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Windows 8 To Fight Piracy With the Cloud
MrSeb writes "With the latest Windows 8 build (8064) that has been delivered to Intel, it's clear that the company is taking strides to make sure that its upcoming OS isn't quite so easy to pirate. For starters, the generic volume license keys that were so easily exploited during the early days of Windows 7 leaks will no longer be an option for pirates. Product keys also won't be shipped in the prodkey.txt file included in the build packages. Instead, installers will need to retrieve a unique key from a Microsoft web page. There's also a good possibility that the recently-surfaced fast booting patent could come into play as well. If Microsoft does indeed have designs on using a remote server to push OS code to systems at boot time, that code would be a very clever place to embed activation-related programming. Even if a crack was discovered, it would be neatly undone during a subsequent start-up sequence — similar to the way Microsoft's now-idle Windows Steady State could turn back the clock on an entire Windows installation after rebooting."
Microsoft has also indirectly confirmed in a recent blog post that Windows 8 will make use of an app store.
Found it!
If you no longer even own your full OS and require "pushed OS code at boot time" the Cloud Scam will be complete!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I really hate the direction software and computers are heading.
I'm not that old.. but it just seems like every new thing makes me cringe. Maybe it's for the best and this is the way people want it, and maybe I'm just too attached to the way things are now (or I guess the way things were) to adapt to all this new thinking, but dammit if I don't feel something I'm passionate about is slipping away.
Maybe I should just go plant trees for a living or something :(
He died waiting for a license key.
Have gnu, will travel.
Microsoft needs to go back to their roots and remember that their success in the PC market these days can largely (but of course, not entirely) be attributed to the fact that many younger people pirated their OS and used it a lot.
This is why they should just let piracy go, especially for the OS and Visual Studio, that way when people enter the workforce, they already are accustomed to these things. This is why RIM should be so disturbed that many younger people don't use BlackBerry's anymore; when those younger people enter the workforce, they're going to scream and yell to get their iPhone's and Android's connected to the exchange server.
It has always been this way, and Microsoft would be stupid to forget it.
That said, there's the China piracy problem, which is outside of above.. maybe this is targeting that..
Microsoft is clearly doing its part in this, by taking actions to kill-off Windows.
For which effort, I heartily commend them!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I feel the same way as you. I personally took up jogging to get away from all the retarded shit going on in the IT world, and although footwear manufacturers over the world are hellbent on selling me THEIR perfect running product, at least with Americans being by and large as lazy as they are, the ads aren't continuously shoved in my face. I can't even get away from reality with gaming anymore, because people's strange ideas of progress and innovation (social this, social that, always online) have crippled that as well. It seems that, the public at large, couldn't care less about something as long as it's really easy to use and gives them instant gratification. It's truly a shame when your hobby, job or passion gets focus fired by the general public, and suddenly every joe shmoe has an idea of how to improve it. I walked passed an HMV today with big signs up proclaiming "EPIC SALE!", I imagined walking in there with a chaingun.
I'm OK with this.
The sooner the theft of Microsoft products ends the better. Turn all the knobs to 11, Mr. Ballmer. The sound of gnashing teeth will be as sweet as Beethoven's Pastoral symphony.
--
BMO
"Microsoft's now-idle Windows Steady State could turn back the clock an entire Windows[sic] installation after rebooting."
I've already had Windows inadvertently wipe an install after reboot.
or you could, you know, just stick with windows 7? It's the new xp or 98se, they're going to be supporting this thing for years and years...
Well of course these speculations should be taken as that until MS locks down features. Those articles you link deal with panic over MS enforcing anti-piracy for third parties. However given the history of MS pushing for more anti-piracy features of the OS itself such concerns are not neccesarily FUD. My main concern with that would be the false positives. Having been inconvenienced with calling MS for them to bless my installation of Windows for no apparent reason I can say it's a concern.
Lets take this from the article:
With the latest Windows 8 build (8064) that has been delivered to Intel, it’s clear that the company is taking strides to make sure that its upcoming OS isn’t quit so easy to pirate. For starters, the generic volume license keys that were so easily exploited during the early days of Windows 7 leaks will no longer be an option for pirates. Product keys also won’t be shipped in the prodkey.txt file included in the build packages. Instead, installers will need to retrieve a unique key from a Microsoft web page.
That was the case for Windows 7 Beta and RC releases as well,with the keys expiring in 1 year. Don't see anything new here, the article does cite any sources except a build to Intel which is obviously a preview build which always required you to get a key from Microsoft web pages to operate.
This space for rent.
Already happened.
http://securityandthe.net/2008/08/22/rumor-confirmed-both-fedora-and-redhat-servers-hacked/
In connection with the incident, the intruder was able to sign a small
number of OpenSSH packages relating only to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
(i386 and x86_64 architectures only) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (x86_64
architecture only).
