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Microsoft Runs Out Of Windows XP Family Licenses
TrAvELAr writes: "'There is a backlog,' says Mark Croft, lead product manager for Windows XP. According to this article on IDG, Microsoft has underestimated it's popularity of the new Windows XP family license. In an effort to slow piracy within single households, Microsoft has introduced the family license which will allow the user to install multiple copies of it's Windows XP operating system at a slightly discounted price of a $10 savings. Croft also states that the savings reflects the cost of Microsoft not having to produce another disc."
I don't think a ten dollar savings is going to stave off piracy on a 90+ dollar OS. Leaving off production costs is the START of sane pricing, not the END of a plan to give a price break for multiple purchases.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
The Register reported this already on Thursday. The article can be found at http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/22975.html
Hmm... now that's a deal!
The Register some critical coverage of the same matter. Seems this may be just a PR ploy
When I was a young boy, I awoke every morning to the delicious smell of pancakes. My mother, and father's dojo contained within it a hot griddle perfect for making pancakes, waffles, and a multitude of other pancake-like breakfast pastries. I remember them well -- The pleasant, care-free days of my childhood in the dojo were often spent peering into the kitchen with eager anticipation as my mother prepared pancakes my family.
As I grew older, and began my journey to spiritual enlightenment, the memories of my pancake-eating youth filled my heart and dreams with warm, fluffy goodness....Ahhh, yes..the sweet, sweet memories... The day I ate 10 pancakes... The day I placed a warm pancake between my fleshy loins and performed the forbidden dance... The day pressed a pancake to my buttocks and encouraged my dog to come eat.. Indeed, much of my childhood was spent in pure innocence -- An innocence only pancakes can provide. It was heaven. A heaven, filled with pancakes, where I sat at the throne of God, with my hand-maidens Aunt Jemimah and Mrs. Butterworth seated beside me. An indestructible triumvirate made of flour, eggs, sugar, milk, water, and love.
By the age of 15, the path of my life became unclear and confusing. Torn between my duty my village and my love for pancakes, I foolishly left home in search of karaguchi ah-nowakadesu..The ultimate pancake. My journey took me to the many islands of my homeland, many days away from my dojo. My hunger for pancakes became my teacher, and foolishly I let it control the path that I walked upon. My feet, sore from travel, ached as my heart and stomach did, until I came to a realization. My duty was clear. I needed to take a stand and accept my love for the art of the ninja AND my love for pancakes. It was not wrong for me to love both. I love one as a dear friend, and one as a lover. Yes--My mission was clear--I must become a ninja, a secret assassin hired by the imperial family BUT I MUST ALSO ENJOY THE OCCASIONAL PANCAKE.
My adoration for breakfast cakes has placed me within an awkward position. Many ninja refuse to recognize me as their brother. I defend my father's land, but I am looked upon as weak and undisciplined. I tell them, "But, brothers! Listen to my plea! The pancakes do not weaken me, nor do they make me disobey the rule of my sword. They fill me with love." But alas, they do not understand...For the mind of a ninja is complex.
My only earthly desire is to be accepted for who I am. Yes, I am a NINJA--But I also enjoy pancakes. Will you accept me? If you were approached by a ninja who requested a pancake, would you submit to his will?
A Pancake-Eatin' Ninja
...in an effort to slow piracy within single households, Microsoft has introduced... Ooohh, I hate all those pirates in single households. I wonder what Microsoft has in mind to stop the pirates in married households.
Hmmm, they probably figured 2 or 3 people would be interested in this so they had a half-dozen licenses available... Turns out 10 'families' wanted it.
From the article: And here's another catch: You can't purchase additional family-use licenses based on a license of a Windows XP preloaded on a new PC. To take advantage of the family license, you'll need to buy a full packaged copy of Win XP. That's always been the plan, because most preloaded discs are already tied to a single PC, and that disc couldn't be used to install the OS on another system, according to Microsoft.
All this is is M$ once again sticking it to the customers, for corporations this makes since because there are a lot of computers that they would have to load Windows onto but for the home user this is crazy. Microsoft knows they have the home market in a choke hold and that's why they do this, you'll never see a second rate software maker like Apple do this.
You can save alot more than ten bucks if you just install it on all your PC's without telling MS about it.
Does anybody actually pay the extra lisencing fee when they install on more than one household PC?
Besides, if you consider Redhat as a price baseline, and considering the difference in functionality, XP is worth what, about $3.00? That means you can install it on 30 PC's before you get your money's worth.
Why does it take so long? They could just phone/e-mail you the license number and then send off the certificate when they get it printed, that way you wouldn't have to wait/install Linux instead.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Why is everyone always bitching when Microsoft tries to milk its customers? The more people get milked, the more they consider their alternatives.
Let Microsoft double its price for the second installation and make software piracy a capital offense. I assure you that would increase the use of open-source software.
evanchik.net
There should be NO production costs like with Free Software.
I'm still having hard time believing that companies don't understand this simple fact.
Free the software, charge for support.
Get onto IRC and download the Devils0wn release of WindowsXP. Its the corporate release so it has no activation! No more family licenses? Well, who gives a damn...
HAHA... eat my $#!7 billy
You mean they actually want you to buy a licence for every computer you put it on? How last-century :-)
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
Most families have 2-3 PCs tops. Why on earth would they want to have a family license when they can actually obtain individual licenses (+discs) for a mere 10-20$ more. Am I missing something here?
You know, this may very well true; but you have to wonder: is this true? It would be good PR for Microsoft. People love buying Microsoft even more than people guessed! The average person when reading this will probably think, "wow, people love buying the wonderful new Microsoft operating system! Maybe I should go out and buy it." Many companies have had press releases like that. If it backfires, they apologize and blame a scapegoat, and everyone forgets.
Why bother? I've found Windows XP to be less than 100% compatible with games. For the home user, compatability and useability rules. I've found Windows XP to be easy to use, but has some serious issues with a few games. These issues often require software developer issued patches to correct the issue. That's a lot of work for the casual non-technical home user. I simply don't recommend it. Why not stick with Win98? It is fairly stable, plays games like a champ, has much greater driver support, and is easily obtained.
Like the article stated, the average geek isn't going to like reactivating XP every time the change 6 components. There certainly could have been a better way to do it. It's just not the preferred OS in anybody's house.
Just my 2.
You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.
I am not sure why they could not could not have tied the activation scheme into a credit card system to allow you to purchase additional licenses at install time.
Just tell the SSL web page how many computers you want to install on, pay $10-$15 for each additional license (not $80), and receive an activation code that you transmit to the central server each time you install on a new machine (and will work up to the number of licenses you bought).
