Slashdot Mirror
Your Daily Dose of Microsoft
The European Union is considering anti-trust action against Microsoft. The Wall Street Journal ran a column today about the Windows XP registration process, which is apparently news to a lot of people who don't read enough Slashdot. IBM says Microsoft is arrogant. Microsoft's XP Beta program is a little more open than they thought. And finally, and most amusingly, one of the threat letters being sent out by the BSA on behalf of Microsoft was sent to (wait for it...) OSDN. Okay, no more Microsoft submissions today, please.
My God, what has Slashdot become? Post a direct link to a Microsoft you're not supposed to download and it gets moderated UP?
I know you all don't mind software and music pirating, but posting direct links is crossing the line.
http://svmsftwxp.conxion.com/download/wxp_pro_rc1_ core.tgz
_ tools.tgz
_ drivers.tgz
_ extras.tgz
http://svmsftwxp.conxion.com/download/wxp_pro_rc1
http://svmsftwxp.conxion.com/download/wxp_pro_rc1
http://svmsftwxp.conxion.com/download/wxp_pro_rc1
You need Visual C++ 6.0 or better, and be warned: it's a 2G (yes, 2 gigabyte) download. (Oh, and it took about 3 days to compile on my PII 266MHz too, but that's another story.)
BSA investigators to visit the accused company unannounced and accompanied by local law enforcement officials such as U.S Marshals
So the courts will grant pseudo-governmental powers to operate investigate? Is this normal? Will the US courts also grant requests for environmentalists to do research in the records of big-polluters? Will the courts grant requests for AIDS activists to do audits of BigPharm's research in order to prove that the government really funded the research on the drug they now hold patent on?
Oh, of course not, these are the interests of the community - of the people - and the *people* aren't really being advocated by their courts *or* their government any longer... silly me - I forgot.
US of America is a sick-twisted corporate run shithole. Can you people please wake the fuck up and do something about your goddamn government? P-L-U-T-O-C-R-A-C-Y : LOOK IT UP!!
They should, you know.
- A.P.
--
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
That's exactly what will happen. From a Wired article: "But if a company refuses to cooperate, BSA can and will ask a federal judge to grant a court order allowing BSA investigators to visit the accused company unannounced and accompanied by local law enforcement officials such as U.S Marshals."
Scary as hell. What would be really interesting is someone like OSDN refusing entry, then being searched. Would make a hell of a headline and could be just the sort of thing to make ordinary users realize the clout MS carries through its BSA organization.
I'm sorry - but I don't see where the BSA should be able to install any software on a machine at my company.
"Yes...this is the main server for my companies 24x7 OLAP money-machine...go right ahead an install some software I know nothing about - no problem answering Yes to the "Reboot?" question."
I have been covering Microsoft's FUD War against the GPL, Linux, and open source software. Currently, it's a collection of links to articles about their efforts, although one news story that I wrote does contain a minor (and hopefully funny) editorial. The FUD War coverage is at: linuxppc.org/fudwar/. Cheers,
-- haaz.
Who ever thought we'd be saying this ten years ago, but...
GO IBM!!!!!
Rob
This is how it starts... Microsoft will practically give the product away to make sure all Windows users upgrade to it, then they pull the noose tight and start raising annual license fees and charging more for services. Before you know it you're paying Microsoft $50 a month just to use your computer and there are no alternatives because all the competition went under when everybody was buying Windows for $10.
== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign ====
...that by installing WindowsXP, you give Microsoft lease to cripple your machine? OK, I can see it in OfficeXP, fine. But when you give a company the ability to bring down your entire computer, that is just stupid. I have read about Microsoft, I have heard from Microsoft reps that it is painless to get the key to register and open you computer back up, but have you CALLED Microsoft recently? I would be scared that I wouldn't be able to open up my computer until the phone lines were a little less congested. This is dumb, really really dumb.
Bryan R.
Bryan R.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, or $12.50 as seen on eBay.....
The more you tighten your grip Lord Vader, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
// EvilJohn
// Java Geek
Less Talk, More Beer.
There is no reason they would say no to installing a beta (or RC) on more than one PC. So, sure, they will "override" without asking too many questions.
Try this scenario with the final version and good luck.
