Your New Job From Microsoft

This only applies to manually downloading any files from two of MS' websites. Auto updates do not require validation.

What's the harm in asking for a valid product? Do we get irritated with police officers for asking for proof of insurance if we get pulled over, though the question if we have insurance or not doesn't matter because we were doing something illegal in the first place? Why continue to provide services to somene who isn't doing something legal? The only way to verify is to check. MS has every right to do this.

I still don't get it guys, A Magazine like yours should be pro-active and explaining instead why it's important to get updates. If someone was selling illegal copies of you Magazine will you call your subscribers and say " I have a job for you, you need to tell me if you have an illegal copy or are paying for it"

Carl>

I agree, the media takes opportunities such as this to shine a negative and dark light on MS. For some reason, checking for legality is bad and opposed to Happy-Apple-World. Don't get me wrong, I like using Linux, but for something like this, there's no reason to shun MS and imply, "By the way, Apple and Linux don't require you to verify your OS. Let's focus on Apple since they're trendy."

Your tolerance for stuff like this is amazing. o_O

Think, Linux. You'd be surprised how easy it partitions and installs along side any version of Windows. All that and still no BSOD, viruses, fragmented drives. XP will be the last OS I pay big bucks for.

I think it a shame the trouble end users have to go through to use a product. It's the same as subscribing to your magazine and finding that there are only 6 pages of data and the rest ads which I have to rip out and throw away.

Might as well give you a link in case you'd like to a very stable and free OS. Yes people, stable and free being used in the same sentence. And, guess what, your allowed to give your friends a copy....legally.
www.linuxiso.org
Try FedoraCore, Suse or Mandrake. Knoppix will run right off the cd, you don't have to install it.

This new anti-piracy check is going to have a number of hopefully unintended consequences. First, there are a large number of Windows users who just aren't physically going to be able to find their Windows CD-ROM. If it has been physically lost but the copy of Windows is otherwise legal, are these customers going to be forced to purchase and install a brand new copy of Windows in order to use Download Center and Windows Update? This is going to affect primarily home users.

The second and more critical issue is one of accessibility for users with disabilities, particularly the blind and visually impaired. What happens if you are unable to read the product key printed on the CD or on the sticker afixed to your computer? Does this mean that, as a blind user, I will soon be locked out of Download Center and Windows Update? My copies of Windows are all completely legal. Resist this attempt based on the need for accessibility!

Interesting that the "dreaded Windows validation process" for MS Anti-Spyware took about 10 seconds and an MS ActiveX control for me to validate. Hmm...yeah, that's way too long and complicated. Did I have to break out my CD or key? No.

Will Microsoft ever be content with how much money it has or is it constantly going to find ways to sue end-users who, although may have pirated software installed, help promote its OS? Without these pirates, MS would have had a hard time getting to where it is today without the help of these people beta testing their product and then recommending it to friends and family. They, in turn, buy pre-made systems from places like Dell or IBM because it's much cheaper to just buy the system pre-made than have the pirate build one for them with a pirated OS. MS needs the help of their pirated software! Look at the big picture people.

As a system builder and Microsoft partner, I am quite aware of the seamy underside of the computer business that feels they have to do anything to undercut the Dell's of the world. Pirated software is stealing. I don't like paying lots of money for a little disc and paper wrapping, but that's life. If you bought illegal software you should be outraged at who you bought it from. I receive over 100 emails a day asking me to buy illegal software. The volume doesn't make it right.

Robert>

Are you serious? I hope not. It's not an issue of money. If it was, they would have implemented a way better procedure around Win95. MS probably doesn't notice the loss of revenue from piracy, you're right. But, it still affects business because it's illegal!

It certainly doesn't help companies by having pirated copies of their software floating around, and your illustration of recommendations holds no ground. Think about it - if I had a pirated copy of expensive graphic editing software, and I show it to my friend, do you think my friend will want to go out and buy it or use the same CD I have? Tough choice...

If MS thought that piracy would help their business, you'd see WinXPSP2.iso files on their sites free for download. Obviously, that's not the case. They've developed the software and patented it (morally or not, that's your opinion). They have every right to ensure people are legally obtaining and using it because they own it.

