Microsoft has made it very clear that they are going to always allow security fixes to all users of Windows, whether it is licensed software or otherwise. This isn't an issue of support; If Microsoft leaves these unlicensed machines without patches, existing viruses get to run like wild among these machines creating a real headache for ISPs and email providers.
if you have a pirated copy of Windows, the only way to obtain security updates will be through the automatic updates mechanism. And even that method may be restricted at a future date
For those of you who don't use a Windows machine, you should know that the "automatic updates mechanism" is the way that legitimate and illegitimate users of Windows obtain their security fixes, the way they always have, and the way they likely always will. This article is talking about Microsoft AntiSpyware - the product which they acquired by purchasing GIANTCompany.com. Microsoft has made it Very Clear that they are going to always allow users with pirated copies of Windows to download security fixes. This article says nothing to indicate that users with illegal copies of Windows have any further restriction in downloading security fixes, nor that they will not be able to do so in the future.
The only 'security fixes' referred to in this article, are those performed by Microsoft AntiSpyware. This has nothing to do with their OS, browser, and other product security fixes / patches.
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Microsoft has made it very clear that they are going to always allow security fixes to all users of Windows, whether it is licensed software or otherwise. This isn't an issue of support; If Microsoft leaves these unlicensed machines without patches, existing viruses get to run like wild among these machines creating a real headache for ISPs and email providers.
In fact, if you want an example, let me know and I'll post a quick visual basic function to grab the cd key from the registry on an XP machine.
Actually, Windows XP keys are stored in the registry.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductID
It's a 15 byte long base 24 encoded value offset 53 bytes from the start of the data block stored in the above mentioned key. Pretty straight forward.
if you have a pirated copy of Windows, the only way to obtain security updates will be through the automatic updates mechanism. And even that method may be restricted at a future date
For those of you who don't use a Windows machine, you should know that the "automatic updates mechanism" is the way that legitimate and illegitimate users of Windows obtain their security fixes, the way they always have, and the way they likely always will. This article is talking about Microsoft AntiSpyware - the product which they acquired by purchasing GIANTCompany.com. Microsoft has made it Very Clear that they are going to always allow users with pirated copies of Windows to download security fixes. This article says nothing to indicate that users with illegal copies of Windows have any further restriction in downloading security fixes, nor that they will not be able to do so in the future.
The only 'security fixes' referred to in this article, are those performed by Microsoft AntiSpyware. This has nothing to do with their OS, browser, and other product security fixes / patches.
Come on Slashdot! Get the story right!