ok so now will we boycott Microsoft?

It's now or wait till it's too late up to you. Meaning, don't buy any microsoft products. Learn non-microsoft products and use that. MS is going to far and we need to fight back!

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Microsoft Deactivates Pirates

Microsoft has introduced its Windows XP Service Pack 1 which, according to Microsoft’s documentation, is “aimed at ensuring licensed customers receive full benefits… product updates and Access to Windows XP Updates.” What Microsoft XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) is really designed to do is “to make it more difficult for those who pirate software to steal these same benefits.”

A summary of SP1’s changes from Service Packs of the past includes:

(1) When XP SP1 installation is attempted, SP1 will not load with previous “well known” pirated product keys, and will further verify the product key against a current product key list

(2) Once a hardware change is made to a PC that requires re-activation of Windows XP, licensed users will have a grace period of 3 days (previously required immediately) to re-activate Windows XP

(3) SP1 includes a Volume License Key (VLK) encryption that is added to unattended setups of Windows XP

(4) A product key used to install Windows XP will become part of the Installation ID for all future activations after SP1

(5) The entire product key will be sent upon Internet log in/activation, while a hash value of the product key will be sent upon telephone installation

(6) “Fixes” to software piracy cracks will be embedded in SP1 to prohibit SP1 activation

(7) Installations of Windows XP that have been repaired/patched by a crack must be completely reactivated upon SP1 installation.

Reports have been coming in from retailers and companies all over the world to us saying that Microsoft (sometimes via the SPA) has been aggressive in auditing (or sending letters threatening to audit) them to make sure that are fully compliant with Microsoft licenses.

This has led to a mad rush for many companies and users to "true up" now or be forced to deal with the consequences later. Many are convinced that this is nothing more than a strong arm harassment tactic by Microsoft to raise their stock price and teach the government a lesson. No matter, Microsoft is going after these missed profits and unhappy or not customers are paying the price to get legal.

Personally, I can't wait to see the expressions on all of the faces of those running illegal copies who happen to have auto updated engaged, if and when they start forcing Service Pack 1 down to all of the XP machines and one by one these systems stop working or need to be reactivated. We are not going to say that we told you so, but when product activation was first announced, we were sure that this was going to be a possibility as soon as the cracks arrived so publicly on the Internet.

Next will be Microsoft's master plan to start to rent the use of software to users on a per term basis. Yep, this is where I think this is headed folks, so don't be surprised if this is the next move in the game."



<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>
 

LancerEvolution7

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My friend :wink: has a pirated copy of windows xp and he downloaded the service pack. He hasn't run into any problems yet and he has been running it for 2 close to 3 months.
 

Kzzrn

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"Reports have been coming in from retailers and companies all over the world to us saying that Microsoft (sometimes via the SPA) has been aggressive in auditing (or sending letters threatening to audit) them to make sure that are fully compliant with Microsoft licenses. "

Damn right they have been. They even went so far as to audit my whole f***ing school district. A school district that is right next to mine is actually switching to Linux. They estimate savings from not having to pay Micro$haft'$ outragoues lincen$ing fee$ at $10,000 at just the middle school level.

"Next will be Microsoft's master plan to start to rent the use of software to users on a per term basis."

They tried to do that this year, but a lot of businesses got really pissed so they backed off.

Knowledge is the key to understanding
 

grassapa

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anybody uses Windows XP Professional corp edition that uses the key "FCKGW-RHQQ2-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" ??

btw lancer...the service pack ur friend was using was a beta...we arent sure what the final release would be constructed. I know of a way that you can use SP1 if you use the evil corporate edition with the cdkey above. But i only know that information for entertaintment purposes only and i do not condone or encourage it.

--------------------------------------------------
Don't make me use uppercase...
 

Kzzrn

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"anybody uses Windows XP Professional corp edition that uses the key "FCKGW-RHQQ2-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" ??"

Lol, not that I know of. :)

Knowledge is the key to understanding
 

peter21

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Grassapa i have that CD key mind sharing that information with me? For entertainment purposes only.

The only thing i know...

is that i know nothing.
 

JPWRana

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yeah... share it with all of us... OFCOURSE!!! for educational, and entertainment purposes only!!!

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!
 

Oracle

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Am I glad to have stuck with Win2K or what!!! :smile:


<font color=red>If you feel like going to work today, just lie down and it'll go away.</font color=red>
 
I think i have a similar key like that. I'm still not using SP1 until someone can guantee me that SP1 will A) work B) not force me to reregister. Which i think B is likely.