Something just hit me.. Suppose you go along with the Microsoft activation thing.. Suppose you install Windows XP and activate it. Now suppose you also install Office XP and activate that. Now suppose that it's 3 years later and you have 10 pieces of Microsoft software on your machine, all activated.
Now suppose you do a major upgrade on your computer.. enough to cause the activations to think they are on a different computer and thus de-activating themselves. Sure, you can call Microsoft.. but you have 10 pieces of software that are all de-activated. Activating it will be a MAJOR pain in the ass!
Now suppose it's not just one machine. What if you're a system admin in a company with 150 workstations and they all upgraded on the same day.
What am I missing? It can't possibly be THIS bad can it?!
All this threatening language coming from the BSA (I heard it myself on the *radio* yesterday) is a bit interesting, especially the talk of BSA "investigations" or "audits". Aren't they just another corporate (non-government, non-law-enforcement) entity? HTF can they investigate or audit companies unless the companies agree to it?
What would happen if the BSA called my company, and I told the BSA guy to leave me the fuck alone and then hung up?
--
SecretAsianMan (54.5% Slashdot pure)
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
Let me get this straight. The most amusing thing you could come up with was to call a customer service line and ask about licensing open source products? Didja ask if their refrigerator was running? Did they say yes? Didja ask 'em to go catch it?
As my older brother used to say: cute, but not funny.
Next time someone wants to call Zones, or Softchoice or hell, even the BSA, give them a real world example to start the giggling. Tell them you have 100 users and you need licenses for 100 copies of Outlook, 15 copies of Excel, 50 copies of Word, 10 copies of Access, NO copies of Publisher, and 5 copies of Powerpoint. Now...is that all Office Standard, Office Pro or Office Seriously Diluted and Preinstalled on the Dell for the Home User?
How many points per copy, per package, per user, per workstation? How much per point? Now, now! No fair using the scientific calculator.
I'd love like all hell to comply to licensing...well, maybe not "love." I'd do it without much complaint. And somewhere in my desk drawer is a proposal from a reseller to get my company up to compliance. The bottom line was $20,000. And even in all that licensing mumbo-jumbo, there still was no guarantee that I didn't have a missed workstation, or a missed application that would instantly put me out of compliance.
*shrug* I'll get in compliance, as soon as I figure out exactly what that means and how much to hit up the boss for. In the meantime, 3 letters from the BSA, each with a different "truce number," 1 dated last year, and all 3 addressed to different people at this company. Am I to believe that these are NOT mere direct mail advertisements?
Consigned to flames of woe.
C: "Hello, Mr. Lasiewski? This is Chuck from the BSA. We're calling to inform you that we kicked your son out of the Boy Scouts because we discovered he was gay."
L: "Uh... but my son is not in Boy Scouts."
C: "Oh shit! Sorry... I mean, We're calling to inform you that we discovered that your son is using a pirated version of Windows XP..."
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
More great news! I heard on a hacker mailing list, that Debian's stuff isn't protected either.
I snuck into the Debian site, and I got lots of good stuff. Programming tools, games, an OS that works, a couple of desktop environments, networking tools, server apps, ... gigabytes of cool stuff. Way more complete than that Microsoft ISO image.
Ignore the XP crap, and grab the good stuff before someone notices.
Once they have an excuse to kick the doors down, they will always find something. Could just be that copy of Word on the long-unused Windows 3.1 partition of the secretary's machine, but by God they'll find something. And when they do, you'll pay them. Generally in the fashon of having $50 worth of nickles pulled out of your ass.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Suppose I tell him no, you can't enter, and call the police to have him arrested for trespassing. What's he going to do, get a search warrant? On what grounds? These are the questions I'd like to see answered.
wget --dot-style=mega --header="User-Agent:Download Manager" http://svmsftwxp.conxion.com/download/wxp_pro_rc1. iso
H.
Looking for a great online backup: Green Backup
First, the company has never really educated home users about the one-PC policy for Windows. Sure, it's in the fine print, but few people read that. Microsoft has extensive programs to educate corporations about the policy, but in 10 years of reviewing Windows, I can't remember a single major Microsoft consumer ad campaign devoted to the topic. As I write this, I'm holding in my hand a colorful cardboard sleeve containing a copy of Windows 98. Nowhere does it say "for use only on a single PC." Even now, Microsoft isn't preparing the public for the coming crackdown.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't putting something in the fine print, education enough? When the user hits "I Agree" or "I Accept" or whatever it is, aren't they legally agreeing to whatever is in the fine print that they just agreed to, whether they actually read it or not? Why is it Microsoft's fault that the users don't read the fine print? Why do they have to prepare anyone for the crackdown? It's in the license, it's always been in the license. They are finally doing something about it and now people are upset? That doesn't make sense. If you are going to violate licenses, at least accept the fact that one day you will either be caught or that you will eventually have to comply with the license.
