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Windows Advantage Validation Process On Firefox
GraemeDonaldson writes "According to this IE Blog entry, Microsoft seems to be serious about supporting non-IE browsers. Mention is made of a Windows Media Player plugin for Firefox. The Windows Genuine Advantage validation process now works in Firefox too. From the article: 'Basically, customers said "We want to make sure our PCs are running genuine Windows and have access to all the content on the Microsoft Download Center; the experience when we're running a Mozilla browser is not great. Do something about it." Brad's team did. I think that's a good thing for customers.'"
What happens if you are running a pirated copy of Firefox?
If this isn't any proof that the end of the world is coming.... I don't know what is
And my good pal Satan didn't even get a call from Billy boy?
:)
Just kidding, I am glad that this is the first positive sign that MS is taking Mozilla seriously.
Although they could have a trick up their sleeve.
First impression of this is positive though
Second impression is that they might break Firefox stuff on purpose to bring people back to IE, but that's the cynic in me.
This is the sig that says NI (again)
Office Updates? Microsoft Updates? Slow link response in Outlook (and other Office apps) if non-IE browser is default? There still is a ways to go for Microsoft before they can claim they are supporting browsers other than their own.
if you try and just go straight to the downloads page you still have to download GenguineCheck.exe and paste the code in. If I hadn't read the summary, I wouldn't have known about this plugin And somethign else that's interesting.. Even after installing the plugin and closing Firefox completely, when I return to the downloads page it STILL wants me to paste the validation code in
Swine Air flight 666 is now boarding at gate 13.
This can only be good news. Just last night, lack of ability to get downloads easily from Microsoft cost someone else (a small games publisher needing a recent DirectX version) money, as my other half and I gave up on the hassle of downloading from MS, and therefore didn't pay to download the puzzle game in question either. We both have 100% legal installations of Windows on our machines, and she was willing to pay the small asking price for a simple puzzle game she found enjoyable. Everyone lost.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
this is a sad day, what is next, a media player that can be installed on Vista, CD burning software from a third party, what is this world coming to! Actually in all fairness, this is a good thing even if I dont run firefox. It is nice to see M$ acknowlege the use of other browsers by doing something besides trying to stomp them out...
This is very usefull. Suppose you have a system where IE is heavily infected with spyware, but you do have a firefox installed. At least you can leave IE unused to get some of the necessary service packs for your windows system by using this alternative browser. Everytime I use firefox on windows to help somebody out, I still have to start IE to use the Microsoft tools to update a part of the system. The rest of the Microsoft site always worked very good in mozilla anyway (at least, I never ran into any problems, then again I am running linux fulltime since 2000, and before that 50% of the time, so I am probably not the most representitive user of the Microsoft website)
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
They would think seriously about supporting openDocument.
A firefox plugin that enables ActiveX. I'll be sure to download that!
I use firefox as much to avoid the heavy-handed control Microsoft and other corporations are trying to exert over how my PC should operate. Just now I'm noticing that macromedia is poping up an icon in my system tray! Hello?, it's a browser plugin. It should only do stuff within the browser!
'Basically, customers said "We want to make sure our PCs are running genuine Windows and have access to all the content on the Microsoft Download Center; the experience when we're running a Mozilla browser is not great. Do something about it."
Nope. I'll bet no-one said anything of the kind. I think it probably went more like this "FFS! f*cking MS doesn't work!" maybe...
Deleted
I am sorry but this is not all that surprising given the amount of anti-monopoly litigation in Europe and in the States. It cost less money to develop the code than get slapped with another huge fine.
Hey! Is that Satan over there ice skating????
j/k Actually, I think this is a really smart move on MSFTs part. They realize that while they have the dominant desktop, many people are beginning to become smarter and make personal choices about what applications they use instead of just accepting whatever MSFT has chosen to provide. If they can make the desktop experience for people who still need Windows, but prefer to use OSS when possible, then great.
