Discussion on:

Microsoft to lock pirates out of Vista PCs

The new X Box is a highly polished system and has excellent graphics.

Also the Wireless Keyboard & Mouse that MS gave me work quite well but they are not actually made by MS so they probably don';t count right?

Col

proves my point doesn't it Col?

both parts, the "Home Video Game platform" is exactly what MS does.
anything for use in the business place, they don't make it.


~lol~

M$ products are not designed for home use at all, or for the internet, hence the lack of security.

They simply rely on their bread and butter market, the corporate one.

If the retail, non-VLA versions of the products aren't activated within 30 days of install, the product won't let you logon. I don't see what the big deal is about Vista when this function already exists in XP and Windows 2003. There are already ways to hack the XP product activation feature, and I'm pretty sure that Vista won't deviate from that same code and will also be easily compromised.

Yes, all publicly purchasable versions of XP and 2003 I've seen do this. Oem, Retail, Upgrade. Now Dell/Toshiba/HP OEM versions I find do not, same with E-Open licensed versions.

Also Office 2003 does this as well.

XP was cracked pretty easy, I haven't looked to find if Office 2003 was, my guess is probably.

My solution is I run Server 2000 for my file server, and linux based for my public facing stuff.

My XP Pro clients are all either Dell OEM, or E-open licenses, so no problems for me.

I just purchased an XP media center (HP) system about 1 1/2 months ago, and I had to activate it.

I used to work for HP, I remember the 7915, 7935, 7955 the first 3 HP pavilon models that had XP, none of them required activation. The did bug you to agree tot he HP license agreement and the XP agreement, you had to check 2 I agree boxes and then press an I agree button. I was there for 3 years and never saw a model that required it. Occation after running the recovery CD's the odd person had to, but that was it.

I've set up a number of Dell's recent, non of them had activation, same with a Toshiba.

Ohh well with HP, maybe they changed it, it's been 3 years since I worked there.

I too worked for HP about 4 years ago and never had (re)activation issues come up when reloading the O/S, say, after replacing a drive. I have a relatively new (1 year) Gateway that I've had to reload the O/S 3 times. Once because of drive failure and the others due to something that went stupid. In each instance, using Gateway's backup CD-ROM(s) the system was restored "out of box," followed by applying updates, it never (at least knowingly) required reactivation.

The point is, why do we need to continuously prove and re-prove ourselves to these Turkeys.
We've got the receipts, The actual CDs , the Books all say that they system is ours and yet we Still have to PROVE to Microsoft that we are not thieves? Excuse Me??
Not to mention, for the most part, we're not treated all that well either.
Once the product has been bought, and it hasn't been reported as Stolen then Microsoft should assume that we are the legitimate client and let it be, better yet treat us accordingly.
Who the hell are Bill Gates/Steve Balmer and Microsoft that we have to justify ourselves to every time we turn around.
Their license isn't worth squat to a serious first year Law student yet the Justice Dept hasn't got the Guts to go in and clean out the Rat's nest called Microsoft and their laughingly referred to EULA acquired through Extortion. I deeply resent, "Can you tell??" how they are manipulating us in order to maintain control and we're stupid enough to go along.
Actually we're "Forced" to go along, in first year Law, that's called Extortion. So why do we allow it? Why does the Justice Dept, the FBI and all the other so called powers that be, who immediately become impotent in the case of Microsoft.
Forgive, I'm furious at how we are all being used and laughed at in the same breath from Texas or Alabama Just North of the Philippines. Ya'll
Thank You
Regards
Aaron

Doesn't come as a Volume License all the XP Pro boxes from HP and the like are VLA stuff from my experience so none of them require activation.

Col

and had to wait 10 minutes, while they entered my details and activated it. Since then I've had to reactivate it six times, 5 due to WGA getting nasty as I was so far behind in updates, and no updates would load until AFTER I loaded WGA. And once due to a rebuild.

I'd be surprised if a hack doesn't already exist.
(Insert your favorite "Linux is better" punchline here.)

I think their will be a cd key generator out before vista is released in January. Their are already ways to get around the xp genuine software check.

