Microsoft piracy check comes calling

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by ronjor, Apr 24, 2006.

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  1. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    Story
     
  2. trickyricky

    trickyricky Registered Member

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    That will be an interesting exercise, considering how confused I have seen Windows Genuine Advantage get when trying out some of Microsoft's beta software. Rolling it out on such a large scale is a crazy move, especially considering that they are pushing it out using Windows "Update", which encourages users to leave everything on automatic. So it's hardly "optional" as they say, since most people won't be really aware of it until they start getting the alerts. I wonder how many of those users will feel they are victims of a malware attack? Which, if you think about it, isn't far from the truth... :mad:
     
  3. sosaiso

    sosaiso Registered Member

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    Of no concern unless you're... ahem.

    There will be a lot of angry people in the morning though, I predict. ~snipped~ - dog
     
  4. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    USA still the best. But barely.
    I'll just be visiting my friends at Andys & Needys.:D
     
  5. Lamehand

    Lamehand Registered Member

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    I say; migrate to linux, no checks needed and always genuine and certainly an advantage. :D

    Lamehand
     
  6. trickyricky

    trickyricky Registered Member

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    I know of many users of fully-licensed Windows having terrible problems with WGA telling them that their Windows installation hasn't been validated and therefore they can't do whatever they were trying to legally do. If that's a Genuine Advantage, I'd hate to see what MS considers a disadvantage!

    Penalising your paying customers is NOT a clever way to get at piracy. It's not a clever thing to do, period. I'm a legitimate paying user and I'm angry, but what effect will that have on MS, other than I have resolved never to move to Vista under any circumstances, so they won't get my money for Vista?

    They claim they are trying to be more open and listening to people more, but they don't seem to be hearing what they're listening to.

    Yep, seems like the only sensible way forward.
     
  7. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    I can understand the concept; many people running bootlegged versions of Windows are probably not aware. I would certainly want to know if the version I just bought wasn't legit, and would want to aid MS in tracking down the person that sold it to me, but at the same time this seems a little intrusive.. it would be better to offer incentive for people do the check themselves, and just advertise it so that it's common knowledge that the deal is available. I have to wonder, when this is rolled out is everyone using a volume license key (legitimately, from their work) going to see this alert accusing them of using an illegal key? There's got to be a way of tracking down the bad guys without punishing the legit users. Maybe make WGA a part of Windows Activation (or perhaps replace the activation with it?).

    Maybe the clerks at the software stores should scan your ID, take your social security number, make you sign each page of a 100 page contract, take an oath on video, take DNA and stool samples from each member of your family including pets, record your IP address, register all your hardware serial numbers, install a hardware keylogger equipped with an EMP pulse generator that sends all your keystrokes to the FBI, search your house and drives/CDs/DVDs for pirated software, and require authentication with a central server with a chip implant and a card with an embedded chip containing your certificate of authenticity and a fingerprint reader and perform a simultaneous facial and retina scan. Then if any of these fail they could just activate an EMP pulse from the keylogger to render all equipment unusable, and arrest you and send you to one of those secret overseas prisons for terrorists where they can torture you for information without worrying about laws protecting against such things. Oh, and abolish personal hard drives replacing them with online storage on Microsoft servers so they can control all content. Sounds reasonable to me :D
     
  8. beetlejuice69

    beetlejuice69 Registered Member

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    I just went through it today when I dwl IE7 beta. It wasn`t so bad.
     
  9. trickyricky

    trickyricky Registered Member

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    Then you were one of the lucky ones. I went through hell trying to convince MS that I was worthy to download and install the Windows Defender Beta. I wasted ages going round in circles without success, and this installation is 100% legit. I eventually triumphed by being more resourceful than 99% of humanity, which gives me a wry grin when I think of that 99% battling with Windows Genuine Advantage and wondering who the hell will sort them out, 'cos it sure as hell ain't gonna be me. :eek:
     
  10. <DreamCatcher>

    <DreamCatcher> Registered Member

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    Keepin it simple then!:D
     
  11. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    USA still the best. But barely.
    I just checked WU. There were 2 critical updates. One was a NEW WGA. I installed the one NOT the new WGA. AOK here.
     
  12. sosaiso

    sosaiso Registered Member

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    First, I can't really say about the advantage of Linux other than the smaller marketshare. I believe there was a study done, and that Linux actually had more security holes than Windows. "Bad coding" something or the other was attributed the blame. However, Linux is free, and for the people. That's a plus in my book.

    Second, I'd like to apologize if my comment was taken to be racist earlier. It was certainly not meant to be. I will provide some context. I believe that in China at least 80% [being generous] of computer users are using some sort of pirated version of Windows. I read that someone [maybe MS] finally won a lawsuit with Chinese computer providers to ensure that a valid OS is installed when the computer leaves the factory nowadays. This brings up two problems that I can see. a.] costs. Windows just costs too much to be provided with each computer. Linux is the next option. Will we see a surge in Linux users in the near future? Only time will tell. b.] if Windows was to have some sort of "genuine" something or other forced upon users in order for them to use it, how will that 80% deal with it? I have seen first hand in China how prevalent the complete disregard for intellectual property is. Windows XP Pro/Office 2003 sells for less than one American dollar. Is Microsoft prepared to lose this many customers?