I seems foolish to charge $90 for the upgrade, then another $80 for each additional, since MS only needs to sell one CD per household. With the lower price, MS still makes more money than they would off of a pirated copy, and the customer gets a licensing cost that is only slightly more torturous than the MacOS or Linux.
Regardless of what one thinks of MS' predatory behavior towards other software/hardware makers, it's in any company's interest to carefully think out and plan their consumer sales channel. MS' scheme looks pretty half-baked, indicating that it waqs not well-planned, and that nobody who actually works for the company has ever actually been a customer, and seen what it's like.
Microsoft Rep: "Hi! Looks like your buying Windows XP, would you care to buy a family license?"
... ten dollars!"
User: "How much will I save?"
Rep: "Ten dollars. But we just give you the sticker and a piece of paper, no actual box or CD or anything like that. That would cost us something like
User: "Why don't I just buy the regular version again and get all that stuff including a backup cd just in case one is damaged or lost?"
Rep: "Because then we at Microsoft dont save money!"
Perhaps MS is trying to improve popularity here, by making it sound like XP is "flying off the shelves". I have my suspicions...
this just sounds like a Microsoft commerical. You don't run out of something as trivial like making CDs and license numbers.
As for the huge money they are saving on not having to create another CD... its like they are trying to market a real product, something that didn't cost them $1 for the box and CD.
I just checked prices at a professional CD manufacturer (acmed). They quoted $0.87 per CD at 10000 quantity for CD, jewel box, three color printed label and insert. Microsoft either has a very sad manufacturing process or the statement "that the savings reflects the cost of Microsoft not having to produce another disc" is not quite accurate.
I thought it was not able to be pirated! Man, did Microsoft lie to us?
I'm missing the point as well. Even with the release of XP, M$ won't part with their 95, 98, Me, or 2000 licenses for any less. Or will they?
That's not my hand.
Here's how it works: You can buy a license to use your existing Windows XP disc to install the software on another PC for up to 10 percent less than the original cost of the program. So, for example, at Microsoft's own Web-based store, if you bought the Windows XP Home Upgrade version for $99, you can buy an additional license for that product for $89. If you bought a full version of the software for $199, a second license will run you about $189.
Nice math!
My handle breaks slashcode, what does your handle do?
MOD THIS biatch up
How on earth do you run out of a (presumably) auto-incrementing license number? So you sell 10... give the next guy #11!! It's not that difficult. Heck, you could even do it with... MICROSOFT ACCESS! Wow! But does Microsoft know how to use its own software? Of course they do. So this can't be a software issue... it must be spin of some kind. I went to a popular electronics store, and they seemed to have a whole lot of Microsoft XP's sitting around... right next to the x-box'es. Go Nintendo!
stuff |
"Wow, Windows XP is so popular, Microsoft ran out of licenses!"
So, I guess I'm one of those rare people who would dare do such a thing. I can see it now:
MS Tech: Hello, sir. What can I help you with today?
...another 20 minutes later...
Me: Hi, I just upgraded my machine and I need to reactivate XP.
MS Tech: Okay, sir. *clickety-clack* And why were you upgrading your machine, sir?
Me: Oh, I bought a new motherboard and CPU and a few other things.
MS Tech: *clickety-clack* Mmm, hhmm... and what motherboard?
Me: Uh... do you really need to know that?
MS Tech: Yes.
Me: Hmm... Gigabyte GA-7DXR.
MS Tech: Oh... *clickety-clack*... you really should have gone for the Tyan Thunder K7.
Me: Excuse me?
MS Tech: I'm sorry, sir... *clickety-clack* I'm going to have to get manager approval on this one. Please hold.
Me: But I was already on hold for 20 minutes! I just want to use my machine!
MS Tech: *clickety-clack* Sir, please be patient. Remember, this conversation is being recorded. *clickety-clack* Me: Oy, vey!
MS Tech: *clickety-clack* Sir, you'll notice the knock at your door.
Most people are not going to jump through extra hoops just to save $10. Just like that rebate on that 56k modem that you forgot to send in 2-3 years ago -- the manufacture is betting against you actually sending the rebate in! Ten bucks x # of XP purchasers = more ca$h in MS's pocket. My 2 cents worth.
Newt-dog
My Doctor prescribed daily nasal saline irrigation, hehe
there's NO fugging way M$ is short on licenses.
hell, the m$-license-dept should head over to
astalavista.box and find themselves a keygen...
me: I just upgraded my computer and need to reactivate
M$Tech" (typing sounds) yes sir what did you change
me: my Motherboard, cpu, ram, nic, and harddrive.
M$Tech"I'm sorry you haven't changed 6 items yet please call back once you have changed something else... thank you for calling microsoft today (the click of a phone hanging up)
This must be Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I would really like to see software publishers move to a licensing system based on households. Many families have multiple computers now, (My family has more then 6) and I find it unreasonable that you would need to license separate copies of expensive software for each computer, considering that it is unlikely that the software is going to be used by more then one user at a time, or in the case of an operating system, it will truly be a lost sale. Case in point, Microsoft Office. The retail version is priced at over $400 USD. I want to have a copy on each of my home computers, so 6*$400= $2400 USD for software that is rarely, if ever going to be used concurrently? I think that the more reasonable method for licensing would be to offer a household license. An example of this would be for Windows XP, the $90 family license would change into the Microsoft Household License. The $90 would cover every computer that was contained in your residence. While I understand that it would be difficult to verify that the computers were actually in the same household, that type of privacy is a pre-existing problem. This would just be a method for families to hold a legitimate license to their software without paying though their nose for it.
I heard a nasty rumor that the number of activations per EULA is 5. After that the license (sp?) would be invalid... Was someome blowing smoke in my sometimes gullible direction?
That's not my hand.
Strictly speaking, if I have windows XP, legally, and I then disable all the product-activiation stuff with some kind of crack.. I'm within my rights, yes?
In other news, Sony has announced a new Television Family License which allows all members of a family or household (up to 5 individuals) to watch the same television, without violating the Sony Home Electronics License Agreement.
"Unauthorized television piracy has been a real problem for us.", says Steve Smith, the newly-appointed Director of Licensing Compliance at Sony. "Families would buy a single television, and then would sit together and watch programs without any regard for our license agreements. Sometimes they would even invite other people over to watch programs, without even purchasing a Single-Use Event License. We estimated that we lost over $500 billion in sales last year to this problem. This [license activation] is just a way to recoup sales lost to theft."
So how does the system work? When you first plug in your television, a string of numbers representing the body shape of the person standing in front of the TV is sent to Sony via the HumanaLicense(tm) dialup system. At that point, another string of numbers is sent back allowing the television to view broadcast stations. Without the code, the TV only plays Sony promotional material over and over again. After initial activation, the TV needs to be re-initialized whenever a different person sits in front of it for more than 25 minutes. The TV can be re-initialized up to four times, after which it needs to be returned to Sony for repair.