Boy Scouts of America? Geez...Microsoft is more sinister than I thought....
Got Rhinos?
I know my desktop box would cause problems... I wanted Win '98, but it came from the OEM with NT on it...
--Fesh
--Fesh
Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
What influence can the European Union have on an american company like microsoft?
Sure, Microsoft sells billions of dollars of software in Europe each year, but I hardly see what kind of "punishment" the EU could inflict to Microsoft.
-Ban their Microsoft products? Then it would pose some serious problems to european businesses and their competitivness.
-Impose an extra tax on Microsoft Products? As Microsoft is a monopoly, I guess people will still buy their products even if it's more expensive.
I really have no clue on how the EU could force Microsoft to do something against its will.
!
^_^
The BSA could be a double edged sword - used as a tool to inspire companies to move to open source software. ;)
:)
For example, I'm sure there's been a medium to large size company in your past that was not interested in adopting 'free software', but was more than willing to turn a blind eye to the occasional licensing over step with windows/office...
One of two things will happen: 1) they end up spending a lot of money paying fines and buying licenses, or 2) they pay their fines and start looking for free software alternatives...
Either way - it could be entertaining.
BlackNova Traders
I received one of these "you are a criminal" letters at the ISP I work for, so I called up the BSA at (888) NO-PIRACY and had them remove us from their mailing lists. I asked where they got our name and address, and they said they purchased the list from Dun & Bradstreet. I gave DNB a ring at (800) 234-3867 and had them remove us from their lists. I asked the operator if there was a space to note the reason for the remove request and she said yes, so I made sure she noted that I had been offended by a mailing the BSA did using their lists.
(Or you may pick off the bill for big penalties tomorrow.) Software piracy is illegal. And the BSA is cracking down."
This is something I really dont understand. If the BSA has a reasonable suspicion that i am using unlicensed software, they can petition the local authorities or whomever to actually raid my facility and do an audit themselves. Where is it, and under what fucking authority that they repute to have that the BSA will do an audit? If the "BSA" ever sent this thing to me Id send them a letter telling them to go piss up a tree - when I see some authorized, sanctioned agency I might give it the time of day - not some corporate shill group which purports to have some kind of legitimate authority.
Who the hell do these people think they are?
Note: When I sent this letter saying to 'f-off', I would also include some ambiguous language, nothing to implicate myself, just make it clear that I am not denying having any unlicensed apps running - and invite them to come look. Let them waste some time and legal fees only to find all my GNU/Linux.
target of a BSA investigation. This is not a traffic ticket.
Your right - traffic tickets are documents created by my sanctioned authority, in my democratic community - and the BSA means nothing to me and can go to fucking hell.
Official Notice to the BSA from SubtleNuance:
Under the authority I have granted myself, I am hereby notifying your group, that you should remove all non-European-styled receptacle covers from your facility. The older and unapproved 'standard' receptacles and covers will be removed from your facility within 47.1231 hours, or I will be forced to begin an investigation. If found with unapproved receptacles in service after my official grace period I have given myself the mandate to nipple-twist and belly-slap your legal dept., every Wednesday afternoon until you are in compliance.
Consider yourself duly notified.
Not-so-humbly yours-in-self-delusion, SubtleNuance.BR>
Pirating is illegal and the reason why ms products are so popular and how ms can get away with charging an arm and a leg is because of piracy. Bussinesses can afford to pay for it so the users who need office compadibility just pirate's instead of buying wordperfect and staroffice. Your only hurting microsofts competitors. Once they lose marketshare ms can increase the price yet again due to the herd mentality for the same products. Also the DMCA states that isp's and website owners need to censor and monitor for illegal activities. Microsoft could hurt slashdot by such actions. They already threatened them whenusiuon of Microsofts implementation of kerbos by some slashdoters.
http://saveie6.com/
For people who are copying/pasting this guy's URL, make note of the fact that there's an extra space in his (eg: ..._rc1. iso, note the space after the dot.. the real URL has no space). Also note that if you just try to download this file using IE or Netscape or [insert browser here] the file will fail to download because your User Agent won't be set to "Download Manager". You MUST set the User Agent correctly. 90% of people who say the link is broken or doesn't work are suffering from this problem.
