Microsoft drops its XP pirate checks.

[jimmalenko]

[sarcasm]

Hey

This is the internet ... my virtual reality.

Anything I believe is true, and everything else you or anyone else believes in their own fantasy world is a filthy lie. All of it.

To quote Homer Simpson, "If I don't see it, its not illegal!"

[/sarcasm]

[fritzi93]

Well, this discussion has taken an unexpected turn.

I'm put in mind of an Isaac Asimov essay I read nearly 40 years ago (if you don't know who he was, shame on you, look it up). I think it was reprinted in an essay collection titled "View From the Top", though I could be wrong.

Asimov maintained that in the future, information would become more and more a common possession. Personal information as well. He considered this a good thing, conducive to:
1) Lessening distrusts and antagonisms. Full disclosure and all that.
2) It would tend to lessen inequalities.
3) Political discourse would become (more?) rational.
4) Lots of other stuff I've forgotten.

That essay has stuck in my mind ever since. One part of me thinks he was naive, having willfully ignored some of the nastier aspects of human nature. But I hope he's right. In the meantime, I'm gunna evade such intrusions into MY privacy as much as I can.

[Nitemare]

Are there any documented cases of Microsoft giving legit people a hard time?

I only recently upgraded to XP. I'm one of those geeks that truly believes that windows peaked with Win98, BUT once I got my minidv camcorder I wanted the NTFS file system to handle those monster sized files.

My brother (an IT pro) had a copy of XP Home edition that he was no longer using and he gave it to me (EULA, disc, and all). I intalled it but couldn't activate it until I called the phone number the software gave me. After talking with Hadji and explaining that my brother gave me the software that he was no longer using, he gave me a new activation number and I've been legit ever since.

NOW... if MS wants to make SURE that he's no longer using it, I accept that. I also understand that if my hardware configuration changes drastically that I'm going to have call Hadji again and explain that I upgraded my system and get another activation #. I also understand that I'm limited to 5 activations and that at least 2 of them have been used already.

While I'm not wild about being limited to 5 activations it hasn't become a problem so far. The process itself has been painless and only mildly inconvenient. Did I mention that my call to Hadji took place at 3:00 a.m.? He was THERE and happy that I was being legit about my install.

So now we have WGA. Has Microsoft alientated any of their legit users? Has this been documented? If you want your computing to be private, disconnect from the internet. Use the tried and true SneakerNet method. (walk your discs from one machine to another)

Don't get me wrong... I'm against anything that violates privacy, but does WGA really do that? I hear a lot of people complaining that "it's not MS's business what hardware my machine is running"! If you read the EULA, they explain that they include hardware profiles to ensure that the software isn't being shared or transferred illegally. Reactivation is a piece of cake, what's the issue exactly? What other information is MS collecting "illegally"?

Seriously... I'm not trolling here... I'm just asking for someone to substantiate the problem instead of screaming "What if I want to...[insert activity here]?" HAS it happened yet?

[jagabo]

Are there any documented cases of Microsoft giving legit people a hard time?...

I intalled it but couldn't activate it until I called the phone number the software gave me. After talking with Hadji :) and explaining that my brother gave me the software that he was no longer using, he gave me a new activation number

There's one documented case.

[BobK]

Funny. It sounds to me like someone thinks someone might not want someone watching over them. When in fact, there are alot of people watching over them.

That's called a non sequitor. The fact that people are watching does not change (or have any real bearing) on the fact that some might not want someone watching over them.

The fact that it does happen does not mean that it should happen. The fact that it happens sometimes does not mean that it should happen all the time. The fact that it happens does not mean it's right.

[BobK]

When I walk into my bank, I have been there billions of times before yet I notice that there are several cameras which watch my every action. Why is that?

Even more important- when you leave the bank they don't come grab your wallet and and check to see what's inside. They don't come into your house and look at your checkbook to see if your balance matches theirs. They don't tap your phone line to listen to you talk about money. But you seem to think all that would be okay since that's a much closer comparison to MS gathering information from your computer without your knowledge.