Some TV enthusiasts are concerned: "How can Sony get away with this?" says Rick Rayman, a self-described "videophile" who often invites friends and family over to watch movies and sports programs on his high-end setup. "I already paid them for the TV, why should it matter what I do with it inside my home?"
However Sony executives dismiss these criticisms. Smith explains: "That's exactly the attitude we're trying to fix: this weird hippy idea that once you pay the money, somehow the item is 'yours' to do with as you please. First, these pirates invite their wife into the room to illegally watch TV together, next thing you know they're shoplifting flat-screens from Wal-mart."
But already hackers have tried to break the system. A hacker group calling themselves "Television Freedom Fighters" have discovered that cutting one wire inside the television removes the protection system. The group of six kindergarden students have been identified and are being prosecuted under new anti-terrorism legislation. In addition, because the information was released on the internet, Sony is recalling the televisions and solving the problem by adding a second wire that needs to be cut.
To help ease the transition to license-based TV viewing, Sony is starting a new advertising campaign entitled "Compliance is Cool" featuring an animated talking dog named Larry. Sony plans to extend the system to other types of home electronics soon.
It would please me a great deal if I could filter out articles and posting relating to microsoft.
I don't care much about microsoft and I am getting more an more less amused by the bashing of the company on slashdot.
for years and years it has been funny and all, but it tends to get boring, just slightly you know.
I don't care much about microsoft, and don't mind them getting bashed, they certainly deserves it. But now I'm just at the point where I would rather just completely ignore them and focusing on our own platform. Are we having so little to talk about on the linux, bsd side, that we just need microsoft as a constant subject?
Guess its a matter of activity. with the eternal battle of good versus evil, slashdot would loose followers and thats bad for the activity and thus its business.
argh good thing this posting is anonymous, else I would be bashed for my rambling which will probably be marked 'troll' and all.
well so be it. if my thoughts make me a troll, a troll I am. but who are you to judge then?
a vreespirit
This is either a marketing strategy to sell stock actions or their NT4[1] database (you know, the one that keeps all the information about everyone's computers and families) crashed and they still haven't recovered it.
1. Of course, they don't trust their latest products with it.
According to this article at The Register, MS has run out of licences sold to merchants. This does not mean that end users have lapped them all up.
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
until you can get your certificate, Microsoft informs people to go on IRC and get XP_reg_gen.vbs in order to register their products.
Oh, and I love this quote:
"We don't capture any personally identifiable information," he says.
Hahahaha. No, nothing like your name, phone number, credit card #... no, nothing we can ID you by.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
They will let you install a copy of XP on more than one computer, as long as you pay the discounted price of $189?!?
Oh, yeah, that will stop piracy.
Get a clue Microsoft. If you are going to charge people to install XP on more than one of their own computers, How about an "Add-on" license of say $20? That would make sense.
SIGFEH
Installing Rights XP on your Windows XP system will prevent disillusionment when you discover that your country is being run by a cluster of politicians running Microsoft Political Agenda XP Government Edition (I think that's the one without concern for the public's rights, I always get them confused).
Microsoft's online service, MSN Lawyer, has this to say about the situation:
Hope this helps people.
--Dan
whats insteresting to me is that nobody seems to relize that microsoft WANTS piracy to take place,
then windows will become even more propiertary. The only reason for the recent analness on licensing etc...is because it looks good in courts against a case that microsoft is trying to monopolize the industry. Think about it, more casual copying = more boxes running windows....microsoft doesnt care about the piracy they are just watching out for themselves legaly
I like this family discount idea. If I wrote to somebody at freebsd.org and asked for a family license, do you think they would give me $10 to install FreeBSD on each additional computer in my home?
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
Ok. But the EULA governs the puchase of the license. I apologize if I wasn't clear. Still, http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24100&cid=2607 676, the "Sony Licenses.." parody mentions:
The TV can be re-initialized up to four times, after which it needs to be returned to Sony for repair.
That's not my hand.
So what this means is that I can only install hardware which Microsoft approves. I'm sorry, but having to get a company's permission to upgrade my own hardware is just too much.
And the sad thing is that we will have to deal with these systems in the future - face it, the average computer user is going to use whatever OS is put in front of them. So yes, I personally, won't have to deal with this on my own system, but my relatives will. And guess who will get called to deal with 'computer problems' every time their system crashes.
Worse, I'll have to maintain two systems - one for professional use, running the latest version of 'doze so I can communicate with my employer; and a personal system, so I can maintain some semblance of sanity. Regardless of whether or not I run a free OS, I have to pay to use a proprietary one simply because the rest of the world believes that there is no alternative...
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
At least that is what I call it, ok what are you really getting here, your getting the "right" to use their OS on another machine. Wow...
Come on, if your going to pay another $80.00 bucks at least M$ could provide you with a nice box, CD and manual and perhaps some little stickers etc...
I can hardly think of any industry where you pay 90% full price of a product and you see really no tangible "product". Granted this is the software business, but who is really saving money here, not the consumer really, only microsoft. The consumer is actually not saving anything, M$ is jacking them out of the CD, box, etc... so yeah... the price should be $10 less. Personally, I would rather pay full price for a totally new copy so I can have another backup CD of the OS in case I damage the first one.
I'm sticking with Win2k for now.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
Obviously there are enough people that don't think $10 off is too little that they have run out of licenses. So who exactly looks like a fool now?
Mmmm.. Donuts
Especially for a monopolostic company, you need to understand how consumers use your software. As usual MS missed the boat. Back in the day (before I was enlightened) and I actually used Windows, one of the important things was that I could share it with my family and a few things, or vice versa. Or that when windows totally screwed up I could bring over a windows disk and fix their system. Even if I was still uninitiated into open source I'd be looking for a new OS if I had to phone MS to "activate" my software everytime I tried to fix it, reinstall it, or whatever (or else I'd be pirating a cracked version like crazy to everyone I know). Piracy allows a whole bunch of people to use something right away, if they like it, they give it to their friends or tell them to buy it or their friends just hear about them using it all the time. It builds up momentum and sets up this environment where a bunch a people are using the software and more people see that and then buy it. Some nice priates even choose to buy the stuff they pirate and like. I dare say a large number of games have gotten enormously popular riding fame based partly in piracy (unreal tournament?), not just making sure no one at all can use the software without paying. pf
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World" -- I suppose this refers to George W.? :)
I just downloaded the ISO's of RedHat 7.2 and burned them to CD to upgrade my home computer. My whole family can use it and it only cost me a couple of bucks for the CD-R's. I can even install it on another machine if I want too. Gosh, my wife is really impressed with RedHat 7.2 she said "Why would we want to use Microsoft, RedHat 7.2 has everything we need and you didn't break our budget to upgrade." She couldn't believe that people would pay full price for something that basically amounts to bug fixes. "At least with RedHat the bug fixes are free", she said. Now if I can just get her to stop playing pysol and let me use the computer....
just download the OEM version folks, no registration or anything
Instead of buying three copies for $580, why not take advantage of the low airfares, hop a plane to China or Japan or Taiwan or Hong Kong and get a pirated cd with Windows XP and thousands of dollars of other software for only $20 !!!
