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Microsoft Changes Tune Again On SP2 Installs

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the small-time-pirates-get-away-with-upgrading dept.

KidHash writes "Following on from last months Slashdot story, it appears Microsoft has changed its tune with the BBC reporting that SP2 will not install on XP installations using the '20 most pirated product IDs.'"

19 of 454 comments (clear)

  1. Locate foot. Aim. FIRE! by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It seems to me that this is a rather odd strategy for a company whose main strength is marketing/PR. They don't charge for SP2, there's no revenue stream to lose, so why make more problems for yourself by not patching up vulnerabilities ? About the only positive I can see MS hoping for is that the people who are running the pirated copies of XP will now go out and buy a new copy! They've more chance of knitting fog.

    What I see happening is that the 21-40 most-pirated codes rapidly displace the top-20 most-pirated codes, and everyone who cares about being up-to-date is happy with no benefit to MS. Instead, the chances they missed were:
    • To come over as concerned about the 'greater good' of the net at next-to-no if any cost to themselves. The opportunities for spinning the story to paint MS on the side of the angels were enormous...
    • To reduce the number of windows servers that are contributing to the general crap flooding through the net by patching the holes that enable hackers to 'own' the machines....


    All in all, I am somewhat surprised - an uncharacteristic faux pas.

    Simon
    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Locate foot. Aim. FIRE! by TopShelf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What is especially stupid about this is that infected machines don't just impact their user, but also anybody else out there.

      If they actually think they'll get a single dime of extra revenue from this decision, they're nuts...

      --
      Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    2. Re:Locate foot. Aim. FIRE! by in7ane · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Let's try that again, now spell checked:

      No, they will now get to blame widespread worm outbreaks on piracy. And so piracy and the inconvenience caused by worms will be tied together in consumer/media's mind. Actually a reasonably smart move on their part, although could well backfire if not spun properly.

      The next worm will lead to headlines saying "Widespread network breakdowns caused by unpatched machines of pirates" rather than "Widespread network breakdowns caused by poor Windows security"

    3. Re:Locate foot. Aim. FIRE! by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Interesting
      MS's decision not to allow individuals using pirated copies of the OS to install SP2 strikes me as a sound business decision.

      That reminds me of one of the old 1980s Compaq ads with John Cleese. He was a stuffy uptight businessman who had just bought an IBM PC. When the narrator questioned him about his choice of computer vs. the cheaper and more capable Compaq system, he defiantly said:

      "It was a sound decision...

      Wrong, but sound."

      (He did several Compaq ads back then; funny stuff. I wonder if they can be found anywhere on the net. His turtleneck-wearing Apple snob impression was another standout.)

    4. Re:Locate foot. Aim. FIRE! by Obyron · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And you'd be 100% correct if it weren't for the fact that Microsoft themselves have given us a set of instructions that allow one to change their XP activation code. There's even code there so you can write it as VBScript. When they first announced their activation system I thought that Windows XP would be a difficult program to pirate in such a way that it can't be differentiated from a valid install. Thanks to the handy instructions they've given us I've been proven wrong.

      --
      --Obyron
  2. Pfffff.... by anonieuweling · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just go here: http://omnitechdesign.com/cdkey.html

  3. Nothing to see here, move along... by zoloto · · Score: 5, Funny

    Most of us run something other than Windows(TM) right? This IS slashdot after all.

    1. Re:Nothing to see here, move along... by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 5, Funny

      yes, this IS slashdot. 80% of it's users are linux zealots, and 90% of them are in windows ;)

    2. Re:Nothing to see here, move along... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      There's no better reason to hate Windows than having to use it.

    3. Re:Nothing to see here, move along... by zoloto · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That has to suck... or maybe we're just smart enough to have our web browsers lie and say, we're running MSIE 6.01 WindowsXP, 1600x1200 24bit color.. eh? :)

      XP is better as an emoticon anyways.

      Here's teh offtopic part, and a shameless plug for a really awesome Window Manager. Try XPde out. It's really awesome at the look and feel of windows, especially when you want to move someone over to Linux without telling them.

      Now I know that sounds evil, but hear this story out. My sister wanted me one day to fix her "slow" computer. Turns out that she has 100's of spyware, literally, running on her computer. Not to mention trojans and viruses. I did a backup of her documents, put them on a zip disk and virus scanned that on my comp, just to make sure. Then I installed Slackware Linux, and used XPde (quite successfully I might add) as the WM. Installed Gaim, OO.org, Mozilla, software firewall, gimp, and misc games (frozen bubble rocks!) Total install in just around 250mb. No crashes, no viruses, nothing and it's locked behind a NAT that allows no incoming/outgoing ports except what's specified for IM services and outbound httpd traffic.