All I know about Bush is I had a good job when Clinton was president.
Unfortunately this is unlikely to be a GNU/Linux variant, due to the restrictive GNU GPL...
I get really sick of hearing this. A few people from Microsoft drop the word that the GPL is what they have a beef with, not all free software, and suddenly even self-professed free software advocates are parroting the Microsoft line.
Step back and listen to what the hell you are saying for a moment. You are saying that other independent software vendors will hopefully pick up another OS instead of Microsoft to support, so that they won't all be dependent on Microsoft. But, you say, they won't choose GNU/Linux because the GPL is too restrictive.
Hello?
Let's go by that one again. They support Microsoft now. They want to go somewhere else, but... the GPL is too restrictive? How can you say that a company that currently supports software for a licensed Microsoft operating system would have any reason to find the GPL restrictive at all? OK, so they can't include GPLed code in their products without GPLing those products... but do you think that Microsoft gives them blanket approval to just freely include Microsoft code on their products? At all? Do you think they get access to Microsoft source code for free, and with no license restriction beyond making freely available any modifications they make to that code?
Those of us who are free software advocates have got to stop bashing the GPL. It is counter productive, and it feeds right back into Microsoft. Don't use the GPL if you prefer a BSD-like license... that's fine! But you are only hurting free software by adding any sort of weight to this impression that the GPL is too restrictive for anybody to actually use.
-Rob
...or is Microsoft being incredibly stupid? Let's see... According to this article, they've managed to piss off:
The DOJ. A thick, plodding, but huge and relentless adversary with the legal power to carve up the company like a turkey if they are ever found guilty.
The EU. I don't think that they have the legal authority over Microsoft that the US courts do, but they can effectively create a "Microsoft-Free" zone named Europe where rival tech companies can flourish.
Sun. One of the biggest server and workstation manufacturers in the world. No big loss on immediate sales (Windows on SPARC? Thank God, no!), but Sun has a lot of clout with standards committees and governments like the EU.
IBM. The 800 pound gorilla. Lord of the mainframes. One BILLION dollar investment in Linux. Army of lawyers. Need we say more?
The Wall Street Journal. This kills me. The most respected newspaper in America says not to upgrade to Windows XP. Unmitigated PR disaster.
The Open Source Movement(TM). You know, this isn't as stupid as it sounds. I still think they could make a ton of money with an MS branded Linux distro and Office for Linux. Heck, I'd buy it.
Consumers. This "registration" bulls**t is going to piss off a lot of ordinary people. It's not like they don't have alternatives, too. *Cough*Apple!*Cough* *Cough*
The truly mind-blowing thing is that Microsoft hasn't tried to mitigate any of this damage. No olive branches, no buyoffs, no positive spin, no nothing. With their blind arrogance and greed they are slowly turning the entire world against them. Good work, guys! Keep it up!
This
Is the end-goal of this anti-piracy endeavor by Microsoft to end up making more money by getting an extra $100 from home users who don't know better? They've obviously removed the activation nag in the MOLP media for Office 2000 (although it was present in my copy that I bought off the shelf), so it's not for corporations. So, let's play "what will be the likely outcome:"
1. Consumer outrage?
2. Everybody who's anybody will pirate the activation-less MOLP media?
3. The crack for disabling the activation will be released about two weeks before Windows XP goes gold?
4. All of the above.
I will also comment that this won't have a statistically significant affect on Linux marketshare--no matter how stupid Microsoft is, Linux is going to have to stop sucking before it gets on the desktop.
Way to go, IBM.
--
KMSMA (WWBD?)
It seems to me that unless these terms are clearly and conspicuously disclosed BEFORE the sale, it is a breach of contract and an invasion of privacy to which the consumer did not consent.
Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.
<flamebait>
30 days is a long time. I've rarely gone for 30 days without having Windows crash so bad that I needed a full reinstall anyway. How is this going to help them?
</flaimbait>
Free unix account: freeshell.org
its good to see IBM standing up for something that it seems to believe in: open source. It makes me proud to be an employee.
On the contrary; the irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife. If slashdot had been around 20 years ago the object of its obsessions would have certainly been IBM. Not so long ago IBM's questionable trade practices in the mainframe industry was the subject of a Slashdot post. Yet here is IBM, complaining that a company that their market dominance helped build has turned into a monster, and is acting arrogantly.
Don't kid yourself; IBM is embracing open source only to the extent that it can give them an advantage over MS in the marketplace. Not that I think that's bad; but let's be clear about their motives.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
First a little (brief history): IBM creates PC, needs OS decides to buy one goes with small company called Microsoft which it lets retain the rights to the OS. Microsoft goes out and buys OS off of seattle software company and sells DOS to IBM (and later Compaq and the rest of the clones), then fucks up a joint venuture with IBM to create 0S/2 (I'll always wonder how Gates could hate the 286 so much but still allow OS/2 to be written in Intel 286 Assembler when he knew for a fact C would be better). IBM gets fucked over by stupid management decisions and a very eager Microsoft that realizes that the key to the pc isn't so much hardware but software. So after 20 years of being smacked around by Microsoft's thugish tactics... its good to see IBM standing up for something that it seems to believe in: open source. It makes me proud to be an employee.
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
I have no problem with Microsoft, infact they're a smart business... but their latest decision is very very very dangerous. The PC was so popular because it was open, because you could add hardware... run whatever you wanted, and had an incredible wealth of software. This is part of the reason Apple wasn't so successful... people don't want closed systems with little software. And the feeling in my gut is that Microsoft is trying to reverse the decision that the ibm developers at Boca Raton originally released the PC under. Of course Microsoft exploited IBM in the beginning, but setting a standard which they did with DOS/Windows isn't such a bad thing. Now though, by telling people what they can and can not do with their hardware, and also what they can and cannot do with their software (how long until Microsoft kills Sun, AOL, etc software compatiblity) they are overstepping their bounds. For the love of freedom of choice, I hope they fail... otherwise, if you think Microsoft is "evil" now, give them a few years. *sigh*
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
sorry but I have to do this
...maybe magazines , movies .. I just don't think 128 megs of ram is gonna do it for you :-)
"I can barely get it up on 128 Megs of ram and still be productive."
Hmmm me thinks maybe you should try alternate methods
But I'm not too worried because:
a) By that time I will have either moved on to Windows XP or back down to Windows 2000. My Linux side of the box is still quite functional.
b) I normally upgrade my distro relatively frequently on the Linux side, and 6 months just about covers it. It's like purchasing a beta of RedHat or something.
Me - "Hi, I downloaded the Windows XP beta, but I installed it on another machine. I didn't realize you could only install it on one. Can I pay for a second CD key?"
Operator - "You installed it on more than one machine?"
Me - "Yes."
Operator - "OK, hold on."
*Another minute on hold*
Operator - "Are you just using it for testing purposes?"
Me - "Yes. Like I said, I'd be willing to pay for an extra key."
Operator - "No need. My supervisor says I can override it."
Me *surpised* "Really? Uh, cool."
Operator - "What's your installation ID?" [this is the hardware hash they display on the screen]
Me - "1098.."
Operator - "Ok, here's your new code. Ready? 2037..."
Me - "OK".
Operator - "Then click "next"."
Me - "OK. It says thank you registering your copy of Windows XP. Very nice."
Operator - "Will there be anything else, sir?"
Me - "No. Thank you very much. That was surprisingly easy. Goodbye." *click*
MY THOUGHTS - Yes, the registration process sucks, but as I learned this morning, not every member of Microsoft is an asshole (at least the guy I spoke to). I didn't have to "pay" for an extra license (to test their beta, I know, but it's a pretty good OS. Hasn't crashed on my yet), and the total process took a little less than 3 minutes. Plus, as could be seen here, the operators can easily be swayed in certain instances (note, I don't think it's going to be so easy when the "actual" XP comes out).
Still, I'm pretty happy with the OS and service. Solid. $10 is not too bad considering I normally pay $9.95 - $14.95 to Cheap bytes for the latest RedHat distro.
they aren't sending $100 million to tyranical dictatorship like some greedy corporate monster!
I'm an asshole, so what?