I am not kidding, you really can!
Software Licenses, Music Licenses, Intellectual Property Licenses.
This is all "property" that when I give it to you, I still have it. The whole point is create a finite proxy for an infinite proxy.
No more charging for this stuff. You can charge for good packaging, you can charge for good marketing..
Charge me for making it easy to install, but do not.
Wasn't Capitalism designed for the distribution of scarce resources? I'm sick of technology being used to create scarcity. Technology should be used to create the infinite.
Quit wasting time trying to prevent copiers "pirates" and use the "network" effect to make the technology ubiquitous and useful.
Arggh!
Cost of a lite-on 24x burner
$90
Cost of a spinde of 80m 24X media
$20 - $10 MIR
Cost of finding a Corporate Win XP
serial # on astalavista.box.sk
$0
The pleasure of telling Uncle Bill
to shove product activation up his ass as you distribute copies of XP pro to all your friends and family?
$ Priceless
There are some things that money just cant buy (like quality GPL software), for everything else, there's Warez.
Warez....accepted everywhere you go, even in Redmond, Wa.
Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
Instead of buying three copies for $580, why not take advantage of the low airfares, hop a plane to China or
Japan or Taiwan or Hong Kong and get a pirated cd with Windows XP and thousands of dollars of other
software for only $20 !!!
I am not kidding, you really can! Software EULA's cannot be strictly enforced like
in the US. I bought cds from a couple of different street vendors while on
vacation. One had Windows XP with a tons of utilites and antivirus program,
another one had softimage xsi, 3ds max 4 with 500 plugins, photoshop 6 and
scads of plugins, lightwave 3d 5.6, a bunch of professional ocr software,
maya 3, adobe illustrator 9, freehand 9, hundreds of fonts, macromedia flash,
fireworks, adobe after effects, adobe premiere 6, quicktime pro 5, media studio pro 5.0, etc...
easily $20000 of software!
Bypass Compulsory Web Registration -- http://bugmenot.com/
Ever wonder why you don't see any empty boxes for microsoft products in stores (so that people don't steal the cd's?). They don't make them because it costs Microsoft $7 per box, and since empty boxes never contain products, they never get the money back. (like they need it...)
I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
Don't buy their products! Then they don't have to produce the box or CD in the first place. :-D
--
Happy Fun Ball got first post...because I taunted it.
The family pack license is ONLY available on the full retail version of Windows XP. It cannot be purchased for the upgrade version.
Thus, to buy a family pack for two seats you must spend a minimum of $388.
Compare this to buying two over the counter upgrades for $198.
The family license itself, and the so called demand for it, is a pure marketing and PR ploy. It wasn't too hard for sales to be greater than expected, MS didn't expect too many people to actually go for this bugger at all!
Also note that demand isn't *consumer* demand, it's *retailer* demand. No telling how many of these are sitting on back room shelves, unasked for, and unloved, by actual retail customers.
As someone else has already pointed out The Reg has a good article on this.
KFG
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/psz-24.11.01-0 00/
of course that is in german, so use this babelfish link
US Army wants allegedly no Windows XP
US armed forces are to have decided against the use of the new Microsoft operating system Windows XP. By its on-line registration the Redmonder software company would get too much information about the computers and software of the American Department of Defense into the hands. That again would be a violation of the government regulations to data security. The pentagon is to have cancelled therefore the purchase of PCS, on which Windows XP is installed. How it is called further, the Ministry of Defense wants also in the future to acquire no licenses for Windows XP.
All this maintains anyhow Charles R. Smith, Cyberwar Cyberwar-Kolumnist of the NewsMax appearing in the Web . He sees himself as one of the prominent American experts for Cyber technology and their meaning for the war, the terrorism, the data security and the daily life. Charles Smith says about itself, he has good contacts since the cold war to the US Army, which was he with " Games Programs " supplied. Today he is a president and CEO von Softwar, its own consulting firm, writes additionally for the " USAF information of throwing AR journal " and maintains as a journalist regular contacts to American secret service sets.
The press department of the American Department of Defense did not want to acknowledge Charles Smith in the fact that Windows XP was generally gebannt in the area of the US Army. Windows XP is new on the market. One must regard that only once. The pentagon became general on the fact however always notes that the software used there does not contain back doors, traps, viruses and Trojaner.
Manufacturer Microsoft does not take the security doubts of authorities and enterprises on the light shoulder. The software giant has therefore a " Corporate edition " of its new operating system in the delivery program, which does without the on-line registration
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I've offered everyone I know my time and services in setting up linux with all the linux versions of software that will substitute their Windows counterparts if they choose linux instead of WindowsXP. I've evern offered my time in teaching them how to use the software and Linux (as far as end users need to know). I've had a few take me up on it. Hell, free operating system AND free installation, configuration and training? How in the HELL can you beat that?
If more people did this, there would be no way Windows could win.
So, I need to fire up a pre-installed copy of WinXP on systems by two manufacturers, using a hardware debugger to spot where the instructions diverge, check out the BIOS differences that are triggering the branch, and then use VM software that intercepts the instructions that check the BIOS to ensure that it looks "right". I'll get right on that!
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
I realize calling that using RedHat and quality in the same sentence is a stretch, but what smacks you in the face when you go to redhat.com? "Now it's $20 off"... I thought you _couldn't_ buy quality GPL software.
I understand that you're trying to be funny and all, but at least get your facts straight first.
Nuff said.
--jordan
The purpose of copyright laws, and of patent laws, is to provide an INCENTIVE to the INVENTOR to actually put in the effort to invent the thing in the first place. The theory is, that without that INCENTIVE, there would be a lot less INVENTING.
Apply it to movies: Do you think that if the copyright laws didn't protect movies, that there would be very many movies being produced? Would there be chains of movie theatres? Would the movies eventually come out on DVD so you could watch them at home?
Who the heck would bother to produce movies, if they couldn't recoup the costs of producing them, and hopefully make some profit as well?