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/87516/Debian_Project_servers_hacked
http://www.cio.com.au/article/369912/free_software_foundation_software_repository_hacked/
Oops wrong OS! Please continue with the regularly scheduled bashing, i mean programming, Slashdot.
This space for rent.
This will enable Microsoft's dream of rented software. You pay every time you use their software. Since Android is free, this is going to flop in the market. No one will want to pay Microsoft when they can use open source for free.
You spent how many millions on your anti-piracy tactics and we all know it'll be cracked within a month of release.
What happens when my computer doesn't have an internet connection? Are you going to drop the ENTIRE laptop market? No... You're going to have to account for that, and that will be exploited.
The ONLY way to fight piracy is to lower your prices. Sell windows for $30 a box (probably what you're selling it to Dell for anyway) and it wont be worth anyone's time to pirate.
I normally have respect for haiyfeet as his comments contribute a lot and he knows what he is talking about.
In terms of DRM ...
IN actually, I find a lot more pirated versions of Windows XP than Windows 7 on a popular torrent site. The windows 7 ones were hackjobs taht required a special bootloader from some guy (seperate download) and with the hacks you get a Windows 7 OS but you can't use Windows update for patch 2334. Some give error messages a lot and so on.
Maybe there is a perfect pirated Windows 7 professional edition out there, but after reading this I decided to stick with Windows 7 home premium with these hassles. Windows XP has been hacked awhile back.
I have not seen a hacked version of Office 2010 either that worked for more than a week or two. Microsoft has got it down well with its DRM. I hate the DRM and I think Microsoft are idiots in their pricing scheme to the Asian world but it is their choice to be stupid. You need to pay if you use their products. Thank god for GoogleDocs and LibreOffice.
http://saveie6.com/
Windows dominates desktop PCs, but the era of the PC is ending, and Windows will go the way of NetWare unless Microsoft figures something out. Windows 8 is very tablet oriented, but is that really going to help much? The only thing Windows really has going for it these days is that most people use it, and Winows 8 is going to have to compete on its merits in the tablet world. But I wouldn't write them off: Kinect and Surface show that MS isn't quite out of ideas yet, interface-wise.
As the corporate world starts making its slow shift to ARM-based boot-from-firmware thin clients, that's really going to put the squeeze on MS's client OS business.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Here it begins, the FUD DRM campaign against Windows 8 and a collective group of people getting their panties in a twist.
And here comes their knight in shining armor, recoiledsnake, ready to fight the good fight on behalf of defenseless multinational corporations...
I tease, and that's not to imply that we should stand for lies just because the target is a wealthy corporation, but I do think we need to assume the worst when it comes to corporations. I'm assuming windows 8 is going to be windows 7 but with several added layers of stuff to make sure you're running only authorized copies of windows, office, and any other program. I'm assuming it will have more insulation between you and control of your own computer and will put up more resistance to you assuming control over it. I'm assuming this app store will be designed to put money into MS's pockets that would have otherwise gone to smaller, more creative organizations. I'm assuming all of that until MS proves otherwise. One would be a fool to trust any corporation has your interests at heart.
Windows dominates desktop PCs, but the era of the PC is ending, and Windows will go the way of NetWare
Flying cars, Fusion, etc.
The era of the PC is not ending... we're decades away from it ending. There are a wide array of functions that a desktop PC gives you that no mobiles devices will fill. The only change that is happening here is that the PC is no longer the ONLY general-purpose computing device available. The explosive growth of one segment does not mean a different segment needs to die. It's not a zero-sum game; the segments complement each other.
Hell, it's even in the summary:
And you should know better than to rely on that.
I (and possibly many others) interpret this as needing an internet connection to boot Windows, as in booting from their remote server.
This is why /. readers are often labelled slashtards.
The reference to a "remote server to push OS code to systems at boot time" refers to the fast net booting technology that microsoft patented... where instead of waiting for a complete system image before booting, the system can begin booting much earlier.
Its an enterprise targeted enhancement to net booting that makes net booting more usable.
Its wild speculation crossing the line to complete idiocy to speculate that this net booting capability would be required for all users.
Think about it for half a second. You wouldn't be able to turn your computer on: on a plane. Or a boat. Or in the mountains. Or when visiting a 3rd world country.
How many networks aren't attached to the internet or aren't attached reliably? Military, Medical, Testing, Remote research stations...
How do most hotspots and hotels etc work... you connect to an open network (wired or wireless) but all internet access is blocked and all http access is redirected to a web page to enter in your room number, guest password, whatever... so ALL that infrastructure breaks down too.
Its simply not going to happen.
I have yet to see a hairyfeet post that wasn't hysterical ranting with almost no basis in reality.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
He's not a fanboy, he just is not satisfied with the level of security offered by debian and fedora and therefore chose... er... windows.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol