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Microsoft to Disable Online Windows Activation
CasterPod writes "As of February 28, Windows users who purchased their PC will no longer be able to reinstall without calling Microsoft and answering a series of questions. The move is part of an anti-piracy effort to close 'a loophole that enabled unscrupulous resellers to use Windows XP product keys that were stolen from large OEMs.' Specifically, Certificate of Authenticity (COA) labels on PCs are often unused because OEMs preinstall Windows and bypass product activation. The product keys can therefore be stolen and reused. First WGA, and now this."
Right when I am peeved that I had to re-install, I have to get back on the phone with M$. Enough is enough - has their 'activation' programs really impacted priacy at all? Has it done anything beyond bother paying users?
*This* is the reason we don't want monopolies abusing their power/position - they can impose whatever onerous conditions they like, and you just have to play along.
Whaddya gonna do - install *another* OS???
OK, oscar
I'm just waiting for the customer to ring up and say they don't have the original media. The last 3 PC's i know people have bought just come with a copy of Windows on a partition. If you run Fdisk then they are screwed
rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
right now, it was easier to spread corporate (or educational) keys. Many of these don't require activation at all. Once MS disables this, crackers will resort to patching the activation code. .. It's just a matter of time, like the XBox was cracked eventually.
On the other hand : this will just make the difference between Windows and OSX/linux even more apparent. Every user-restricting move of microsoft is, in the long run, a shot in its own foot
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
I am just going though some training and one of the hot points is understanding your customer. Making something more difficult for customers (home users and companies that do tech work) is not one of the moves known to improve market share and is in most industries considered a bad move.
Evolution or ID?
Microsoft depends on the ubiquity of Windows (and Office, Outlook, et al). When everybody is using Microsoft products, everybody needs Microsoft. Their proprietary formats are a de facto standard (except Massachusetts), so if you want to do business with people who use Windows (et al), you have little choice but to also use windows.
As their piracy initiative starts to pick up steam, this will only enhance the "value" of free (or at least lesser cost) alternatives. I predict a large swell of Linux usage-- on the desktop, in these emerging markets, or other areas where the hight cost of Windows (et al) simply locks people out. With that will come a groudswell of support for open formats.
Consider what you need if you are going to do business with the government of Hamburg. You will need to provide and exchange documents and other material in a format they can read (it won't simply be Word and PowerPoint). Now the same thing will happen in these emerging markets, creating more of an interest in these alternative formats, and thus alternative applications (e.g. OpenOffice).
More choices are good for everybody. Use the application of your choice, on the platform of your choice, and produce documents and other material in a format anyone else can read. Right now, I have any number of such choices to produce graphics for a web page (jpg, png, even gif). The formats for Flash and Acrobat have been opened up, and happily they are becoming more standard. But the U.S. Government still requires all RFP submissions in Word.
More choices, however, is bad for Microsoft. They don't want open formats and lots of choices, they want (and need) everone using and exchanging MS Word documents. They want (and need) everybody using Outlook and Internet Explorer, and of course, they want (and ultimately need) everybody using Windows.
Step 1: Company implements some sort of copy protection.
Step 2: Legitimate users are hampered by the copy protection while illegitimate users breeze by it through various means.
Step 3: Company either ultimately removes copy protection with a black mark on its reputation or people just stop buying its products.
I know of no historical case that deviates from this for a major software release. Of course, you have various vertical applications that use dongles and other such things, but anything that is mass-distributed (like Lotus Notes or Turbo Tax) that has used copy protection either removed said copy protection or stopped selling their product.
I'm a big tall mofo.
I'm really surprised that they are wasting the resources to do this. Most pirated windows xp copies have no activiation anyway. they have no key, and don't ask for one. I would say if they want to get to the source of the problem, they should re-evalutate their MSDN subscription copies and have them need to phone in a re-install. In the end though, I think everyone knows what this really is, a big waste of time. *handclap for microsoft*
Ubuntu, the way linux should be.