Same goes for software: Oracle is the industry leader in database software, no question. (And there is certainly no Open Source alternative which is a viable replacement for Oracle, no matter how much you might wish it to be true.) Would Oracle exist as a company if there were no copyright laws to protect their "property"? And if Oracle didn't exist, wouldn't that be bad for the consumers who would purchase Oracle's products, since those consumers would otherwise simply have no place to turn in order to get products to help them run their businesses?
And then, consider the tax revenue generated by all of that commerce.
Of course there's my mom and dad. and my step-mom, step-dad, my roommates, my friends, my girlfriend, and well over 100 people at school that I know. Everyone on planet earth, because really, aren't we all just one big family?
It's been my policy for years to pirate and never pay for MS software... just my way of chipping away at their corporate empire. I only pay for software I believe in.
you can't tell me that those "anti-piracy" (information gathering) reactivation policies are popular with anybody except micro$oft. i would guess most people are just too apathic to learn something else to use.
Do you buy the second copy frrom the retailer, or directly from Microsoft? If you buy Windows for $99, Microsoft doesn't see $99, they see maybe $40, once you count packaging, shipping, and retailers fees. I believe to sell a product retail profitably you have to be able to manufacture (in software, that includese paying programmers) it for 25% of the retail price. This means Microsoft is making at least two if not three times as much money when you buy the additional license.
The meta-meta-meta-moderator in me suggests you have reached the pinnacle of lameness and I nominate you for first prize of mediocrity.
Congratulations!
On further investigation it was found the one copy of the family licence produced for projected demand was infact lost and not sold. The licence will be delivered to Bill this afternoon.
In other news Ziff-Davis is planning on a six issue story on the repeated depletion of family licence packs at Microsoft and the need, nay desperate need to increase Microsoft OS prices to help the struggling Redmond company keep up with Amazing! Earth Shattering! Unbelievable! demand!
What's up with with WinXP anyway? Does it have any new features besides including the free MSN messanger, the new look and feel to make it look different? I haven't heard anything to convince me that it is better then Win 98se or Win 2000. At this point I am wondering if there were that many bumb idiots out there to cause Micro$oft to run out of family licenses.
The second biggest misconception is that you can't upgrade your PC's hardware once you install Windows XP, he says.
The simple fact is, you can change up to six components without any issues, he says. "If you stick a new hard drive in, it doesn't impact anything."
"The only group who will have any ongoing activation issues are the labs that are continually recycling PCs on a weekly basis," he says.
And for the rare home users who do make major hardware changes, such as swapping out six pieces of hardware or installing a new motherboard, they simply have to call a toll-free number at Microsoft. The technician there will ask about the hardware changes, and then will reactivate the software over the phone, he says.
Is it just me, or do you find the repetition of "he says" in each of the above paragraphs irritating?
Anyways, they've pretty much laid out the exact reasons why I won't, and in all practically can't, install XP at my household. They say it will only inconvenience people who do major upgrades regularly... well, it just so happens that my household contains several such people. I wonder if they can be sued for minority oppression?
No... I'm not joking. If there was a grocery store monopoly and all the big stores stopped carrying things like tofu and other high protein vegetable products, you can bet your private parts that vegetarians would be screaming bloody murder about being oppressed. Just because someone's a minority doesn't mean that they are inconsequential. Or are we going to fall back a hundred years and start enslaving people who don't happen to look like or act like us again?
Yeah, I know I'm ranting, but this sort of attitude makes me so furious, it's hard for me to be coherent.
Besides, I may be able to use Linux, but my wife and kids aren't so easy to sway.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
From the article:
And for the rare home users who do make major hardware changes, such as swapping out six pieces of hardware or installing a new motherboard, they simply have to call a toll-free number at Microsoft. The technician there will ask about the hardware changes, and then will reactivate the software over the phone, he says.
Since when Did MS start calling semi trained monkeys, technicians??
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Drink Coffee - Do Stupid Things Faster And With More Energy!
So i actually bought & installed the upgrade of WinXP. (so shoot me, & yes Mandrake8 is on another partition too) I'm a student & also have office 2000 academic. When you activate WinXP over the phone, you have to deal with a computer voice system where you type in numbers. Office 2k registration / activation?... you talk to a living human being. A quiet shift in MS policy ?
"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."- Friedrich Nietzsche
This is why I think multi-user licenses are so rediculous: we made the whole concept up. Software doesn't work like this naturally...unlike the car analogy I provide, software CAN be used by multiple people at the same time. It's the nature of the beast. We impose this artificial, greedy, (and pointless -- cracked before it came out, WinXP was) shit to suck cash out of peoples wallets excessively and pretend they have some sort of control over the disc and the software on it once it's bought...
Mind you, I'm not saying MS shouldn't be compensated for their product: I'm just saying that it's all a fantasy. A load of made-up nonsense that they hope people will follow. (And, of course, lots of people do. Baa.)
BytesTemplar.com
Quite possibly, I suspect that this a(n) (ab)use of the so called supply and demand laws. If you reduce the supply artifically, people are willing to pay more.
SSL Certificate
I'm a bit confused at the concept of "running out of licenses". It seems to me, that m$ has a virtually unlimited qty of these "licenses". A "license" is a completely arbitrary item. I didn't realize a "license" was something tangeable.
So, to help me out a bit, are we referring to the physical medium the "licenses" are printed on? Or, are they distributed on a CD? (I'm really out of the loop on m$ products). Do "licenses" come in a physical cardboard box?
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Just score you a copy of XP and visit any good warez site. You'll find plenty of hacks and code that removes microsofts bullshit. then just install it on as many computers as you want to.
fuck'em
vrmlknight is a +5 prick. Get a sense of humor.
How long before we see this headline....(yes this is somewhat of a troll but think about it...)
M$ license will include ONE free activation. Each time you have to reactive you will be charged $19.99.
IF winXP is rock solid and you don't ever have to format and reinstall then this will never happen...
Each time you reauthorize your XP it costs M$ money... at some point they are not going to want to reauthorize XP they are going to want you to UPGRADE to the newest windows product.... so they will charge you money to reinstall...
this is my 0.2 on the issue...
First,
It is obvious that MSFT is chargin $80 for a working OS, aka an OS on the harddrive, running a kernel, etc. $10 is the CD and manuals. Hence I should be able to buy as many copies of XP as I want for $10 each, then I should pay $80 to actually activate it (once or multiple times). What's with this assumption that I will actually want to install and activate something I buy that gives you the right to charge me $80. (It would be nice paying sales tax on $10, instead of $90).
Second,
Its a crying shame that they ran out of licenses. And here I was hoping consumers would be able to say no to new Microsuck OS. It looks like the Microsoft defense team was right. They are doing what's right for the consumer. They obviously have overwhelming support for there new "features" why don't we all sign up for Microsoft credit cards, transfer our bank accounts, and discard our mutual funds for straight up MSFT stock!!!
