies of Windows out there does everyone involv ed a major disservice, not the least of which is the rest of the world s urrounding them.
What the GP is talking about isn't someone buying the PC out of the back of a truck. It is someone who buys the computer from a retailer, in **go od faith**, and the retailer, unknown to the purchaser, is using pirated copies of Windows. This is a common occurance with white box PCs and is n't limited to EBay sales. The people affected by this aren't the ones buying and installing XP them selves. They are the ones that bought "no-name" PCs with XP pre-installe d where the retailer is not a valid OEM licensee.
Wednesday August 20, @10:37PM) Recieving stolen goods is also a crime. In most states, KNOWINGLY receiving stolen goods is a crime, but not just receiving them. The usual standard is the old standby: "You knew or sho uld have known" or "a reasonable person would have known". For instance: You could have bought a computer at a flea market, from a l ong time dealer, and had good reason to think it was not using pirated s oftware, and not be guilty of crime, even though you received the goods.
Sunday July 10, @11:32PM) If I bought a new DeWalt drill for really cheap of the Internet, it broke , and I went to get it repaired only to find out that I had purchased a knock-off product I wouldn't expect DeWalt to fix it. I'd go to the vend or who sold me it and take whatever action I could against them.
W indows installations missing security patches (as people will shut off a utomatic updates for fear of being caught) become zombies very quickly, adding to the spread of viruses, spam, etc. Also, the copy of Windows in question isn't likely to be a knock-off, it most likely is the same OS that you can buy off the shelf. A better anal ogy would be if you bought a genuine DeWalt drill from someone who wasn' t an authorized DeWalt dealer, and the (genuine OEM DeWalt) batteries ha d a habit of exploding and hurting people around the user. More than lik ely DeWalt would issue a recall on *all* batteries, and more than likely they'd be pretty lenient about making sure the drill was purchased thro ugh authorized channels. In essence, the safety of the community would t ake precedence over the other factors involved. network security , but IMHO the obligation is the same: if you put out a broken product, you have an obligation (IMHO) to put out a fix. Anything less is corpora te irresponsibility that could subsequently expose the company to liabil ity, should a loss occur. Of course, MS doesn't care about that, since they have better lawyers tha n just...
|
http://csua.com/feed/