[painkiller]

Nitemare wrote:

Are there any documented cases of Microsoft giving legit people a hard time?

http://weblog.infoworld.com/foster/2006/06/27_a418.html#a418

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/06/15/79339_HNwgairk_1.html

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/06/27/79681_HNwgachange_1.html

IDG News Service http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/062706-user-pressure-spurs-microsoft-to.html

[ROF]

Nitemare wrote:

Are there any documented cases of Microsoft giving legit people a hard time?

http://weblog.infoworld.com/foster/2006/06/27_a418.html#a418

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/06/15/79339_HNwgairk_1.html

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/06/27/79681_HNwgachange_1.html

IDG News Service http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/062706-user-pressure-spurs-microsoft-to.html

YEP! And for every four people who have this problem 16 million registered users do not and 14 million of them do not even know what their installed WGA is. There will always be problems with any Digital Rights Management product. False positives and what not.

The only ones you can blame are the thieves that make Digital Rights Management attractive to the copyright holders.

[Nitemare]

Thank you, painkiller.

Take notes, my friends. THAT is how you substantiate an argument.

I haven't downloaded the WGA myself and now I won't. Maybe I should reinstall my old windows98 again after all. You CAN get ntfs for 98, it just costs, that's all.

I know most of us feel like we've got no other choices but we really do have the power to change all this. Vote with your wallet. I saw a MAC commercial the other day claiming that MACs are now dual boot and can run windows or the MAC software. (anyone else LOVE the new MAC campaign?) Linux is a free option, and so are our older windows discs.

We really DON'T have to put up with this if we don't want to.

[Dv8ted2]

You CAN get ntfs for 98, it just costs, that's all.

From what I have read, NTFS for 98 is read-only. It is not writeable.

[ROF]

Take notes, my friends. THAT is how you substantiate an argument.

Yes. Google is cool.

I know most of us feel like we've got no other choices but we really do have the power to change all this. Vote with your wallet.

I agree buy Vista on release date and the XP WGA will be a thing of the past. You will get a supported operating system by doing so. MAC OS is an alternative if you have the hardware. Linux is an option if you got the patience. Win 98 is not a serious option for any internet connected device. Unless of course holes in your security that will never be patched is the computing experience you enjoy.

[Supreme2k]

Take notes, my friends. THAT is how you substantiate an argument.

Yes. Google is cool.

**** off, ROF.

You and adam both pull that bullshit non-sequitor out of your asses whenever someone trumps you. I'm sure your vast personal libraries are what support your arguments. You (both) do know that search engines give you links directly to the sources, right?

But please feel free to disregard the above paragraph if you were being sincere (unlikely). Yes, Google (and Yahoo and AskJeeves) is (are) cool.

[painkiller]

You are welcome, Nitemare.

And, just so you know, I have been reading this well before this subject started showing on this site. I subscribe to Infoworld (and a lot of others) as a part of my job.

So I knew where to look.

I didn't use Google for this.

[somebodeez]

I find Google extremely useful and IMHO, there is nothing wrong with using it at all and
I find the implication that there is something wrong w/using Google to be a very lame attempt to make someone's misguided opinions appear to be more lofty than what they are.

[ROF]

Talk about total miscommunication.

When I said "Google is Cool" is was referring to Nightmares statement about the links provided by Painkiller to substantiate the arguement of microsofts WGA causing woes to it's users. I was referring to the usefulness of google and other search engines in possibly finding this information.

BTW, PK sorry i was mistaken about the way you got the links and for the outrageous disruption it caused.

and Supreme2k,

your intelligence, vocabulary, and communication skills
are by far not your most endearing qualities.

[Supreme2k]

and Supreme2k,

your intelligence, vocabulary, and communication skills
are by far not your most endearing qualities.

I know. They pale in comparison to my HOT body.

Way to try to recover, Johnny Footinmouth. We got your number the first time, Captain Backpedal.

[ROF]

S2K,

If I really wanted to slam someone for using google wouldn't I have done that when I actually addressed the person who posted the links prior to even adding my agreement to a follow on post?

If you can not add anything intelligent to this discussion, or at the very least stay on topic, can you please move along. Your disruption was uncalled for, unwarranted, gave others reason to rally a null cause, and in general is disrespectful to the public.

In any case, last night I had to deal with a customer who had an issue with the WGA. A quick call to Microsoft and the user was back up and running. It was not the customers fault and was just another glitch in the WGA system.

[offline]

Keep these discussions civil please. This is an informal warning to ALL

Thanks.

[ROF]

My apologies offline. Everything was quite civil until S2K decided to jump in with his colorful language not even suitable for gutter rats and blast his accusations which hold no sewer water.

[offline]

Locked.