---- Smokin' another sig.
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Yes, and when they install it they realise that their PC has become obsolete by installing a newer OS. Oh, bugger! :-/
In any case, I wonder whether this particular story isn't just a PR campaign. XP hasn't exactly received glowing reviews, and most people have little reason to "upgrade" (I'm writing this from an XP machine, which came with XP preinstalled).
Multiple computers in the household are perhaps not as common as multiple CD players, but you have got to be nuts to actually complain about people sharing the same software within their own household. First of all when was the last time that you had to buy a seperate washing machine for each member of the family? Even worse when was the last time that you needed to share a different roll of toilet paper per person in the house hold. Computer prices may be dropping on a day to day basis. But software is not cheap and there is no conceivable way that I can think that a family would not share the same peice of software to just simply save money. We are not talking about a mutli-million dollar business that runs hundreds of copies of the operating system. We are talking about run of the mill middle class individuals that may have 2 or 3 computers in the household which are normally used for personal, entertainment, and educational use. Give me a break... at least these families went into a store and bought a copy of this operating system instead of running to their local warez server to download one of the many available copies of this software.
Stuff like this makes me severly mad at the monopolizing idiot company!
kha0z
Master of ImportChaos.com
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wow, since my copy of winxp is pirated, i guess i should feel happy by saving microsoft $10.
wow, i really am doing my part!
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Big Fucking Deal. MS "runs out" of some licences. Who cares?
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Well thats good to hear. They sold their 2 year quota in 3 weeks. I guess it's just free from now on, since they obviously never intended on selling any more than ULONG_MAX number of licenses or whatever finite integer limit that they compiled into their generator. Time to work on that limits.h file..
Now I don't feel bad.
"The major vendors each have their own unique key, and the key is tied to the BIOS of the PC, he says. So when a company such as Dell ships you a Windows XP PC, the company has pre-activated the software for you."
Lets say for instance $FAMILY_MEMBER buys $BRAND_NAME_PC with Windows XP loaded on it. $FAMILY_MEMBER dies and leaves the PC to me. Well that i810 motherboard with a celeron ain't gonna do me no good. But that nice shiny copy of XP might look nice on my newly built 1.6GHZ pc. What happens then? Is the software forever tied to that PC? Can you take the hard drive out and put it in another PC? If it is preactivated what happens? You call $BRAND_NAME_PC and ask them to reactivate it for you?
Yes, but what self-respecting geek gets a new computer (if you change the motherboard and processor, that's pretty much what you've done) and just leaves the same OS installation on his hard drive that he had from the previous computer?
Generally we reinstall at this point, because it is very unseemly and potentially a performance issue if you leave all those old drivers and some of the old registry entries around. Some of the registry entries for some of the old motherboard's components usually hang around in case that component shows up again, bloating the registry and degrading peformance ever so slightly. Old drivers definitely lay around and hog space.
That's why with few exceptions any hardware enthusiast will reinstall his OS when he gets a new computer. With Windows XP, a clean reinstall means going through the hassle of re-activation. That's precisely why I just downloaded a copy of Windows XP from alt.binaries.warez.ibm-pc.os instead of buying one--because I can't buy the corporate version that doesn't require activation at all, but I can pirate it.
I hate to make a hollow-sounding excuse, but in this case, as a hardware enthusiast to whom performance is important and who needs the freedom to frequently reinstall from scratch without the bullshit of product activation each and every time, Microsoft left me little choice but to pirate the corporate/OEM version of Windows XP Pro rather than buying the normal version which requires product activation. I could also go ahead and buy a copy of Pro so that at least I'd be licensed and "moral," but why bother--doing so is just supporting Windows Product Activation, and I don't want to do that.
Sure, I could have gone on using Win98SE--and I still boot into it for games--but not forever. Hardware companies are already dropping support for it--ATI, for example, only officially supports the latest 3 MS OSes, which goes back to WinME. Most ME drivers work under 98 too, but not all. And as soon as MS releases a new OS, that support for the Win9x line disappears from ATI, and from some other vendors as well. Windows 2000 isn't an option for some of us because of its poorer legacy support, and poorer driver support all around.
What that means is that sooner or later every Windows user will have to be using a form of XP, and that those of us with the inclination to reinstall our OS from scratch every once in a while--hardware enthusiasts, geeks, whoever--are going to ant to bypass WPA. That is leading to more piracy, not less, considering the availability of the WPA-less version of XP via USENET, websites, IRC, etc., and the increasing presence of broadband to make downloading it feasible for larger audiences.
Microsoft is just shooting itself in the foot, and silly moves like "Family Licenses" aren't going to help it. I wouldn't be at all surprised, BTW, if this "shortage of Family Licenses" isn't just a Microsoft publicity stunt to get their Family License program in the news. After all, how many of us actually heard about it before now?
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
What a piece of shit. I wouldn't have windows XP on any computer that I own. Just glad I decided to take the plunge and run linux exclusively more than a year ago. These licensing issues don't effect me. Microsoft couldn't have made a better move to position linux in direct competition with them. GO MICROSOFT :)
...it is just a really amazing troll.
The guy at the flea market had a van full for sale this morning, and only $20.00 a copy. ;)
--
Spaz!
"Life is hard. Life is harder if you're stupid." -- John Wayne
So, if it actually costs $10 to produce a copy of XP, and they plan to give $1.1Bn "to the children", is that 110,000,000 copies of XP?
people might be willing to accept license compliance as reasonable. However, at nearly the cost of a new box, it's pure greed. Only the self-righteous will walk out of the store with an armload of WinXP boxes for home and crow about it on Slashdot. The rest of us morally flaccid mortals bow our heads in acknowledgement of the fact that we sometimes commit acts of greed and convenience--such as installing that Windows CD that came with the laptop on other machines, or taping a CD for the car, or photocopying a chapter of a book for a friend--all in the name of saving a bob, and because we can.
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winquake (quake1), for example, runs like shit under win2k. My framerate there is about 30fps vs. win98's 80fps.
Quake 1's code is free software. You might want to look at QuakeForge.
Will I retire or break 10K?
1) Gaming compatibility. There simply is no alternative to using a Microsoft OS if you want to be able to play the vast majority of games that have been made for the PC in the last 20 years.
In other words, you refer to PC games released from 1982 to the end of 2001. You can get 99% MS-DOS compatible DOS from IBM or from Lineo. You can get a 90% MS-DOS compatible DOS from the FreeDOS Project.
