Slashdot Mirror
Windows 7 RCs Shut Down To Force Updates
nk497 writes "The release candidate for Microsoft Windows 7 will expire June 2010, and the software giant will let users know they need to pay to upgrade by shutting down the system every two hours for three months. According to Microsoft: "The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you'll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You'll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.""
How long until someone crackfixes this? TIA.
Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
I Just changed my system clock to see what would happ
Has Microsoft gone mental?
What is totally mental, and I mean running around the supermarket without your pants on shouting "where is the mustard" mad ...
Here is what Mental Microsoft has to say on the matter
I get it, you learned a new word: mental. Please, try to use it in moderation and only when discussing things with your too cool for school third grade friends.
Really, you sound surprised. Didn't they warn us about this anyway? That's why the general populace was not supposed to install this. For savvy users with their old image on a backup drive it's a minor inconvenience.
Can one automagically revert to the legal Windows (if any) they had installed before they installed Windows 7? Of course not, this would make sense. And provide an easy way out of migration. For those who need an ill formed & flawed car analogy: It is like taking a new car for a test drive only to return to the dealership to discover that your old car has been crushed into a cube.
My work here is dung.
File this under already announced before RC1 was released to the public, and file a second copy under you get what you pay for.
MS has been upfront about this since before they pushed the RC.
They my have just realized that a year was way too long for a free, stable version of Windows.
Next thing you know, they are going to offer to let you share the software with a friend, but only offer 20% of the capabilities. Free copy of Wolfenstein included!*
*First mission only
If I wrote something witty, you would say I stole it from somewhere.
I seriously doubt it shuts down every two hours. No Windows system is stable that long at a time.
My webcomic
It's not shutting down to force updates, it's shutting down when the trial period expires.
This is well known, was discussed here several times and is clearly mentioned on the Microsoft download page.
To be honest it seems like slashdot has more stories about Microsoft than about Free software.
That this will wind up in the actual release in some form or another by mistake...it's only so easy to track zillions of lines of code after all.
...in bed
How is that news? MS says about shutdowns right there on RC's download page. Must be a really slow news day, nothing to chew MS for...
It sounds like a fully licensed version of Win95.
Did everyone think MS was giving away a free OS??? I've come across people in other forums literally cussing out MS as if this is some dirty trick.
Never underestimate the stupidity of some people. Like they think you have two options with Windows 7...either download the free version or go the store and buy the version that costs $100.
Morons.
It won't be much of a pain due to the blindingly fast Windows 7 boot time, right?
The original public release (I believe 7000) stated it would work until August 1, 2009. This hasn't changed, right?
--- We need more Ron Paul!
We had one customer several years ago who complained that our product stopped working all of the sudden. The customer yelled at us and threatened to sue us out of existence.
We looked into his problem anf it turns out he used an evaluation copy of Windows 2000 and the license expired on him.
It was a bank in LA. I forget the name. The bastards are probrably collecting TARP funds.
Say, oh, 15 million people install RC (I did.)
Come June, you want to start getting paid (you're M$), you have two options...
1. Release an 'upgrade to paid version' where you charge people FULL PRICE for the equivilent of whatever they're running. (I'm using ultimate)
2. Force people to pay for the version they choose AND reinstall everything.
Now, to get the most money out of me, and I'd bet most everbody, they should do #1. A year from now, I'm going to have installed a lot of stuff, done a LOT of customizing and unless it's just time to rebuild, I'm REALLY not going to want to reinstall. I would be HAPPY to pay for Ultimate at that point. The alternative is go back to Vista which I've already paid for or reboot every 2 hours. Neither are good for me, so I'll start looking for a crack. Time is money, and I'd spend way more money rebuilding to get off the RC than I'd spend paying for an ultimate license.
But, I'd bet Microsoft is going #2. No betting actually, that's the plan. So they're going to have a bunch of people who are just going to deal with reboots. Then there will be a bunch of people who are going to go the cracking route. Then there's the people who are going to pay, but will downgrade because they don't use all that ultimate crap anyway. And what's left, are the people who fall in line and do what M$ wants them too. But think of all the money they could have gotten from the others, had they only offered an upgrade path...