    Piracy is a problem, but it should be dealt with in other ways. Linux had the right idea with opensource.

    Back to topic, wasn't Microsoft's validation routine stolen from another corporation? I believe it just lost a patent lawsuit on this issue. This brings up another set of uncertainty. Pirating is bad, but using patented material without consent isn't? :T

    And lastly, this seems to be another reoccurance of Sony's rootkit incident. Corporations forcing intellectual protection upon their consumers without their consent. At least this time it's with their knowledge.
     
  13. <DreamCatcher>

    <DreamCatcher> Registered Member

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    Hi, zapjb

    How come you got the option to ignore and install the other update, I had to do to get the updates?
     
  14. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    MS Expands Anti-Piracy Program, Reissues Patch
    Brian Krebs
     
  15. trickyricky

    trickyricky Registered Member

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    Crikey. I hope AdAware, Spybot and all the others will be able to detect and remove this malware. :eek:
     
  16. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

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    hi, the stats actually said Linux, unix and Apples (*nix) had 3 times more known security holes. what they did was use all the holes found in Ubuntu, Macs, Suse, Mandriva, Redhat, Solaris, Damn Small Linux, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Knoppix, Slackware, Xandros, KANOTIX, Arch, Red Hat, BackTrack and all the other 400, or so, *nix OS's and put them all together against windows to get that stat.

    other things they forgot to say was how windows admits it hides fixes, which they haven't disclosed, within other fixes, so to keep windows safe you have to install all the patches even if it looks like its for something you don't need incase they hide a fix in something which looks useless to you. also security holes within Open Source software get fixed very quickly, windows can take years to fix it's holes. it's much easier it is to find holes in Open Source, which is a good thing. they also counted the same security hole found within Linux from each distro, so the same hole was counted again and again :rolleyes:

    here's the link which explains about the Linux/Unix Vulnerabilities :rolleyes:
    http://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/blog/_archives/2006/1/5/1603140.html
     
  17. sosaiso

    sosaiso Registered Member

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    Ah, my apologies. I was thinking that the information was a bit biased, having read it in PC Mag, but I didn't know it was modified to that extent.

    Were these hardened Linux's? Or just out of the box tested?

    Which would be the most secure version of Linux?

    As for Windows, I think my computer installed WGA by itself. Normally I can decide which auto updates I wanted, but this time, I took a shower, and found that my computer restarted by itself. I'm not sure if this was due to Windows Update, but coincidentally it was downloading an update before I took the shower. Can anyone confirm this [that the update automatically installs and restarts without user consent]?
     
  18. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

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    i really don't know which is the safest, but Anonym.OS would probably do the trick ;) it's a livecd. Open Source is just more secure in general.

    you might be able to find out what you installed by looking at System Restore, it will probably have made a restore point for each installed 'patch'. :)
     
  19. clansman77

    clansman77 Registered Member

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    HI LAMEHAND I GUESS U HAVE CERTAINLY LIKED YOUR NEW UBUNTU BOX..
     
  20. dog

    dog Guest

    This is the last straw ... I'm all for M$ trying to prevent piracy, but not at the expense of legitimate license holders - I'm tired of being a victim of their war. I own several licenses for XP, which I rarely use in favour of Linux. They won't see another dollar from me (the same as SONY) ... I won't be migrating to Vista.

    As mention, more appropriate pricing would likely eliminate the problem. Only M$ could continue to pursue finding a way to kill such a golden goose ... I'm sure more and more people will seek alternative solutions. Best Wishes Bill o_O
     
  21. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    I ran the Genuine Check today and MS thanked me for having a legitimate version of winXPproSP2.
    They told it was a privilege for me, to download more of their software.
    All that nonsense for downloading "Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP". Pffft

    I don't download their softwares, I'm replacing them. :D
     
  22. Lamehand

    Lamehand Registered Member

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    @clansman77;
    I sure do, i would recommend it to anybody, altough it is quite a handfull to learn.
    I feel left out now, i didn't get the WGA update. ;)

    Greetz
    Lamehand
     
  23. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    I have to agree. Normally I am pretty understanding about these kinds of things, but this is just starting to go a little to far. The whole point is that it's supposed to be easy and enjoyable to use your computer, this (combined with the previous WGA and activation, etc.) is just a huge step backwards. I strongly agree that a better pricing scheme would do a lot more good.

    It's like post 9/11 airports.. you should just be able to be excited about travelling, the most you should have to worry about is lousy food, noisy kids, cramped and worn out seats, and air turbulence, not whether or not you may be cavity searched if you don't look right. There are always better ways.. often more effecitve.
     
  24. sosaiso

    sosaiso Registered Member

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    They are a monopoly after all. Their pricing is kept artificially high so that there is demand. :T

    As for the autoupdating, I see that there is something like Software Distribution 2.0 in my System Restore. I'm guessing I got WGA'd...
     
  25. Paranoid2000

    Paranoid2000 Registered Member

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    This is nonsense - Microsoft has being making Windows Genuine Advantage mandatory even for critical security updates - a good example being the Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4, this did not require Windows Advantage originally and now it does (I downloaded a copy from a mirror instead rather than risk having to mess about with any form of MS "validation").

    I'd agree with Dog, not another penny for MS from me either.
     
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