      She didn't know she was running linux for a few months until she went to install a program! (Insert WineX installation at this point. Went well too!)

      My point. Most people dont care what they use, and if the conversion is successful (I do many like this, only with people I really *KNOW* and trust me), they'll learn to champion linux to people who are easily intimidated by "techies" and zealots who want to install linux for you because MS is "7!^3" (evil)

      To summarize this success story by my sisters quote: "Windows SUCKS!, where's my cute penguin?"

      ----zoloto

  4. Re:SP2 not installing by GuyFawkes · · Score: 5, Informative

    SP2 is not a car wreck, and it installs fine on the wdr2y keyset....

    what sp2 ___IS___ is effectively a set of patches and updates to cover existing vulns and perhaps more importantly the installation of a new system service that monitors 3 items

    windows updates
    windows firewall
    anti-virus (3rd party)

    left to defaults it will enable auto update and do all critical updates, enable the windows firewall, and check you have installed a current working AV application.

    left to defaults SP2 is something that will increase security and workability for the vast majority of winows users.

    left to defaults SP2 will be a complete pain in the ass for all clueful windows users who religiously replace IE and Outlook with better options, run behind a hardware firewall, do not just download and run software blindly, etc, and scan all new files with a decentish free AV package such as http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

    Bear in mind that compromised windows boxes are extremely likely to be running warezed copies of windows and operated by people who habitually use sites like astalavista to download cracks for software, never suspecting, despite their leetness, that a significant proportion of cracks and exploits contain malware of their own.

    HTH etc

    --
    http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
  5. It won't matter much... by halivar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the pirates are trying to install SP2, then they already have Windows installed. That means MS has already got their marketshare boost, and need not worry about actually supporting the pirate.

    After all, do you really think all those pirates are going to say, "Darn you, Microsoft!" and go install Gentoo?

    I think not.

  6. Re:SP2 not installing by Gilesx · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Okay here's the major weakness - after the machine chugged away processing the SP2 installation for approximately 45 minutes, it suddenly decided it couldn't find files that apparently existed.

    This stuck the whole routine in a loop, and forced me to reboot, at which point, my XP installation was trashed and could not even be recognised by a Windows XP recovery CD.

    Yeah this sucks, and beta software is unstable, but surely not THIS unstable?

    Since installing SP2, I've found the most annoying thing is the box that pops up constantly when you need to reboot your machine - especially since it is set to "reboot" as default. So you'll be tapping along on xchat, hit enter to send a message, but at that point, the little reboot window has decided to maximise itself from the system tray as it will do approximately every 15 minutes. As you hit enter, rather than sending your message, you are confirming a reboot. 30 seconds later, everything's shut down - including the loss of unsaved documents..... Now does this really seem usable to you?

    Add to that that most of the firewalls and virus checkers I have tested it with are not recognised by the new security tool (which is hardly a tool, as it does nothing more than show you if you have the software installed in the first place), and the fact that SP2 has made a clunky operating system even S-L-O-W-E-R, and I have to wonder exactly *why* it's taken so long for Microsoft to produce a poor firewall, a splash screen to show you whether you have a virus checker and firewall enabled, and an irritating popup to constantly remind you to reboot your machine after installing an update. *sigh*

    --
    Sunday you're Thinking Different, Monday you're a huge tool, paying too much and waiting to think like everyone else.
  7. I wonder if anyone realized by sweede · · Score: 5, Informative

    that they did the same thing with Service Pack 1. Service pack 1 didnt install unless you had a valid key.

    I also wonder how many people here realize that a Service pack is usually nothing more than a collection of security patches and bug fixes that you install in one shot instead of downloading 50+ updates from windowsupdate.com

    When SP1 was released and if you couldnt install it, you could still damn well download every update that SP1 contained as a seperate download and install.

    The big difference here is that SP2 will add new functionality to IE, WMP and a couple other included applications. Any other update (Security and bug fixes) will always be available seperatly on windowsupdate.com, just as they've always been

    --
    I follow the SDK and GDN principles.. Spelling Dont Kount, Grammer Dont Neither
  8. Re:SP2 Disabling Pirate Copies by Kjella · · Score: 5, Interesting

    a) Finding pirated copies of MS is about as easy as finding pirated music on KaZaA. It's not exactly a problem.

    b) Joejobs. Imagine a virus that swaps your installation key, inserts fake messages in Word/Office documents and so on.

    c) The real reason: They don't want to. They want to turn pirates into legitimate purchasers "softly" - kinda like boiling a frog. If they made it really anal to pirate Windows/Office many people would be likely to switch - look at how many compare x86 without software to Macs with software - since x86 software is "$0". Or to Linux, they both cost $0 and are thus equal.