<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>
 

Oracle

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Linux: Maybe when it's as easy to use as Win2K and it has wide support for games and applications presently running under Windows.
MAC: Not an option. Not even in my dreams.
Maybe I'll just revert back to DOS :smile:


<font color=red>If you feel like going to work today, just lie down and it'll go away.</font color=red>
 

buddry

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Dude, if you are complaining, chances are you weren't buying microsoft products in the first place. If you did buy it, then it shouldn't bother you.

<font color=blue>Unofficial Forum Cop</font color=blue>
 

Cooj

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That FCKGW-RHQQ2 etc etc key was the first useable rls of Windows XP, it's a corporate key.

Anyways, no matter what Microsoft does someone is going to crack SP1 and whatever else they throw out there so who cares. And if you're really really worried, simple answer is DON'T AUTO UPDATE. Then they can't do anything.

Happy XPing =)


Cooj

<i> I am ignorant no more! </i> :tongue:
 

Matisaro

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1. Run regedit and go to:
HKey_Local_MachineSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsNTCurrent VersionWPAEvents, on the
right double click on "oobetimer" and change at least one digit of this
value to deactivate windows.

2. Choose run from start menu and type in this command:
%systemroot%/system32/oobe/msoobe.exe /a to get the activation screen and go
to the second option which is activate by phone.

3. In the new screen choose the option to change product key, and type in
the new product key (Corporate one only).

4. Close that window, reboot your system and enter the command in step 2 for
the second time to verify your activation , you should see "windows is
already activated".



for educational purposes only of course, and you still need to get a keygen to make a replacement keyy.



:wink: The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark :wink:
 

slvr_phoenix

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xxsk8er101xx, let me get this straight. You want us to <b>boycott</b> Micro<font color=green>$</font color=green>oft for the pure and simple reason that they're actually trying to keep people from pirating the software that it cost them a lot of time, hard work, and <font color=green>$$$$</font color=green> to develop?

Ye gods! What is the world coming to when people actually expect to be paid for the work that they do?! Why, I <b>demand</b> that we boycott paychecks this very instant. How dare people expect to be paid for the work they've done!!!

xxsk8er101xx, if anyone <i>is</i> pirating software and their pirated copy is suddenly rendered useless, then they deserve <i>exactly</i> what they got.

Actually, technically they deserve worse, including (but not limited to) fines and/or jail time. It <i>is</i> stealing after all.

So really, having their illegal copy of the software made useless is actually being very kind.

While I completely disagree with a <b>lot</b> of Micro<font color=green>$</font color=green>soft's views, business practices, and software, I do at least have to admit that for all of the manhours that they put into various versions of Windows and Office and whatnot, they <i>do</i> deserve money for that. If they want to ensure that they get the money they deserve, then I'm all for that.

And meanwhile, I'll continue to use open-source software whenever I don't feel like paying M<font color=green>$</font color=green>.

<pre><A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/186.htm" target="_new"><font color=red>It's all relative...</font color=red></A></pre><p>
 

Matisaro

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xxsk8er101xx, let me get this straight. You want us to boycott Micro$oft for the pure and simple reason that they're actually trying to keep people from pirating the software that it cost them a lot of time, hard work, and $$$$ to develop?

Ye gods! What is the world coming to when people actually expect to be paid for the work that they do?! Why, I demand that we boycott paychecks this very instant. How dare people expect to be paid for the work they've done!!!

I totally agree, the enitire premise of this thread is comical to the extreme, my initial reply was going to be "no, I like windows xp" but I didnt feel like being contrary this morning.

:wink: The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark :wink:
 

AndrewT

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Win98SE, perfect for everything average users need to do. After using XP I see nothing that would make me want to switch to it, did switch for a while (3rd time switched) but didn't like it at all.

For people who's main reason of going XP is because their basic use home computer can stay on for 3+ months, go get a penis enlargement surgery because you need one.

MS does it right, take an old setup (NT-2K) fancy it up and sell it again to people. The ones who must have something that just hit the store will bite and get it, and the sheep will follow. If you feel that you need that OS that bad then go buy it.

The company I work for still on Win95, a whole bunch of computers networked together. They all run the same custom software we need and nothing else, so even for us it would be dumb to upgrade OS just because (or even hardware).