... until they start fixing some glaring bugs in Windows. I've got a legal copy of Windows XP, but the only reason I do is because it came with my laptop, and the only reason I got a laptop with Windows included is because it was crazy on sale. Were I buying a machine now, I'd get an Asus z70va and slap a pirate copy on it.
This machine has 1.25 GiB of RAM. Most of the time when I try to hibernate it -- if I've ever run anything memory-intensive, whether or not it's still open -- I get an "Insufficient resources to complete the API" error, and it doesn't hibernate. (I have about 30 GB of disk free, so that is most certainly not the issue).
There are all sorts of glaring flaws in Windows. Do I really care if I get access to the shit on Windows Update (Ooh, new version of Windows Media Player that probably still won't play oggs without me having to mess with codecs)? Not really. Security updates? Yay, I'll lose my install of Guild Wars, at worse, if someone gets past my firewall and "4dminist4t0r5" (doesn't quite sound like "r00ts", but whatever) it. All my *important* stuff is on the Linux half of this machine, and since Microsoft *still* doesn't have an ext3 filesystem driver, it's safe from the kiddies.
When Windows Update works like emerge, I might consider using it.
I'd like to see a Beowulf cluster of these things running Firefox on Windows.
Wait a minute, what am I saying?!?
NO NO BAD BAD BAD BAD THOUGHTS!!!!!!
Finally I can put midis on my webpages again! :)
Boy, I missed those since Netscape 4.
They would think seriously about supporting openDocument.
It's called bargaining. "Oh, they support firefox, so they must not be THAT bad".
Do I really want ActiveX components running free in Firefox?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Given that mozilla is open source , you'd have thought they'd have supported
an open source OS. I can't see why it should be an issue porting to linux , after
all , the only difference is in the draw-to-screen API. ANyone know why its
not supported?
Now if both browsers and programmers would adhere to the html standards we might actually get somewhere. I'm tired of testing my website in 3 browsers and seeing three different results :(
gasmonso http://religiousfreaks.com/'Basically, customers said "We want to make sure our PCs are running genuine Windows and have access to all the content on the Microsoft Download Center; the experience when we're running a Mozilla browser is not great. Do something about it." Brad's team did. I think that's a good thing for customers.'"
Yeah, I installed this Windows the other day, had some sort of goofy foot for a start menu, Office didn't install, and I couldn't get any of my games to work. I'm glad now there is a way I can see if I actually have genuine Windows, and not that fake Windows going around.
Extinguish
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
I have read here that Google is paying a dollar for everyone you can get to switch from IE to Firefox. Is this true? Any Slashdotters acually made any money from this?
I'll be interested to see what Microsoft is going to do in Vista to try to spoil things for Firefox. My guess is even further integration of IE into Windows, and lots of stuff that doesn't even feel like you're using IE will actually be through their browser. Also, they're going to try to get more lock-in on the corporate intranet rather than the public web.
Linux Windows Media Player?
Windows Linux Media Player?
Windows Media Player Linux?
It just doesn't sound good.
It's about this site ==> https://pfs.mozilla.org/plugins/
I loaded it on both IE6 & Firefox(1.0.2)
Strangely, it renders very differently on the 2 browsers.
It renders much better on IE.
What's the story?
WindizUpdate: http://windowsupdate.62nds.com/
They've been around for a while now and aren't shady.
You use it just like the regular windows update site.
Supports Mozilla, Opera, AOL & K-Meleon (?)
AutoPatcher XP: http://www.autopatcher.com/
They provide windows updates every month packaged in
one big executable (Full and Lite versions available)
Available through http, ftp, & bittorrent
Alternatively, you can disrespect MS by using a cracked LegitCheckControl.DLL
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I feel a bit left out.
...and already found a stupid bug. =p
Try installing Firefox/Mozilla/Whatever Mozilla-compatible browser you use in a non-standard installation folder (i.e. NOT [root]:\[Program files folder]\Mozilla [Firefox]) and try installing the plugin; it won't even ask you to look for the damn correct directory and blow up in mid-installation. XD
This is why I love Microsoft: Unsurpassable jokes every now and then. =p
120 char limit? How the hell am I supposed to cram my favorite sig quote and make it fit in here? =p
The reason they are suddenly changing their tune is because they believe that the industry may be switching to LIVE SERVICES. If your service (such as Excel Live) doesn't work in one browser because you chose not to follow industry standards, that will mean that people will use another service.
Microsoft is afraid of people trying others services so they will want to make sure that they build code that is interoperable with other browsers especially now that Firefox has anywhere from 10-25% of the market share.
They can't afford to ignore other browsers now.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
Why would you want that? MPlayer already plays as many, if not more, formats than Windows Media Player and is available with your choice of non-horrible non-crazy-bloated frontends.
Don't want to bother with MPlayer's issues? Xine is available as a package included in most distributions and plays everything that MPlayer does, with the exception of really weird formats. I can't say I've found something that Xine won't play.
Why is it that I always seem to read this phrase from Microsoft... and yet don't always see it in practice? If it's something that may eat their monopoly, they say it's bad for the customers. Example? Open Document Format, and Linux. OpenDocument gives people the option of choosing office suites without the worry of format troubles. That's good for the customer. Linux distributions give customers the choice of platform. That's also good for the customer. Simply these two things increases competition, possibly increasing quality and, hopefully, lowering prices. Isn't that good for customers as well?
Perhaps the monopolist is starting to get the point.
1) Embrace
2) Extend
3) Extinguish
Steps 1 and 2 are now in place. In this case it's Mozilla/Firefox that gets embraced and extended, but what gets extinguished is open-source media formats.
By making a Mozilla plugin for their media product they reduce the pressure on content providers to supply content in other formats.
Meanwhile, any bets on whether / when use of the plugin starts "accidentally" introducing vulnerabilities into Mozilla that are exploitable during ordinary browsing? (Something like the backdoor {BARNdoor} you install in IE when you APPLY to obtain the full removal tool for Sony's rootkit?) And there goes security, the main driver of migration from IE to Mozilla.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
We already know validation can be turned off in IE as follows: Go to IE>Tools>Manage Add-ons, find Windows Genuine Validation listed there, and select disable. No more check required, and you can get all your updates.
So how do we turn it off for Firefox? Ironic that I found it easier to turn off in IE, and I haven't yet found how to do it in firefox...
Overclockers
"Oh, they support firefox, so they must not be THAT bad".
Not to mention that if no one downloads it they can say "Well, people who don't use open source apps don't want support from Microsoft," and then drop the WMP plugin and use that as an excuse to not support OpenDocument.Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees you in your bed and eats you in your sleep.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You know, alot of the comments here show that the "groupthink tools" mentality has really sunk in here. For Christ sakes, they are changing something that people bitch about here, only for people to COMPLETELY SIDE STEP WHAT THE DISCUSSION IS ABOUT and bitch about other things unrelated to it, just to fluff their epeen on anything anti-MS. I am glad to see that some people are actually saying something positive, ie that Microsoft is actually...um, you know...playing fair and recognizing they have competition. Thank you for helping support insightful discussions (which my post certainly is not! :))
Whats interesting is that the plugin for firefox is an ActiveX application. WMP installs some kind of ActiveX functionality into firefox (on the sly).
Just a moment ago I posted a reply elsewhere in this item. I suggested that installing Microsoft's media player plugin might open a backdoor {BARNdoor} in Mozilla/Firefox (like the one that APPLYING for Sony's rootkit uninstaller opens in IE). This would eliminate the big driver of migration from IE to Mozilla/Firefox: improved security.
I do believe you've found it.
Counting the hours to the first exploit...
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Does this mean they'll also commit to a Mac version of WMP that doesn't absolutely suck? I'm not holding my breath.
