[redmenace]

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050126_122958.html
This is why I don't bother with pirating Microsoft Software. (Beyond the fact that it is illegal.)

[Swamp_Thing]

I don´t think their efforts are working. I´m living proof of that.

[redmenace]

Well, this is a recent development.

[Nico]

Like you won't be able to get the updates elsewhere

Don't care, my copy is legit, not that I had much choice tho.

[Primus]

I'm not sure that I fully understand.. If I want to update my Messenger and I have *cough* Windows, they'll notice it?

[redmenace]

eh maybe, but as microsoft adapts so do the hackers and crackers. It is a giant game of cat and mouse.

The article is refering to updates the OS, IE, MP and additional microsoft "goodies." These will all now require a key code.

[Moonsword]

Oh, yay.  Another reason to start learning to make Linux run my software...

[Fury]

There must be a hole in it. As corporation workstations needs to be updated too and the Windows in it sure isn't installed by the one who uses the workstation. Granted, most big(ger) coprorations run their own centralized server for updates though.

[SadisticSid]

I've acquired so many copies of Windows I don't know whether I'm running a legal version or otherwise...

[Swamp_Thing]

The SP2 (Service Pack 2) was supposed to be hacker proof aswel. They made it so that only legit owners could get it and update their systems. And yet, look at what happened. Everybody has it!
I have it. They can´t stop people from getting them. For every security measure they come up with, there are thousands of people working to break it.
It´s an unwinnable war. If they want to stop people from getting pirate copies, they should start by releasing a product that doesn´t contain a million security holes in it. And in top of that, sell it for a small fortune...

If games  came out fully compatible with Linux, i would change in a second. But alas most games only run in Windows and Mac.

[vyper]

There's a free OS out there trying to be compatible with win32 apps, I just can't remember it's name.

[Fury]

Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
The SP2 (Service Pack 2) was supposed to be hacker proof aswel. They made it so that only legit owners could get it and update their systems. And yet, look at what happened. Everybody has it!
I have it. They can´t stop people from getting them. For every security measure they come up with, there are thousands of people working to break it.
It´s an unwinnable war. If they want to stop people from getting pirate copies, they should start by releasing a product that doesn´t contain a million security holes in it. And in top of that, sell it for a small fortune...

If games  came out fully compatible with Linux, i would change in a second. But alas most games only run in Windows and Mac.

Wrong. MS changed their policy with SP2 and allowed it to be installed even on pirated copies, with exception only the most widespread VLK, aka devil's 0wn.

[Swamp_Thing]

Originally posted by Mr. Fury


Wrong. MS changed their policy with SP2 and allowed it to be installed even on pirated copies, with exception only the most widespread VLK, aka devil's 0wn.

Nuh uh! SP2 comes with a set of blacklisted serials. If you happen to be using one of them, no SP2 for you!
I wouldn´t call that "allowing it to be installed on pirated systems", would you?

[Rictor]

Countdown until new anti-piracy feature is cracked by a 17 year old Russian kid, thereby screwing Micorsoft yet again:

5..4..3..2..1 - Blast-off!

[Unknown Target]

My copy's legit, and I'm still running it right from the box. I don't trust M$ updates and the stuff that's in them, so I just firewall my comp and stay away from the bad web sites  as much as I can

[Scuddie]

Originally posted by Swamp_Thing


Nuh uh! SP2 comes with a set of blacklisted serials. If you happen to be using one of them, no SP2 for you!
I wouldn´t call that "allowing it to be installed on pirated systems", would you?

No, that was SP1.  The same blacklist is in SP2 (due to the nature of SPs), but nothing has been added, otherwise.

[Swamp_Thing]

Originally posted by Scuddie
No, that was SP1.  The same blacklist is in SP2 (due to the nature of SPs), but nothing has been added, otherwise.

The black lists were updated in SP2. I could install SP1 (right off the MS website, may i add), with no problems at all, with the serial i used. But that same serial, wich allowed me to ge SP1, got me blacklisted with SP2. I had to change my serial before i was allowed to install SP2.
So, it´s fair to say they updated the blaclists, and that throws the "MS-allowed-SP2-on-pirated-systems" theory right out the window.

[MatthewPapa]

*reads article*

oh ****!

I seriously doubt this will go very far though. Time to start learning how to use linux!

[Scuddie]

And this is why you always find alterate means of getting windows...  For example, a corporate licence of Server 2003 Enterprise with a 25 user license...  For $250 through a seminar sponsored through MS.

[pyro-manic]

Heh. When they start making decent software, I'll start paying for it...