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PCs using Microsoft's automatic Windows update service will be checked for pirate versions of the operating system from today – and dodgy copies will be refused all upgrades except critical security patches.Users will have the option, in a pop-up box that appears at the start of a scheduled update, to opt out of the validation, but they too will be refused full updates.
Microsoft starts Windows auto-piracy check [pcw.co.uk]
(to defend myself, I bought the computer from a friend and never knew it had a pirated copy of windows until I tried to validate it 8 months later.... )
-b
Kaled.
I do believe MS was very lenient in the timeframe allotted to upgrade to registered versions of their software.
I know of quite a few people (businesses included) who are now going to have to bite the bullet and purchase the software as opposed to sharing it amongst each other. ;)
Nice find engine!
After calling around and trying to figure out if I got screwed or not, I contacted MS again and this time the product key came back valid. (Sounds like something got jumbled in the translation from English-to-[language of your choice]). To my surprise MS generated a new product key and I thought that was it. Wrong! That key didn't work.
A third phone call was made to MS and the guy I talked to wanted nothing to do with me and told me to call IBM. I finally borrowed an OEM version of XP Pro and the original product key worked, but it failed the online registration. When it was all said and done, XP was installed using the original product key, but registered with MS with the product key they generated.
We can put a man on the moon, but a software company like MS can't keep track of customers and product keys. Is a good thing?
We can put a man on the moon, but a software company like MS can't keep track of customers and product keys.Yes, thank god the lunar lander didn't run XP. We would've lost it to the commies.
it was a little prog you had to run. if you failed (my friend's pc did), you couldnt get the updates, if you refused to run the prog, same thing ...
?
I'm sure companies like Microsoft don't mind spending the resources to recover additional revenue. But if you take Intuit as an example, they experimented with serial numbers on their product for several years. But for one reason or another, they continued their previous model of uncrippled software. There's a real cost to supporting anti-piracy measures. Intuit reverted, I wonder what Microsoft will do after all is said and done.
Or maybe the license itself forbids you from transferring it to another licensee?
I do see articles like this: Users turn to second-hand Microsoft licences [theregister.co.uk]
So you can transfer these licences in some circumstances.
This would be a great time for another OS to make a run for the title.
Kaled.
and its a bit rich of them claiming they have been pirated when they are still battling the same claim from the REAL makers of their so-called media player...LOL
GOOG$ obviously woke up the sleeping giant and has them rattled good and proper.
This would be a great time for another OS to make a run for the title
Which probably explains why Ubuntu is growing so rapidly as a Linux distro...... heck - even G use it....
Will people have a real choice this time?
...I notice a lot of MS agreements that forbid transfer of the software or this agreement to any third party....you can transfer these licences in some circumstances.
Let's say Company X decides to upgrade their desktops which have XP Pro licenses. Company Y buys all the systems, which include with the COA on the side of the case. They're advertised as "Win XP Pro, License Only", yet the Windows Activation fails.
How can company Y advertise or sell the systems with product keys that don't work because they were activated at Company X, yet never tranfered? Who's held responsible or is this part of a "grey area" covered in the bulk license agreement and I'm SOL?
As far as MS is concerned, I could be a janitor at Company X who saw an unused box sitting in a closet and decided to write down the product key. If they don't know who sold what to who and when, how can they know the difference between the janitor who wrote down the a product key and the small business owner who bought a refurbished system with a legit license from a third party?
If MS sells 500 or 1,000 XP Pro licenses you'd think they'd have some sort of record of who they sold them to. You'd think accounting might want to know this, but I'm just a developer, so what do I know.
I may get flamed for this but...
I had to do it. I did not mine from my brother I got it through shady ways...but I only use it for testing my sites in IE otherwise I am all open sores.... source I mean
[edited by: bill at 12:08 am (utc) on April 27, 2006]
[edit reason] This is not the place to help people illegally obtain software [/edit]
It is the non-critical updates that are not available to "bad" Windows versions.
I think even Gates is worried about the hole that would open if they denied updates to outdated computers running their software that was not secure and they could even be held liable for such action.
1.) A section of the market is now unable to update XP.
2.) That section transfer to Linux.
3.) Linix market share increases.
4.) Greater demand for standard applications on Linux (Dreamweaver, Photoshop etc).
5.) The day when Linux does what the masses need approaches faster than it did.
Well done MS :)
I'm waiting for the day when I can dump XP and and run things like DreamWeaver and Photoshop on Linux.
You can use Linux (Ubuntu rocks!) and then use the free VMware Player player to run Windows XP on top of Linux. I've used VMware player to run a Windows image editing program and the speed was decent.