"if Microsoft doesn't make it really easy for these people to patch their systems they probably won't patch their systems and then the security and stability of their system will degrade."
I claim BS in this statement. If Microsoft were really interested in a system being patched why are they using the patch system to check for "authenticity"? Microsoft will always be a menace to networking as long as this stance is held. I can see checking authenticity for upgrades or newer products discounts but for critical patches that protect everyone around them is a silly and in my view malicious act against others on the net.
DISCLAIMER: I don't do Windows but see the effects of all those who do in the form of spam zombies, worms, and other M$ nastiness.
B.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
I went to the site with Firefox on Linux and it gave me a popup telling me that a page will load telling me I will need to download some file. So I push OK, and it redirects me to the same page so that popup happens again. Infinite loop. Anyone else get this?
That microsoft is interested in how many people are actually using a different browser. How much more of a realistic view are they going to see if they don't force everyone to use IE. Or, perhaps this is research to use for more of their FUD.
Yes, I agree I did a bit of karma-whoring to post one or two comments in here according to the group-mentality. Yes, I'm sorry, I got carried on :(
*ahem* Anyway, remember it's the IE7 team doing the Firefox WMP plugins and such. Yes, the same ones that fixed those nasty guillotine bugs that made web programmers' lifes become a nightmare.
So, yes, I support their cross-browser compatibility effort. Now the only thing that worries me is that windows media DRM that can run remote code on your machine.
When are they going to fix the way Outlook Web Access runs on non-IE browsers? The current non-IE OWA is a 1990's-era frame-based piece of crap that lacks any ability to spell-check emails or search mailboxes. And they try to pass it off as a state-of-the-art web-based email client. What a joke.
...isn't great, either. When will it occur to them to do something about that?
I think Microsoft is suffering from terminal Big Company Disease, the situation in which a company loses focus on serving the customer and starts to obey the Three Laws of Necrotics:
1) First Law: hurt the competition. This is more important than anything else.
2) Second Law: don't cannibalize any of your own products, so long as this does not conflict with the First Law.
3) Third Law: Serve the customer, so long as this does not conflict with the First or Second law, and can be done in any spare time left over after dealing with more important priorities
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
ALternatively, open up IE, click Tools > Manage Add-Ons, and then disable the WGA plugin...
I don't understand your tagline regarding Mosaic. You don't have to remember it, it's an integral part of any IE browser, even today. Open your M$ browser and click Help then About. Mosaic is still there and M$ still pays licensing fees for it to SpyGlass. If you don't believe me, read the history for yourself.
Customer: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.
Owner: We're closin' for lunch.
C: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this Windows what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very store.
O: Oh yes, the, uh, the Redmondian Blue Screen... What's, uh... What's wrong with it?
C: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. It's not Genuine, that's what's wrong with it!
O: No, no. It's, uh... it's a different window manager!
C: Look, matey, I know a non-Genuine Windows when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
O: No, no... He's Genuine. He's, he's... using a different window manager! Remarkable code, the Redmondian Blue Screen, isn't, eh? Beautiful skins!
C: Skins?! Mate, this Windows wouldn't "reskin" if you put four million volts through it! It's bleedin' fake!
O: No no! It's just a different window manager!
C: It's not a different window manager! It's a fake! It is illigitimate! It is unregistered! It is Not Genuine! The licence has expired and I'm being audited by its maker!
THIS IS AN X-WINDOWS!!
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
There's actually a cool extension similiar to IE View called IE Tab that essentially does just that. Rather than opening up a new window for Internet Explorer, this plugin integrates IE into a tab within Firefox... it's pretty neat.
In other news, Microsoft is not the oppressive, overbearing monopolist tyrant everyone makes them out to be. Full story at 11.
I mean common, there's got to be some hidden motive behind this move, right? M$ is trying to shove its software onto OSS platforms now. OMFG! [/sarcasm]