Try Ubuntu FREE! --
I replaced my OEM preinstalled Windows XP with a pirated no-activation copy precisely because I didn't want to go through 'activation' if I change anything or need to reinstall it.
Why bother? It probably cost you more time replacing the version than you'd ever spend activating.
The lock-in argument: one day they might stop running the activation service? Sure, but one day they might release a service pack that detects your pirated version and stops it working. So the future isn't certain either way.
So why bother?
I cannot help but wonder whether top level management at MS got a bad batch of LSD and its done something to their brains.
They're going to force you to call them, they'll probably have all their call centers outsourced to countries where english isn't the main language. Half the time you won't understand the question and if you do manage to decifer the accent, they won't understand yours.
The only reason left to use windows is gaming. And even that is becoming less and less of a reason...
East Coast Brewers
Buy linux, and don't have to call anyone who will make you answer stupid pointless questions.
Instead, it'll be the users asking the stupid questions.
"I bought your Linux at Barnes & Noble. Why doesn't it work?"
"Last week I called and you told me how to install your Linux. Why doesn't my Word Perfect CD work any more?"
"The other day you made me install something called StarOffice. I think that messed up my son's Doom 3 CD. It used to work before we installed your Linux."
That'll be fantastic.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
It's not so much the phone queue thats a problem. I've had to phone-activate Windows a number of times on customers machines where for one reason or another, Windows demanded activation before logging on. Trouble was, it wouldn't install the network card driver before it logged in, so there was no way for it to get online. But I digress...
The big pain in the ass in activating over the phone is reading the installation ID. It's not an actual person you talk to- you read the number aloud (as opposed to touch tone) to a computer. You have to speak slow and deliberately for it to understand the numbers correctly, and ultimately it will read a confirmation code back to you. The whole process takes about 5-7 minutes, depending on whether the computer understood you correctly the first time. That's the part that pisses me off about this. Whenever we have to reinstall Windows at my shop, it was easy enough to plug in to our router and activate in 2 seconds (all with legitimate keys mind you). If this holds true, it will piss off many many computer shops around the world. Two seconds vs. five minutes is a pretty big deal.
If I'm going to be punished, I may as well commit the crime.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
How many times do you reinstall Windows?!
I can see maybe if you're in a strange company setting where they use a version that requires it, it may be a hassle, but I don't see most people reinstalling Windows more than once or twice a year. I guess more if you completely hose a system. That's what? 3-5 minutes? When I had to call them the one time my system had determined I changed hardware too much, it took about 1 minute for them to give me the hash I needed. I don't consider that bad at all.
People aren't stupid. Let me say that again: people are not stupid, they are not dumb, they are not morons (with a few exceptions - and they are _few_). What they are, by and large, is interested in other things than computing - like, for instance, the work or play they want to accomplish with their computers, rather than the machines themselves.
People are perfectly able to understand the difference between Windows, OSX and Linux - they just don't particularily care. And in that situation, yes, put up enough roadblocks to Windows use and people will gradually switch, just like US people abandoned domestic cars for Japanese ones when they became compelling enough. Not everybody switched, and not all at once (since everybody has a different tipping point), but certainly enough to change the commercial landscape.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Anyone else feel like this when the "door nazi" at BestBuy/other chain steps in front of you and demands to see your receipt? Treating your customers like they're potential criminals is no way to gain loyalty.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
People aren't stupid. Let me say that again: people are not stupid, they are not dumb, they are not morons
Yes, they are. People are stupid. Individuals are intelligent. People are not. Here is a little advice for you. If you go through life thinking people are stupid you will be a lot less dissappointed. Keep your expectations set low and you will seldom be let down.
--
All spelling, gammer, and logical mistakes are intentinal because I'm to fucking lazy to look it up. If you don't like it, Fuck Off!
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
You must have never worked in tech support. People are stupid. To reiterate, people are stupid.