Yes, anyone can go and obtain a key generator, but if the product activation is blacklisted by MS due to known piracy of that key, you won't be able to activate Windows and will out of luck. Windows XP is very different from 2000 and previous versions that simply needed a key to get going. Yes, you may be able to find a crack for the activation feature, but I personally do not condone piracy, and also, you won't be able to apply security updates.

"and also, you won't be able to apply security updates."

Activation is not needed in many cases (see other posts) and most automatic updates are available.

I may be wrong, but I do agree with some of the other posts when I say that XP already does do that. If somebody has some knowledge on how Vista will differ, I would appreciate an explanation.

w2kTechnician - I've never installed the WGA, just don't select it.

I am not planning to move to Vista at all. I am training for a non platform specific position, so that I can use whatever I choose/opt for.

I do plan on keeping my XP as long as I can though.

I see no reason to switch to Vista on my existing boxes. And, if I suddenly get rich and can afford one that comes preloaded with Vista; well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

is that the Company that I work for seems to be MS bitches. So I will be forced onto Vista at some point coming up. I already heard of the plannings for a mass upgrade.
Also, that means that I will need to support it coming up, and I dont want to. That is why I am re-training for a new position in a few months, leave this Vista crap aside.

I believe the difference when locked out of XP is that you can still boot in Safe Mode and use your PC. Such will not be the case with Vista.

The original poster was just quoting the first part of the article. I thought the same thing until I actually read the article

is Sonja, a TR Staffer, who was just starting this thread.

I have a feeling that before Vista hits the shelf there will be a work around by hackers and crackers.

It doesn't matter what they do there will always be people using Illegal versions until MS comes to it's senses and has one OS again, not seven, at a decent price for all.

Another dimension of torture. Welcome to Windows.

Simple, the more cheese, the more holes.
If you like the smell of MS OS, Microsoft Symphonic Orchestra Society, re:M SOS (Mom, HELP!).

I think is good Microsoft use new ANTI-PIRACY technology. The Piracy of products from Microsoft is in 80% because they are very EXPENSIVE!!!. If the Prices of S.O. Microsoft was only 30$, and Office antother 30$, I think lot of people will bought it.

Microsoft is EXPENSIVE, no more lies about thinks it can do. It hangs, it is not perfect, but works. But prices never would be more than first 20-30$ of MSDOS 3.2.

Get the prices competitive and affordable, you nip any piracy in the bud.

M$s real problem is in SE Asia, where the cost of Vista is more than a months salary.

Given the choice of feeding their family, or the black market, it is an obvious choice.

So the obvious cause of any piracy is M$ themselves, however things like WGA do not tackle the problem, it merely irritates the home market. Extremely high prices for a new product, like Vista, are also going to add to this problem. No wonder the masses are fleeing.....

the solution is so simple, it is in plain sight

marketing formula, which is "Charge all the traffic will bear, then add 10%."

is to find out what the market will bear...

....then sell for TWICE that.

When Windows 98 was about to be released, market research found out what the market price of it should be, this was overruled, and it was sold for double that.

I would, so long as I don't have to call India every time I installed it.

and don't use WGA. Or better yet, switch to Linux, I did.

You are not calling India every time that you have to Reactivate Windows it only sounds like it.

Actually MS Activation Center is in Singapore or at least it was the last time that I asked them which now is a long time ago.

Col

Why we can barely make out the English that is supposed to be in the Conversation.
I just had this problem four days ago and was told I was talking to Redmond, Yeah RIGHT!!! I kid you Not, I honestly couldn't make out his English, makes you feel real good about a Supposed American Product now doesn't it?
Then if we dare complain, well we're the Racists, what a load of crap.
Sorry, still fuming.Don't like being taken for a fool.
Regards
Aaron

The guy I wanted to speak to wasn't in the building so I got one of his offsider. At least his accent isn't overly thick and I can understand him fairly well.

The solution is try a Repair Install and if that doesn't work try an In-place Install. A real solution to a problem that just shouldn't be happening and worse still looks as if it will continue to happen for a long time to come.

Well as they say No Good Turn Ever Goes Unpunished! I'm going to have remember this next time.

Col

I just sent you a couple of little programs I found a few eyars back, that may help you doing XP tweaks, don't know if they'll help with this issue. But they do allow all sorts of fancy tweaks. One even allows you to change the seriel number of owner name in the registry settings.