And it's not like it's a complicated upgrade, just replace the part of the system that makes this an RC build! That's got to be easier than a service pack!
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Why is this being posted over and over on very tech site?
Who cares?
You're installing a beta or a release candidate. Do you expect it to be supported forever?
And are we really surprised Microsoft put in just a tiny bit of protection to prevent the average joe from continuing to use Windows 7 RC forever?
I'm not sure why people keep bringing up this issue. It's a release candidate being released for evaluation of software that isn't free. If they didn't disable it after a certain date, people would continue to use it indefinitely, and then would expect support as well. By forcing people to upgrade to the release version, it ensures they're not using an old, buggy release candidate. (Whether the final release will be better remains to be seen, of course, this is a Microsoft product, after all :-)
Everyone is given fair warning about this before installing the RC (which shouldn't really be on production systems anyway). If you don't like what you see, then stop using it, otherwise upgrade to the release version when it comes out.
A method to upgrade to release without having to completely reinstall would be nice, but they've never done that in the past and I wouldn't expect to see it done this time, either.
I really dont understand what the big deal about this is. A company offers a 1 year evaluation period on new software, with *gasp* an expiration period! Frankly Im surprised they dont just cut it off altogether, like MOST companies offering evaluation versions of their software go. Although given a year of use that might be a little draconian, as people will probably have information on there they would need to access.
Im all for FOSS and all but damn people, if you really like W7 just pay for the damn thing, or switch to Linux. If you read the official announcements for this release,and didnt just get the iso off a torrent or something, it is clearly stated that there is an evaluation expiration period, this is NOT news.
Everyone with the ability to read and any interest of the topic has been aware of this since qwuite some time before the rc download became available.
kartune85 : Incapable of reason, observation or learning. A kind of dim, drab, flightless parrot.
WindowsME
You all seem to be missing the point that MS will start shutting down your computer every two hours three months *before* your trial period expires.
So what this means is that Microsoft is exercising its power to turn off your computer at will while you are still within the period in which you are entitled to be using it.
Start turning the PC off afterwards, sure. But not before.
Continuing the trend of poor analogies: that's like them kicking you out of your rent-free house twelve times a day for a quarter of your tenancy period.
74.117.115.116 32.97.110.111 116.104.101.114 32.80.101.114 108.32.104.97 99.107.101.114
How generous, Microsoft enlists people to test their next OS, and instead of being rewarded those poor souls get screwed.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Microsoft is trying to get its cake and eat it too.
I am open source, and Linux baby!
The normal course of action for a time limited demo would be to simply stop functioning when your time expires. That is what I expect from such things and how most of them work.
However, what happens if you didn't get all your data off and so on? Well, this offers you a way to be able to operate the system, just with restrictions. It is a nicer way of handling things.
well who's to say that december 2009 will ever end... just dont connect to the internet (those darn tyme sync services), and the computer will be non the wiser....
What is bad about this is the way MS forces you to upgrade - by erasing the disk, along with the OS and ALL of your data, then installing a licensed copy and reinstalling all of your apps and then the data. What could be more inconvenient? What could waste more time? What could be more stupid?
Why not just have a menu item to click on to buy a valid license key with a credit card - LIKE EVERY OTHER NORMAL VENDOR DOES!
I just activated a copy of Photoshop Express this way, it's a convenient, easy $90 for Adobe. Doesn't anyone at Microsoft have a triple digit IQ?
You mean there are people out there who actually pay for Microsoft's OS's?
That's about as dumb as paying for music...
After the debacle of Vista, I could have sworn I read on this very site a few weeks ago that Win 7 was going to offered as a FREE upgrade, at least to Vista users. Am I on crack or did I actually see that story?
i dont think it will cut-down on new sales (e.g. new machines from hp, dell, etc)
it might reduce sales of people who have had vista for a year and hate it. or still have winxp and fear for security (1% of residential customers)
i doubt it will have much issue in the business world, as since most businesses ignored vista and wont install beta/rc code that is going to die on their production machines until its final/stable
Why the F is this on the front page (or any page) of a geek news aggregation site. If you couldn't figure this out based on the information provided by Microsoft (long before you download/install/use/etc.) Windows 7, you've got no business being near a keyboard. Stand up and take two steps back. How much did IT Pro have to pay to get this piece of crap on the front page of slashdot? I hope it was a lot.