That's a rather biased statistical sampling though. Yes, you will get an unending stream of remarkably stupid people calling tech support. As a total percentage of computer users, however, they make up rather less than you think. The GP post is correct - the majority of people don't really care (because it is not important to their lives) about Linux, but that doesn't mean they will be stupid enough to try and run Windows software on Linux.
Yes, you will have an unending stream of stupid people who tried to run Microsoft Word on Linux and don't understand why it works. Remember that you also had an unending stream of people that couldn't even use Windows either. If everyone was as stupid as the average tech support caller the internet would be practically content free.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
I used to be a MS Windows Activation Specialist (a.k.a. the person you hate to call all the time if you format often) for a year in a call center in my hometown of Saint John, Canada. People who wanted to re-activate their Windows would have to answer my questions first. So I have first-hand experience of how much people hate having to call. To be fair, we did get calls from people who, after we checked their Product ID, knew they were using a burnt copy. From this, you would surmise that this system is helping to fight against piracy, right? WRONG! As long as you answered the questions correctly (which mostly consists of why they need to reactivate), their's no problem. Thus you could call in, give a cheap excuse (The most used one being the "had to format", and even if this key's been used a hundred times, we had to activate again.) The one thing I hated to have to tell people, and it happened often, was that they could only install a retail copy of windows onto one computer and one laptop (This policy might have changed, not too sure). I found this to be a silly rule, which often infuriated the user on the other end of the line. And if you have an OEM version on one computer but own two, sorry, your out of luck, you need to buy a retail ver. of windows for that second computer. From my experience, it is my belief that the combination of both the Windows OS EULA and the activation process most likely caused more people to get pirated versions (I've had many people tell me they were going to this over the phone.)
- "I reject your reality and substitute it with my own", Adam Savage
They can hold you if they have "reasonable suspicion" that you have committed theft (at least in Washington state) and that is what the cops are used to being called out for to retail stores. However, simply walking out the door doesn't sound like "reasonable suspicion" to me, and you'd probably have a good case against THEM for unlawful imprisonment. Ask the cops about it when they show up--it's a fun way of turning the tables. :)
No relation to Happy Monkey
When I leave Fry's I sometimes have the receipt out for them to glance at, and I rarely break stride on my way out the door. Wal-mart has been checking receipts for unbagged or large items, too; so far I've been with my girlfriend every time and don't want to embarrass her, but the fact is that once you buy it, the product and the receipt are both yours and you are well within your rights to just walk on by.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I hate those "door nazis" too but you do realize that they're there because the company is suspicious of its employees right?
The scam they're looking for is you walking out with (say) an iPod and some headphones but the cashier only charging you for the headphones. Then you take the iPod to a fence and you and the cashier split the proceeds. That's why harass you for the most stupid and cursory check.
So yea, they suspect you of being a criminal, but their employees hate them so much (and vice versa I suppose) that what you're actually seeing is a manifestation of a festering pool of mutual hatred.
Really makes you want to go and shop there, right? For stuff they sell, stick to mail order.
Most people just now entering the market for computers aren't "trying to fly the plane", either. To continue the analogy, these people want to be passengers but are instead told they need to learn to be pilots.
This trend is not new to computers-- earlier this century the first radios required considerable setup and weeks to learn to use. The first phonographs were notoriously hard to use, again taking several weeks for smart folks to learn to use.
The only reason radios and record players (now CD players) are so widespread is their usage was simplified. The earliest ones even had two competing incompatible standards (Edison vs. Victor.) Sound familiar?
The book "The Invisible Computer" by Donald Norman goes into gory detail on why the continuing efforts to blame the users for failing to learn their equipment aren't going to work:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Booksources/
This doesn't mean that in the current state of things people should be lazy about their responsibilities with a networked computer-- e.g. not patching because "it's too hard" is a lame excuse.
If this is too hard, then disconnect from the network or find a computer/OS combination where it isn't too hard. If there is no such computer/OS combination, then start asking the manufacturers for one.