Anyway, complain about those fixes after you got a legit copy of XP. Wait, then you wouldn't care because you got nothing to do with it.

p.s. my 98se doesn't crash, for fun I left it on and with normal daily use it was fine for a little over 1 week, then got low on resources. Since there is no legit reason for my box to be on 24/7/365, I got no problem with turning it off at night and on in morning (usable desktop in 25 seconds). Unless I'm running something and it's not done before I'm gone to sleep. It's running fine since I got it years ago, it used to die a lot at one time, but then found out that my (then) new motherboard's chipset gone fubar, did that even after 4-5 replacement motherboards (yeah VIA, gotta love it). So I just sold everything and got a P4 and no problems since.

jesus, what's with my long posts? sorry, wife sleeping and I'm bored. :smile:

<font color=red>Got a silent setup, now I can hear myself thinking.... great silence</font color=red>
 

slvr_phoenix

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I totally agree, the enitire premise of this thread is comical to the extreme, my initial reply was going to be "no, I like windows xp" but I didnt feel like being contrary this morning.
I wish I didn't feel like being contrary. :( Instead I'm all tense and ready to kill.

Our source code version control server (yay CVS!), which is housed in a <i>German</i> branch of our company due to a combination of inter-company politics and our local sysadmin fighting to embrace Linux, has been down since last night. We're at their mercy to fix it when it's convenient for them. It's kind of hard to write software though when you can't access the most recent code or upload your code changes for others to access...

Plus my venus fly trap is looking sicky. :( I think it's too cold.

And on top of that, it was someone's birthday today and they brought in a crap load of donuts. So I'm all hopped up on sugar! Mmm...sugar. Sugar! Sugar! Sugar!

Hey, you know when you type sugar that many times, it sure looks to be spelled wrong... Or maybe it's just me...

Oh yeah, and I'm still having Unreal Tournament flashbacks! I played it for the first time last night after buying a cheap copy at Wally-world. I stayed up far too late fragging bots and dominating through bloodshed. I only lost one 30-kill map, and that was the first one I played before I thought to adjust the brightness (I had just thought that specific map was dark...) and rearange the controls. Even then I only lost by two kills.

I know it's silly, but when you only run a Celeron 500, you find as much joy as possible in older software. ;)

So anywho, if I had a gun I'd be trigger happy! Probably a good thing that I don't have one as they are <i>way</i> too many stupid drivers in this world...

So when stupid people come along and post stupid things, I just can't seem to help myself from being contrary today. Oh well. At least in an hour I get to kill stuff during my lunch hour. Yay for Castlevania on GBA! Heh heh. Too bad I can't install games on my work PC...

Me shut up now. Me go eat more donuts.

<pre><A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/186.htm" target="_new"><font color=red>It's all relative...</font color=red></A></pre><p>
 

nja469

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Most of the changes in the SP1 activation process are postive actually, and won't affect any pirated copies as long as the user had used the keygen to make the install valid. Such as them now allowing a 3 day grace period for users to activate in case their laptop or desktop using XP dies and they need to install on a different machine temporarily. Granted, anyone using well known corp keys (there's more than the famous fckgw one) will simply get a message saying their version of XP uses an invalid key and to call your OEM provider or Microsoft. No big deal! Atleast it doesn't invalidate your installation and demand a new VALID key on the spot. Most of the patches SP1 fix are available from Windows update. Nothing too major in SP1 really, I've tried a few betas and recent so called "Release Candidates" (all on pirated XP copies), and frankly, you can forgo the upgrade if you don't want to bother making a valid key... your non-SP1 XP will run just as good w/o it. So what's the big deal? Once SP1 is gold MS said their beta focus will switch immediately to the next Windows, codename Longhorn.

"Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one"
 

AMD_Man

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I have some very strong feelings about pirating and I've made them clear <A HREF="http://www.hardforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=482332" target="_new">here</A>. Simply put, I hate pirating because it makes life harder for people who don't pirate like myself. That's not to say I've never tired pirated software. All my experience with pirated software is that it's unstable and it tends to be infected with a virus or trojan horse more times than not. I think what Microsoft is now doing is a good thing. I have a legal copy of WinXP and I'm not worried about a thing. I've had to reactivate WinXP a couple of times but the people at Microsoft are swift and considerate of my time and they give me a new activation code immediately.

Intelligence is not merely the wealth of knowledge but the sum of perception, wisdom, and knowledge.
 

zeno

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Software is developed for the dominant platform.. So games will still be for windows, causeing people to continue to use windows.. Catch22, but oh well.. The SP1 fix is fairly easy.. and If they dissable the corp key, then we'll all be out of luck for a whole 12 hours before it's cracked again.. Woe is the like of a comon warez monkey..

Say, what version of DOS is on this sparc thingie?