    Particularly the massive amount of skilled programmers hacking away at pirating software - imagine if a significant portion of those instead used their skills to develop software for say Linux. No, Microsoft knows what they're doing. It's simply about sacrificing a little profit right now, against keeping the platform and monopoly profits a while longer.

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  9. Re:SP2 Disabling Pirate Copies by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Insightful
    That would be a disastrous approach for Microsoft. First, there's the PR issue with peddling products that seem to be "out to get" the customers, rightly or wrongly.

    Second, there are millions of casual pirates who install Windows on more machines than they've licensed, or who "borrow" a copy from work. Many of these people just aren't ever going to buy the appropriate number of copies of the OS, especially at retail prices. However, they do benefit Microsoft by remaining in the Windows "ecosystem", increasing its value through the network effect. If they crack down on these people, many of them will go to the effort to learn Linux or some other solution, thereby increasing the influence of alternative ecosystems at the expense of Microsoft's influence. This increased familiarity of alternative solutions in the general public would lower the barriers for Microsoft's lucrative customers, like entire businesses, from dumping all of their Microsoft products and switching to alternatives.

  10. That won't work, but this will. by Mitchell+Mebane · · Score: 5, Informative

    XPKey.exe no longer works with XP SP2, because they aren't just banning certain CD Keys, they are banning most possible corporate keys, which works out to 99.99999% of the ones XPKey makes.

    They are bannign them based on Product ID. All non-640 PIDs are banned, and most of the ones in the 640 group are, as well.

    To find your PID, right-click on My Computer and hit properties to bring up the System control panel. The PID will be right under the "registered to" section. It will be, e.g., aaaaa-bbb-ccccccc-ddddd. If bbb is not 640, you or definately out of luck. If it is 640, feel free to give it a shot. Or, you can slways make you a new CD Key that works. :D

    Yep, there's a new keygen (which, BTW, also makes keys for Win Server 2003 Corp, but we aren't concerned with that right now). It's called MSKey. Start it, set Product Family to "Windows XP Pro. VLK", set Product ID range from 640-500 to 640-600, and gen away.

    Here's the keygen in Base64 format... I hope Slashdot doesn't mangle it.