I wonder if this would do anything? I mean it wouldn't be to hard to pull off.
1) script to counter the shutdown -f command with shutdown -a to abort.
2) set script to run when shutdown command is detected
3) ???
4) profit
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Every version of windows I ever had shut down my computer every few hours. So what is new ?
How long until someone decides that a piece of software has no business shutting down physical hardware and tries suing Microsoft for unlawful trespass? They may have a right to shut down their software but to force a full physical shutdown of a machine is beyond their legal boundaries. This is my CPU, my power supply, my RAM, you have no business turning it off without me saying so. Disable your software all you want. Start fucking with my physical property and trespassing charges will be laid down.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
...the lamest troll yet.
Congratulations. Your mom must be *so* proud. (I know your dad is, he was telling me all about it last night while we shagged a few dead sheep.)
Ya think?
about 4 seconds...
3... 2... 1....
Hurray! It's shutting me down!
Fixed that for you.
"Shutting down every 2 hours"?
I didn't realize Windows 7 offered such a significant increase in uptime.
If that doesn't stop you, it reverts to Windows ME.
When someone says, "Any fool can see
You fucked a dead sheep? Shit, I'll take being the lamest troll ever over necro-bestiality man
I knew this before I installed Windows 7. Isn't this supposed to be common knowledge by now?
Dear Windows users,
Why do you put up with this shit?
Sincerely,
Linux users
Hey, I finally got my first freak! Took you long enough!
Will they include a dialog box so that we know Windows didn't just crash again?
Actually, this reminds me of an entry from SKB's classic Devil's DP Dictionary:
An oldie, but a goodie!
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
Why does this matter you have to format and reinstall windows every 3-6 months anyway to clear all the malware worms and the porn that you are even ashamed of
I actually don't have a physical revulsion to W7 on my new pimp rig, but it's just holding place until I can get a 10.5.7-based hackintosh installer that recognizes nehalem and my 1gb 4870..
That said, I'm surprised at the lack of suckage of W7, and pretty happy with the ATI folding@home client.. Wonder if it's available for linux and/or opensolaris?
(been on an osol kick lately, what with ZFS and suncluster for free...)
Once again Microsoft's methods are dubious, but you are still getting a very good operating system gratis for a year.
It's the fact that stories like this even EXIST that demonstrate exactly what is wrong with the internet and computers in general.
I understand feature upgrades, and usability upgrades.. But am I the only one that thinks we should have never made computers easy enough to use for your average, redneck, pop out 3 kids before dropping outta high-school, losers?
Seriously. These are the idiots complaining about no free lunch. These are the idiots leaving those zombie pc's attached to the internet. These are those we hate.
And there's a story about their inability to read an EULA.
What has this internet come to?
On my laptop that runs Vista, I already have to restart every 2 hours. But with Win7, If I don't pay, they will do it for me? Sign me up.
Ahh, they're nefariously offering a free trial of their software to allow people to find problems and begin developing software without having to pay for something not in its final state. I even noticed that with pure malicious intent they're informing people of the exact conditions under which it will no longer work. We should probably advance on Redmond, pitchforks in hand. Purging Microsoft with fire is the only way to stop this horrible evil... beta period.
It seems to me that everyone is also forgetting that this is a Release Candidate. Read Candidate. It is also entirely possible that Microsoft will choose to have a second release candidate.
So all the griping about how you may have to reinstall upon the commercial release of windows 7 is really counting your chickens before they hatch, you may have to do it again in August with RC2.
I seem to remember seeing a Linux ATI client but it was ages ago, so I'm probably wrong or it might've been cancelled. Shouldn't matter soon, since OpenCL is a few months/weeks from being usable.
"To avoid interruption, you'll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010"
Or... don't install Windows 7 at all? I'll take that option.
tasty electronic music vittles
and that's why my company didn't use Vista, we kept XP. And after bringing in a Mac Mini and a white MacBook, we may just keep heading in that direction.
If you keep hassling customers, they find alternatives. Hey Ballmer you dipstick, if I have to back up everything to move to a fresh install of Win7, how 'bout I move everything to one of the Macs?