Sure, you can run *most* DOS games in DR-DOS--but not all of them
Name some titles? Do they work in IBM's PC DOS?
and at any rate you'd still have to boot a Windows variant to play all the Windows games.
If the game was released before 1996 (that's 14 years of PC games), it probably runs under DOS because DirectDraw didn't come out until 1996, previous Windows versions (without DDraw) lacked the video performance of DOS (e.g. no 320x200x8 mode), and most Windows 3.1 games have free clones by now anyway.
Or just get a Nintendo GameCube or Game Boy Advance and skip the whole thing.
This is especially true since so many Linux apps are enigmatically named
How is it any different on windows? Notwithstanding Microsoft's marketing, how can you tell "Excel" stands for a spreadsheet program? What about "Outlook" for an e-mail and calendar program? What about "Napster" or "Limewire" for a media sharing app?
(how are we supposed to find them in the first place?)
OSDN Freshmeat.
Anyone knows instantly what Media Player does--it plays media, like movies and sounds. Great. But how is an end user supposed to know what xanim does?
xanim: take off the x and you get 'anim' which is one letter away from the 'anime' videos.
I need Photoshop for image editing--The Gimp is okay, and I can do some script-fu with it that I can't under Photoshop, but it isn't as powerful in most respects, is more clunky and difficult to use, and lacks CMYK color separation which is a must for many graphic artists.
Photoshop costs $600. Photoshop Elements (same thing as Photoshop without the CMYK stuff; feature set similar to that of GIMP or Jasc's Paint Shop Pro) costs $100. What's the difference? The royalty for the PANTONE patents.
you see, I'm set in my ways and attached to my apps ... There would just be too steep a learning curve to make the effort worthwhile.
Would it cost more than $900 (XP Pro license + Photoshop license) to retrain you to use Free software?
Compatibility with the outside world.
As long as you use standards-based file formats, you should be safe.
Why should I put up with not being able to use a film clip, when I could have done so with Windows?
Why should you put up with stock film vendors who do not make their collections available to their customers in MPEG or MPEG-4 format?
There are some pretty strange and obscure file formats that have been developed over the years, but almost alays there is software for Windows which will handle it.
If a file format is obscure enough, the software that can convert it to a more transparent format tends to be older, and WINE tends to run older software more reliably.
B) Chasing Amy uses (pirated) Windows. Microsoft gets no money from him.
Microsoft gets $100,000 from him, maximum statutory damages in the US for copyright infringement.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Get the OEM COrporate edition which has no registration...
So Msoft has now decided that they are a a big computer company and can act just like any other vendor (you know sun/ibm/dec/etc)
Yup right to use. Ever dealt with DEC? Two parts existed there (Compaq modified it a bit) The right to use, and the right to the media. You pay a separate charge for both.
The right to use can be perpetual or annual. and is usually per cpu.
The right to use is often tied to the number of simultaneous logins. (and enforced via the os).
So big deal! it sucks. Big unix vendor still do this. I think it is a good thing that it is happening to home users. It makes the MS route look just like any other OS vendor route.
Funny that the big boys have pretty much all added some sort of "hobby" license over the last few years. Why? Cheap MS perpetual licenses (and more recently linux).
OOO the irony
Plugs in webcam, buys scanner, plugs in digital camera, plugs in USB speakers, upgrades a non-PnP monitor to a PnP one.
not really a major upgrade in terms of PC hardware, but then, windows considers all these devices, so...
You could even go further -- computer is brought to a LAN party, all the video hardware is unplugged, when it's brought home, it needs to be activated again. That could become more than annoying.
and as for the benefits of XP, point out one which a person who works for a living should go out and pay 200 bucks on(and couldn't do with a 50 dollar shareware package, a la the UI). Now go pay the 200 bucks AND get slapped around by the comany you are keeping in business by purchacing their software. No... I don't think so.
I crack games I buy legitimately because I don't think I should have to live with copy protection after I payed for the game. The difference between the game and the OS is that I bought the game for 20 bucks(which is cheap enough for me to overlook a minor inconvenience), and I don't have to keep it on my computer forever. I can't say the same for the OS.
It's been a long time.
lol i know you can buy various distro's of linux and what not :) As you said, i was just making a bad joke at MS. Some of the best open source software isnt for sale though, such as Freebsd and Openbsd, and Apace. You cant buy it, only use it and save a bundle compared to Nt and IIS.
Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
So there is a backlog, eh? They've run out of family licenses? I think Microsoft only had about 5 family licenses total, so they could say they're out, and cause people to run to the nearest store to pick up copies of XP in a panic that they won't be able to use their computer.
Microsoft sucks. Windows sucks. Free software r00lz!
Oh well.
Say you buy the product at retail, MS sees only a portion of that. We'll say they make a healthy 75% off of your purchase, $150. Then you buy this "discount" license directly from them. $190.
They just made *more* off of you by "saving" you money. In the process, they screw over the retailer. Talk about a racket.
Give a more substantial rebate, ~50%, and we'll talk. Until that comes, this is just a money-making scheme.
± 29 dB
..seems a bit steep for a company that uses prison labor to shrink wrap the boxes. I can't imagine more than a few dimes for pressing a CD. Maybe those fancy holograms are responsible..
When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.
what do you mean ms has run out of licences??, these fuckers print their own money don't they?
...after all you don't use any Micro$oft OSes, right? I swear, if MS had put out your favorite Linux distibution, you'd complain just because it was a Gates offering.
What's this $10 saving off of? The Home Edition price? The Professional Edition price? One multi-user license? Two? Ten? I mean, you can say "we're saving you $10" but it's all relative. If someone can buy the Home Edition for $199 or the Family Edition for $289, which do you think they're going to get? I've met very few people that put respecting Microsoft's anti-piracy laws over their wallet.
[insert witty comment here]
The best comment ive seen so far is the comparison of product activation to sony tv's, however that's not a fair comparison. For one tv you only have one viewer, you cannot use 1 tv in many different places at once. A better comparision is cable/directv. My parents have directv, and i know you have to pay extra for each tv that you want directv on. Usually this is the same for cable tv, for each tv hooked up to cable, you gotta pay extra. Another good example is the new anti-copying technology that music companies are using to prevent people from copying the cd. There not doing this to piss off the consumer, there just trying to stay in business. Some people (including me) haven't bought an audio cd in years, and this is really hurting there bottom line. The same can be said about the PC industry, so if your gonna pick on microsoft, your a hypocrite if you dont pick on everyone using similiar technology.
