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Windows 7 Anti-Piracy Plans
Slatterz writes "Microsoft has announced that the forthcoming Windows 7 operating system will contain a number of piracy 'tweaks' it says are designed to protect the interests of customers. Under the new regime users will be expected to validate their software in a much more precise way than before. Other Microsoft operating systems and anti-piracy measures, including Windows Genuine Advantage, allowed users to delay 'activation,' but Windows 7 will make it harder to ignore repeated messages. According to Joe Williams, general manager for Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft, counterfeit software 'delivers a poor experience and impacts customer satisfaction with our products, particularly if users do not know that their software is non-genuine.' Williams gave the example of one piracy exploit that caused more than a million reported system crashes on machines running non-genuine Windows Vista before Microsoft was able to resolve it."
So they can halve their user-share.
My work here is dung.
Are there really people who have a pirated copy and really believe that it's a copy that they have a valid license for? I seriously doubt that more than .05% of people who are running pirated versions of windows actually thing it is geniune. This is just going to annoy people who got mislabeled as pirates, while all the pirates find an easy way to disable this "feature".
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
It's amazing that after all this time Microsoft still believe they can win the fight against piracy. As long as there is someone that builds anti-piracy measures in there will be people willing to hack around and take them out. Equal and opposite forces. Look at the iPhone for example; it took very little time for people with no previous knowledge of the device to have a working solution for jailbreaking the phone and installing pirated apps. MS needs to come up with viable solutions instead of crippling the user's experience.
Oh, shit, that's right, we're talking about Microsoft. Never mind; carry on with Ubuntu installs. ;-)
=Smidge=
Is it just my observation, or is eldavojohn an idiot?
So what, you thought MS was a bunch of open source hippies all this time who were only being stopped from releasing the source of the entire OS for free by the tyrannical Bill Gates?
"You see, when counterfeit software shows up in the hands of some unlucky customer, Big Louie, an associate of ours, shows up as well. After a spirited discussion of the matter with said customer, Big Louie tells us that the customer does not approve of the resulting experience counterfeit software brings and much prefers the experience of genuine software, wherein Big Louie does not intervene."
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
Like many of you, I am sick and tired of being misinformed and disinformed by Anonymous Coward. That's why I'm writing this letter, to subject Anonymous's squibs to the rigorous scrutiny they warrant. Let's start with my claim that the last time I heard Anonymous ramble on in his characteristically bibulous blather he said something about wanting to suppress all news that portrays him in a bad light. I feel sorry for the human race when I hear stuff like that. While it is not my purpose to incriminate or exculpate or vindicate or castigate, this was true long before the latest scandal broke. (Note the heroic restraint stopping me from saying that you'll never hear Anonymous admit he made a mistake.)
One wonders how Anonymous can complain about unscrupulous thieves given that his own perorations also aim to endorse a complete system of leadership by mobocracy. I have one itsy-bitsy problem with his vituperations. Videlicet, they create anomie. And that's saying nothing about how according to him, all any child needs is a big dose of television every day. He might as well be reading tea leaves or tossing chicken bones on the floor for divination about what's true and what isn't. Maybe then Anonymous would realize that it's time that a few facts had a chance to slip through the fusillade of hype. If you doubt this, just ask around.
Ok, this needs to be translated from Marketing-speak.
"Essentially, Microsoft has put a killswitch/disabling tool in Windows 7 that can shut down/cripple versions of 7 that are pirated. Since this is marketing, we're going to couch the discussion in a way that sounds like we are doing this for the customer, so they know that the overpriced software called Windows 7 wasn't a copied version from a shady supplier."
Actually, they are doing the non-customers a favor by disabling Windows 7, thereby ending the eternally miserable experience that is Windows. The real question is: when will Microsoft do their paying customers the same favor?
Now, I didn't read any of that, of course, as it was long and boring looking. But as I scrolled downward to click reply, I noticed a general negative tone, and Microsoft was mentioned a few times. Since you seem to be saying something bad about M$, preach on, brother!
A lot more of those shops will switch to GNU/Linux when they realise that they can install Linux Genuine Advantage instead.
Soon they will rename it as "*The* Windows Activation Technologies", at which point it will be known as TWAT.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.