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Microsoft Marketing to OS Pirates, Just Agree to Audits!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the isn't-that-wacky dept.

Stony Stevenson writes "In the latest sign that Microsoft expects to support its Windows XP operating system for the foreseeable future, the company has introduced a new licensing program designed to let users of fake or pirated copies of the business version of the OS upgrade to fully licensed copies. To qualify, users of illegitimate versions of Windows XP Pro must pledge to use only genuine Microsoft software going forward and agree to have their software infrastructure audited. Resellers who push the Get Genuine Windows Agreement to customers will get a cut of any new license fees they generate, Microsoft said."

9 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Yeah, right by SnoopJeDi · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, a significant portion of these "pirates" are supposedly people/groups that have no idea that they are breaking any rules. So, I would imagine those people would be the target, not Captain CheapAss (Yarrrgggh).

  2. msoft: by kevin.fowler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey mister pirate... will you help us find our lost OS? I last saw him with candy and a puppy running into that unmarked van other there.

    --
    Bury me in mashed potatoes.
  3. Re:Yes, I "promise" never to do it again by jimstapleton · · Score: 4, Funny

    Of course not, that's what the auditing is for!

    But all things considered, I wonder where I can get Genuine Microsoft FreeBSD, KDE, OpenOffice, BASH, GIMP, Pidgin, Firefox...

    awe screw it.

    --
    34486853790
    Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
  4. Cripes! by Tau+Neutrino · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's bad enough I have to use XP. No way am I going to pay for it. Get real!

    --
    Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
  5. Re:Yeah, right by ElleyKitten · · Score: 3, Funny

    If someone is pirating windows, why would they self identify and then agree to an eternal audit of their infrastructure? Prior employees at my company pirated software instead of get it legitly like management wants. I'm sure they'd benefit from a program like this, and might even thank me for telling them about it instead of yelling at me for telling them there's pirated software on their computers, but I hate my job and do not care. Which is why I'm browsing Slashdot and Monster and calling it "working".
    --
    "What is Internet Explorer 7? Are you saying we can't access the normal internet?" - I love tech support. Really.
  6. Re:Yes, I "promise" never to do it again by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2, Funny

    From Novell?

  7. Re:Actually by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Duly notivizated.

  8. OffTopic: Yeah, Right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This linguistics professor was lecturing the class.
      "In English," he explained, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative."
      "However," the professor continued, "there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."
      Immediately, a voice from the back of the room piped up: "Yeah..... right...."

    http://bash.org/?734797

  9. Re:I've never been on the wrong end of such an aud by jimicus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Earn credibility... read the post you're replying to. There is such a thing as Microsoft SQL Server 2003, which was what I posted. Also, at least one company has been on the wrong end of an audit despite being little more than "a few licenses" out of compliance - eg. http://www.news.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html - I don't know how big the company is but if it's any significant size, "a few dozen licenses" is nothing.