;)
But WPA is nothing to fear, the only thing to fear is ignorance. Someone posted WPA includes personal information such as name, address, this is totally incorrect. WHen you register you provide your personal info, you need to register to get support from microsoft. WPA is just binding a number based on your hardware to your copy of windows - there is NO personal data there! Registering and activatating are 2 totally diffrent things! You dont have to register, but you do have to activate. Activation is just a number based on the amount of ram you have, hard drive serial, NIC, bios, and a couple other things. So from this number microsoft only knows how much ram you have, things like that. WPA is not gonna hurt anyone. What's gonna hurt people, is people spreading lies about wpa. If you dont know something is a fact about wpa - DONT post it. Your hurting the people not microsoft. But as far as activation goes, it's very painless.
I think the reason people bitch so much about activation and microsoft in general is because microsoft is so successful. If microsoft was some shit-poor linux company, do you think people would complain sooo much? People complain because microsoft is so successful, that they expect everything to be free for some reason. It's the same logic behing shop lifting. Recently i read an article that says people that shoplift see themselves as stealing from a big faceless corporation that is so rich stealing won't matter, and won't hurt anyone. But in the end, shop lifting hurts the little people, the people that makes the clothes, stock the shelves, etc. Education usually helps people to stop shop lifting. It's the same thing with piracy, it doesn't effect the people high up, it affects the little people, the people that make the cd's, market the product, etc. So just stop bitching. If you dont want windows xp, then just dont buy it. No one cares if you dont upgrade. THere are many people still using windows 3.1 because they didnt want change, so join them. They'll listen to your bitching and whining, but i won't
Go Microsoft!
-gosh
> So this version doesn't report its CD key by some means, e.g. when you go to the M$ website
.nfo for the release never said. However, later another release was made of another activation-less version of WinXP, which was listed as being the Corporate version copied from a disc at one of the big OEMs. Comparing the files in each release down to CRCs, it was found that the Corporate release and the Devils0wn release were bit-for-bit identical.
> for updates, where M$ could compare the CD key against a database to see if there are any
> duplicates, then remotely disable the software?
That particular version, called the Devils0wn release or the Corporate version of XP, is actually Microsoft's own version for large OEMS or very large corporations, which is "pre-activated" the moment you enter an accepted CD-Key. For obvious reasons, HP or Compaq or any other huge organizations cannot send icrosoft a big list of machines that need to be activated, and enter the activation codes into each. Instead, this version of Windows is already activated, so that as soon as a customer enters a valid CD-Key off his license--just as he would when buying a new PC from a big OEM--the machine is fully-functional and does not need to be activated again. It might need to be re-activated if you make the required number of changes to your system, but that makes no difference since you can just reinstall at that point and not reactivate.
There were actually two releases, the first being the Devils0wn edition, which came out weeks before XP was even available retail. there was some debate about whether it was the corporate version or an internal final build--the
These releases are not to be confused with the various patches that are floating around to patch retail versions of XP to bypass product activation. They are the "real thing"--the pre-activated XP Pro sold by Microsoft for bulk use by large corporations and OEMs.
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
The thought of paying twice so that my brother and I can use Windows XP made me decide not to get it. Now, that Microsoft is more family friendly I'm considering purchasing XP. I know that you are mostly a bunch of Linux zealots, but I like using Windows for games and viewing movies. Loki is really not around much anymore, and my brother would probably want to play the same game in Windows. Linux has a lot of software, but also you end up with core dumps a lot too. I realize that Linux hasn't had hundreds of people scrutinize over specific code like some of Microsoft's products, so the odds are heavily against Linux.
PS Linux is a nice movement, and I hope it does well. I just have no desire to switch fulltime to Linux ATM (I've done it in the past for > a year).
Windows XP (TM) Certified (TM) Upgrade (TM) ... my wallet ... feels ... light.
... um ... medium ... pizza)
... I don't know how that got on there)
... I ... misplaced ... my ... license
Cost: $100
Includes: CD (ooh shiny), Licence (TM)
Problems: Hm
Windows XP (TM) Family (TM) Licence (TM)
Cost: $90
Includes: Piece of paper (yay i saved $10! I can buy a
Problems: Ok now where did I put my Original (R) CD?
CD-R
Cost: $1
Includes: Windows XP (TM) (funny that
Problems: Um
**AA: a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes
That is sooo funny.
I've called microsoft support before...
They said, did you reboot the computer?
I said, yes.
They said, is it still doing it?
I said, yes.
They said, reinstall and reload all the software.
I said, OK.
A day later I called back, it took that long to feed the 100 floppies into the computer for all the software I had loaded.
They said, is it still doing it?
I said, yes.
They said, it is a hardware problem. Thank you for calling and hung up on me.
Wow, that's some support.
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Last night, Bill Gates commented, "We thought that 640k licenses would be enough for everybody. Guess we were wrong again."
Best. Comment. Ever. Enjoy!
There are only two reasons for announcing that you can't meet demand. One is a sincere apology (rare, to say the least), the other is more like 'We've run out of licenses? Oh, NO!! Fire off a press release immediately, then open then start using the stock in our other 47 warehouses.'
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Your rationale is dangerous. If you dont keep learning new things; or new, better ways to do old things, you will soon be left behind by the natural selection bus.
Yours with concern
Abreu
No sig for the moment.
I've yet to meet a single person with a legitimate copy of XP(as a note, XP IS SATAN!) so this isn't doing anything. I mean, really, I can save 10 dollars, but I still get to pay 190. The only reason still get windows is because only a few even know about other options.
How about somebody comes up with a "reverse firewall" that "decodes" MSFT stuff e-mailed over the Web.... and converts it into some standard, open formats? Then people could route their dockeys thru this thing for small monthly fee.
It's basically an NT box facing outwards, and a MS-free box facing inwards toward the PCs used by the users.
A transformer for data, if you will.
OS/2 HQ
http://www.os2hq.com/
Piracy is a violent crime which is still carried out in some parts of the world, and often results in the death of its victims.
For what you're describing I prefer the term "Illegal Copying".
Dunstan
The last scintilla of doubt just rode out of town
Yo ho ho and a licence to spare. Makes me want to run eXcess Pirate software right away. Can you say that the real pirate is uncle bill? I guess he is named right, since he can bill everyone.
But if Microsoft thinks I'm going to be forced to call them and tell them when I buy a new motherboard, they can forget that. If I ever buy Windows XP (most likely to run a game), the first thing I'll do is install the crack to disable their product activation crap.
Magius
Boy they really must be having some financial problems if they are complaining about the cost of manufacturing CD's being to much for them.
Because a lot of people don't know that they're being milked!
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
I've never heard of MS recommending people to go on IRC to register their products. Did you write the VBS file yourself to mess people's computers? Ass wipe.
Just get the OEM version from someone... you won't have to do that gay online registering, so you wont get in trouble at all.... geez i hope they dont log IP's on these posts...