Man oh man, who at MS conceived this strategy? Get everybody comfortable with Windows7, then oops, give up your box until we reinstall 7. And who knows if the new 7 is the same as the 7RC?
No more Blue Screen Of Death, it's Blue Screen of Shut Down.
.
Only Microsoft could see a PC shutting down every two hours as "normal".
March 1, 2010 (not June 1, 2010) is the real end of the Release Candidate.
Current rumors put the price of the starter edition at about twice that much:
http://gizmodo.com/5148072/windows-7-pricing-starts-at-200-ehh
But maybe they'll release a Ghetto Edition for $100 that can only run 1.5 apps at once.
Now excuse me, I have to sell my TV so I can afford Windows 7 Pro.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
"According to Microsoft: "The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours."
How fucking lame is this... Shuts down the PC every 2 hours. All that will do is piss ppl, off.
And if your backup can't complete in two hours, that's just too bad.
My PC already exhibits this behavior.
So, Microsoft just got Design for Lean Six Sigma?
Why not make a batch script that runs every hour to abort a shutdown?
I'm sure there's an anatomical comment in there, but I'm not gonna go there...
Neither are the rest of us /.ers :(
Can the product expiration simply be avoided by setting an earlier date in BIOS?
I got hard evidence that w7 is better: http://xkcd.com/528/
If Microsoft put a warning on the windows 7 packaging saying that is causes cancer...you fuckwit's would be complaining about the font.
-W
10 years ago.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
So now we just downrate things we disagree with?
The fact is that Vista is NOT hampered by its DRM. To say it is, is complete and utter bullshit. I can play back ANY media file I have, and I have the added bonus of having the option to add a blu-ray player should i ever hit my head, and decide I want one.
Downrated to a troll for stating the facts? So be it.
How do I mod TFA down?
The above isn't off-topic, just think about the post he is replying to first, then re-read what he wrote/quoted. It is exactly on-topic. It isn't even subtle, it just works.
put this in startup and minimize it...
noshut.cmd :start /a
shutdown
goto start
But is there an option to make it hibernate rather than shutdown?
If this news entry is confirmed as-is: these guys, they are just sick psichopats.
They had the golden chance to conquear the market back again, and to get back a lot of lost trust, and they just ruined it. Just sick. Or maybe plain stupid.
What was in God's name wrong in just warning the user starting February 1, 2009 and then, once and forever, lock the RC end of March. Too easy?
But no. They have to control you. They have to force you, to frustrate you, to do things in the background without letting you ever know, to show all their b*lls and arrogance, to scream to you: "You are in our hands, we control your PC, that commodity of your life, either we get your money or we can torment you forever when we just wish.. because you depend on us, remember".
Call this blackmail, arrogance, fooling people with the dream of a 'normal' behaviour (the public RC) in a market perspective (the "Buy Now" button in the RC..). So simple and honest to do.. too simple.
But what is honest in such a Corporate...? A nice, lightweight and full colored interface that hides a little good honest technique immersed in an ocean of marketing/sales shit?
Bah.
Shutting down the system every two hours is a big step forward. Other Windows version shut down every ten minutes or so.
Nice feature!
Recave
Sounds like every other M$ OS to me! I'd be surprised if it didn't reboot every two hours. Of course, that's the initial behavior. Give it a few months for the registry and file systems to get funked up and it will reboot about every hour.
Do you always masturbate in public? Why bring up your enormously off topic pile of hacked together shit?
This fact isn't hidden in the EULA. It's in an easy-to-read, bulleted list right above the download link. The page only has like 4 paragraphs on it.
I've come down on Microsoft as hard as anybody over the last many years, but they're handling this one surprisingly well. And, although I still prefer my Ubuntu box (because I love me an easy-to-use package manager), Windows 7 is without a doubt the best Windows version I've ever tried. It even runs Fallout 1 & 2 (WITHOUT the virtual XP install), which Vista refused to run on my hardware.
So how are legit users supposed to get around all the shitty DRM products with a limited number of installs, like Spore and Mass Effect and Adobe CS4?
Not Microsoft's fault, but it highlights the stupidity of a growing body of products which assume normal users never need to wipe their OS (or, only ever do it once or twice), when in reality it has to be done all the time.