You should have a Thank you reply in your In Box right now unless you've already seen it.

I really have a bad feeling about this one and I'm not looking forward to the fix whatever that may be.

Currently I rolled back the BIOS Date till the last time that I know that it was on the Net and that did nothing but I wasn't expecting much just hoping that it might do something interesting. The Rescue Install has done absolutely nothing so tomorrow I'll hit it with an In-place Install and get it working again.

I just hope that he's [the owner] is having a good laugh at my expense.

If the Quacks had not of got him off the Booze and Smokes he most likely would still be alive today. It's a real bastard when you follow the Quacks directions get the all Clear and then die 3 days latter after being told that you are in 100% health and will live to well over 100 years of age.

Col

I too called Microsoft today and spoke with one of their, "representatives".
I am looking for a copy of the Vista RC2 that I understand was just put out a few weeks ago, then vanished just as quickly.
What I got was blank. He told me they didn't put out any RC2 and that I must have misinterpreted.
Now I'm scratching my head.
People are reporting on a non-existent program? I've read about it and wanted a copy so as to complete my collection, that being Vista Bet2 Vista RC1 and now this one which supposedly doesn't exist.
So now I', m all turned around. Is it or is it not out there and if so, why is Microsoft so dead against re-issuance.
The accent, by the way was thicker than usual, but I was able to make him out.
I love it, then they tell you their from Texas.
Regards
Aaron

I too called Microsoft today and spoke with one of their, "representatives".
I am looking for a copy of the Vista RC2 that I understand was just put out a few weeks ago, then vanished just as quickly.
What I got was blank. He told me they didn't put out any RC2 and that I must have misinterpreted.
Now I'm scratching my head.
People are reporting on a non-existent program? I've read about it and wanted a copy so as to complete my collection, that being Vista Bet2 Vista RC1 and now this one which supposedly doesn't exist.
So now I', m all turned around. Is it or is it not out there and if so, why is Microsoft so dead against re-issuance.
The accent, by the way was thicker than usual, but I was able to make him out.
I love it, then they tell you their from Texas.
Regards
Aaron
This page is really fouled up, sorry if this is a double.First you write then sign than ae brought back here.?

That I've seen was the RC1 or 5600 Build or was that the 5560 Build? There has been nothing newer than that but if you really want the RC2 Beta my best guess is buy the original version released to business.

MS has a Product Launch here on November 8 th my birthday so instead of relaxing I'm attending a MS Meeting for the Product Launch of Vista and Office 2007. At a rough guess as the RC1 release is fairly recent and the product launch is so close I would say that what would normally be the RC2 Bets will be classed as the Vista Ultimate for Business. After all they have their own IT staff to fix up what no longer works.

Col

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=335

titled- At a Glance: Installing RC2

Why not ask him where he got his copy.

not using one of the Indian boiler rooms, they don't let them near the phone until their fake accent in note and English dialect perfect. Spoek with one, I KNEW I was talking to India, but it sure sounded like down south alabammy y'all.

I lost a hard drive, completely wiped it out.This was a 200Mb Seagate.
Caused to have to do a full re-install.
When the time came, I had to Activate it,.
I called the number and spoke to a Helpdesk operator.
I must say, I was treated with Kid Gloves. The staff were very considerate and caring.
However one little glitch did emerge.
During our conversation, I asked how many times I would have to go thru gh this in terms of getting activated. Once they decided your no thief and that you are in fact legal, then ,are you ready? {They} assign you a new number. You don not get to use your own ever again.
When I asked how long this would go on, they answered forever.
So now I know.
If I crash and have to do a full re-install, it will be upon activation that I will receive my new number.
I supposed I could get used to this but somehow it doesn't feel right. No Offense to Microsoft, but I would much prefer having my own constant number. One that I can uses Over and over again,. One would think that the number would i.d. me sufficiently.
Apparently not.
So from now on, If I crash and rebuild, I can on get my number from Microsoft directly.
I have now begun to think of them as the repository of numbers to come.
By the way, the number is issued at their discretion, there is no set pattern.
I'm still trying to swallow this one.
Bottom line, is that no matter how long it goes, it will always be they who issue a new number for me, I no longer have one of my own. Even the one I have, cannot be used again.
Takes some getting used to.
But I'll get there.
Regards
Aaron

I think that anything that is worthwhile will be cracked sooner or later.
If Vista would be very cheap (50$ maximum) nobody would be so stupid to install a pirate version.
If everyone had a bike nobody would think to steal someone else's bike...