    Begin MSKey4in1.zip

    UEsDBBQAAAAIAFBHpDAN2TO4Do8AAAFwA QANAAAATVNLZXk0aW4xLmV4Zex9C3xU5Zn3TOYk

    OZADc4Q RRhnLuI4aDWI0VIOH2gRCEpHLTCYzo3KzW20VrVAyY8WGwTCZT 49vx2prr7u9fL38

    1m3rsq62onZrhpEM4Mq1IkpF0K0eGJE AJYncZv/Pey6ThNqv26LD7/sxmjnnvJfn/jzv8144

    M+uWR 20Om80m4C+ft9lW2/RPne3//dmBv5Hjnx9pe2bYKxeuts985cL WO+5s8y5ZuviLSz/3

    Je/nP3fPPYuj3n+83bs0do/3znu8D XOC3i8tvu32iSNGDPcZMP6lbd7Jd0Zd/aT51zHiwiff

    w/X WkVOe3I1rxYhrnnyX19U8+RX+PPnJP/Jr7ZPbcJ3rmvTk27i23 Pn5O6i/SZt/us020y7Y

    Rv1mjsXKbpvTXmEvs9lkOxroZb+ vwL2MG6+duKZ7/ifw2sLVtsRoh08J/viDbF3NEuuzeYbd

    d hvd3Gq3+Z220/cBnTNLPrp6YvT2+6K4PmU36JXpOgQEqJq49Lb PRT9ns3VfafBerV8Hfurw

    /0RqRvcSCdWA5T+lXdfEpW1LP 09VTuKZ2tH1VHi2s5+zn7Ofs5+zn7Ofs5+zn7Ofs5+zn7Of

    s5+ifIJhFvXJEdbuc7MFEmuSajLRxuTOaBnrZn2sPxLW9t1ps yVeEpNdy8dSWxeKrrVTkZTs

    il2zcMHcTITK3WHNaxVfObB 4ss0sFqgYwOVso2RH6cIFq+kyN4Nn28DnR60Pa/BJwVCY+QWd

    xjmCsmH5cLaJ9aszfR6WZosFIordJLDZYmq6XUmvEFh3brg /rO25zSA8Vrpwwfy5Gdbq86j3

    COyz7BpWEvSDjx+JNltK+ oGNEyg7Djo+THaxbdEq5c3lY1n51ERWSHQLqWa7Ovu4sq7Npbz a

    vhf0uLJlRCWq8nWC0hcdrby63Fm1j5WjvVqG4lmxw2ymz wWk2XrO1wCuEu+LBCIYYndDNhE2

    X2D3Ccpb6jyfV233uZY PR6+arrmgOwO+PMoCUecnGNbOsfgR0Yg3ARofm25jY2p62WU16 5P5

    +BcAxQfx1LL5tkSXkFgrJHsBXI7KylvjehMv56vw0Og 4lhOVY+N6+3ZVHVOvY+iSWCPMoa6x

    tQykJHujF0yeB3LGs up6gEFtKp5X7z+u9H1FUF6GGIi2zdHPsg/rlWPLa1ktoPDbK8C Oer+g

    P3jZfaJ6v6g/jGb3SYkuWb1fSqyReVH7uuROdYFgK D/uYWNS875/nDkSOQFMjmCzhRtYWp2N

    hxX7wDGXImf70cI nCHIlbpdsmhSB+hql6OXJruh4lmG7WA+bJgAMjKKEpcGmrDSJK yaxbO66

    FwlYrgwt/1CT5/0h4a+fyOcHWKoalyyL9Ee0x/6 Ry9+sDQe1TV8wXeOiYDiieU8O6p5tGmTk

    6BDRTpwY0mSo3 UOjUk1Xcv0Ke8awEfZmpOMdWppL75dR62bnsA3pfXLHHipjh9g WdtK56lXn

    qmOO15yrXnauOqK81lbW0W2z2W3saPptOX1Ad mxw9Ckb2uyNjnXsJCzZkYrbWStEVuJYh0d7

    kzockD03sCw 5lbNzEahBvZvNEFg6vVe+mFAB0Tp2yLnqFeeqw46NzlUZYFU2A tUajupgeo+c

    /kB2pB3blXSbfWpKqlVbfV5lU1vpVLrh+KY KHKGQb0AB/lQgIMQ62sOQAUrdrFn8m9GyKCAf

    TUnVaONI3 W/X0YomnzPEQYx2ACOX6Q3S38MoO6RsAralBjZJx9aozpB0bN2 ELTqWwmGiW4b5

    q7hT0XZvFUwGpm1GvE9a/1koviD/Brsp/ 9Or9lM1/cbHpemsqWEu8Xt1HH+XbsEJcK0h6NBn

    Afb5pM3 nZDCCcWOLpdBbLIUW4pMcCid3RpyP7EFj6sXaQekYtkFXIXTJ0 s5V652r1jhXbWVa

    evc56f1OxzrHq2REU29UnWpEcHb+jDq Hhb+61xxRjUjRL7Ow+Nd3kdWIK3o9C0t/fRe3GvFE

    K8iqs 969l+YHM8/HO4nM2JPcn23wiRTscBVKcI2JiXX5+QiGGcTOkJa 4BfxhAHrey0djoWqz

    cmJpSdWJ5NboRVCjj23Y9sfnqI71V G3Y9gHboN7tq9z2XsXJbbtVqn4znZM7/khEo8LLsmlN

    VjK x8tUoQZxn2ZqtfYfZZrbJuWobQYCf9KVpyyP2aZDng2+hmzsnk MvBCCpeUQ7eO5YBUtU2

    tqm5akOV0Ty6C20IwUaYlGMLDcD pd2VlI6RRtVE52lYOBVc6TjbjIs9W8RWtTO+WQaGLrcFN

    1 Rq2xZHFDeuHbCuOApUKEHtnQnJ6zjC3Is2FUogHMqKBo6YL8UD PvyAlDytj

    --

    The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
    --Aristotle
  11. No by aussie_a · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They hate OSS users more, because at least, the pirates could theorically be brought to justice and/or made to cough-up cash to Billy-Boy, whereas they just can't LEGALLY lay their hands on OSS users and squeeze cash out of them...

    No, they hate OSS users more because they don't contribute to making Microsoft the standard. If every pirate switched to Linux, you wouldn't be able to use a word document and figure most of the people you talk to will be able to read it. Instead you'll have to use another, non-Microsoft file format. But if you do that, then there is less reason for you to be using Windows, so more people will be inclined to move over to other operating systems.

    Pirates make Microsoft the standard among home users.

  12. Re:He who laughs last... by Mark+Hood · · Score: 5, Funny

    a lot of this comes from those rouge boxes

    Hey, I'd prefer a rouge box to a beige box any day!

    Oh, you meant rogue.....

    Mark

    --
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