Microsoft isn't worried about piracy. They just found another way to screw consumers out of more money. This time it is businesses that are paying not indivual users though. IT departments of small comanies won't be able to upgrade easily. I have 50pls PCs in my comapany. Not very many I agree but have you tried to do a role out on 50 computers that you have to activate individually. I have and it sucks. I was hoping to convince my employer to go with volume licensing this time so that I would have an easier time. Not going to happen with this crap MS is pulling. My boss already hates MS's licensing policy for servers. License the server, license each user/PC and then a license for the PCs OS. I mean for 50 users in a MS Server environment not including SQL or Exchange, which having both of those triples the server and server access licensing costs, costs a small company approximately $15,000 not including the hardware. Again not a lot of money however it is when your entire annual IT budget is $20,000. Microsoft is driving my employer to linux. My employer has seen linux work in his previous employment history. He likes to believe it can be implemented anywhere. So we already have one brand new Linux Red Hat server. It wont take much longer to get more to replace at least 3 more of my 5 servers.

before it hits the shelf

Unfortunately Microsoft has not been able to implement any software innovation without mis- behaving code. All that's going to happen with this latest 'innovation' is that piraters will find their way around registration and regular people who legitimately license Vista will be subjected to having to spend their valuable time proving to Microsoft that they haven't stolen the software... on an ongoing basis since Microsoft will continue to harass you each time you try to do an update. How about if Microsoft 'volunteers' to pay the customer $10 every time they are falsely identified as a pirater? That would make it a little more interesting.

How about a $1 compensation to each customer for every time a BSOD happens?

oooooooo we all can dream of being rich....

As full of holes as Microsoft OS is, not long. Perhaps that's what the "O" in Billy's OS was really meant to represent. =:-0

Or, perhaps "Operating" System really is accurate, because they're always having to "Operate" on it!!! Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Oh, I'm just so full of myself this morning, but, puulleeeaassee, why doesn't he just offer the OS for free and charge for fixes, patches and updates to enlarge his already bloated bank account.

But wait, that would mean Redmond would have to produce a quality OS first time 'round or no one would want the schlock anywhere near their computer for fear of spending hundreds of dollars a year, month, week, (day, even?) purchasing the endless patches, updates, patches to patches and updates, etc., etc. that we contend with now.

Billy wouldn't be able to get a computer manufacturer or sales outlet to put his buggy hole-ridden software on their machines to save his life. Why would anyone buy a box with inferior software that's going to cost them mega-bucks for as long as they use it, over another less buggy OS, Suite, & what-have-you.

Just think of the $$$ saved in workforce productivity alone! Then we have to repeat the same scenario at home, churches, schools & meeting houses. Wouldn't it be great if we could bill Bill for those hours spent patching? Not to mention all those additional hours recovering from damages incurred by the patches themselves!

The benefits wouldn't be exclusively for the consumer either. Think of all the $$$ Gates would save by not having to deal with licensing at all. No tracking, no cracking, no fancy anti-piracy technology, no expensive holographic logos. Redmond could put all those dollars into producing a carefully developed, fully tested product instead.

No, really. Think on this. Personal computers, once considered a luxury, have long outgrown the category of merely elective electronics for the affluent set. My children's homework, my work and both mine and their lives revolve around computers. Indeed, in many households, it has become the only electronic source of communication with, and information about, the outside world. Much like land-line telephones in their heyday, they've reached the status of a utility. But I dare say there would have been a lot fewer of them in use if they didn't work right half the time or constantly had to be tweaked to get to work right or worse still, be SAFE to use!

So, if all OS's are free sans the fixes & updates, then the market would truly determine who the top dog in the computing world would be instead of some monopolist offering kick-backs to computer manufacturers & resellers to smother the globe with inherently poor software workmanship.

The one flaw I found with all copies of Windows is the way it stores it's database/registry.

Eventually hackers will be able to find or write a key to bypass the automatic registration. It'll take some time, but they will be able to do it.