Microsoft gave us an easy to use interface that no other OS has given us. My parents wouldn't be able to run all the little tricky commands of Linux and Win XP is the best exemple of simplicity for the end-user. At the end, it is always your choice to decide to use Windows or not. If you are not happy with what you get, stop complaining and try something else, and if you are so good, lauch your own. My computer runs just fine, and all my friends computers run just fine, all on XP... Is it just happening to us?? If one day, someone can give me a suite of software allowing me to do all what XP enables me, email me.

And I forgot, I spend about 30 hours a week with XP, and I never had a virus... the dumb one is always the one holding the mouse!!!

Phil (computer eng.)

what about us who work on standalone machines and do not have a connection to the internet? how do we activate?

Drown the pirates by flooding the market with low, low prices of original ones. . .

The people who complain about a simple activation need to realize that there are far worse things in life to get you nickers in a bunch about. If I owned it, I wouldn't like it being stolen from me. Lets be a little more concerned about some real problems in the world and a little less emotional about how "painfully" inconvienienced you might be over a few seconds of time. Be thankful you don't live in Banda Aceh.

It is obvious and takes no rocket scientist to figure out who is running on a boot leg copy of Windows. If your copy of Windows is not a boot leg, why are you complaining? And if you are not running Windows, why are you still complaining? Matter of fact, to those that don't run Win. You shouldn't even be commenting on the situation because it is something that you are not using, unless you are a hypocrite and you are not telling the whole story.

Anyone who is legit will tell you right of the hat. What MS is doing, is a good thing and I agree with them. Time to put an end to all this pirating. It hurts business and the economy.

It is obvious and takes no rocket scientist to figure out who is running on a boot leg copy of Windows. If your copy of Windows is not a boot leg, why are you complaining? And if you are not running Windows, why are you still complaining? Matter of fact, to those that don't run Win. You shouldn't even be commenting on the situation because it is something that you are not using, unless you are a hypocrite and you are not telling the whole story.

Anyone who is legit will tell you right of the hat. What MS is doing, is a good thing and I agree with them. Time to put an end to all this pirating. It hurts business and the economy.

Ps: To those that think that the Auto Updates will download all patches on unvalidated systems, think again. MS wouldn't be going to all the trouble of validating and still provide what you need with no problem. Think of it like this:
Validated = Auto Updates
Unvalidated = No Auto Updates

As everyone else said, it doesn't take much effort to validate your system, so please stop complaining.

Also, for those who recommend Linux, I tried Linux, as a matter of fact, I had it on my computer up until last night. Linux is a very nice operating system IF YOU HAVE TIME TO TWEAK. I tried Fedora Core 3, and I loved the operating system, but when I needed to make any changes, for example, connected to my wireless network, I had to search the web, find drivers, tweak, compile... and quite frankly, I don't have the time for that. I have other important things to worry about and spend time on then getting my computer to do what I want it to do. Why should I spend so much time tweaking, when windows can do it for me in a few seconds.

Again, I really like Linux, and I would use it as my main operating system, if I didn't have the fiddle around with it so much to get it to work. I also support open source software. But it still has some ways to go.

I think MS has the right to do this. Businesses should also have the right to garnish their worker's pay for wasted bandwidth when workers surf non-business related websites. This is in itself a form of piracy.

The solution to this is simple, switch to Mac. Get away for the Microsoft conglomerate. I am an IT professional and unfortunately I work with 2000, XP, 2000 server, 2003 server, Linux, Novell, and a few others. But none of them are even close my Mac's caliber. It is definately worth the investment.

Chris P>

Do you think Apple doesn't have it's share of piracy?

http://www.apple-x.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=773&mode=thread&order=1&thold=0

Besides that, how does that relate back to the piracy issue? This has nothing to do with opinions on an OS' "caliber." This is about a software company addressing piracy. What would Apple fans do if Apple decided to try the same thing? They'd rejoice and call it a godsend strictly because it's not MS. As I said before, this is no reason to rag on MS for trying to protect their legality.

As a legitimate purchaser of a number of Retail copies of WinXP, I thought people were making a mountain out of a mole hill when complaining about the activation process. However, I then got the dreaded message indicating that my online activation did not work and I had to call. I was put on hold three times as I went through the process. I asked the person if there was a number I could call or an e-mail I could send my concerns to and found that nothing existed, although I could add my suggestions to the Wish list. There are better ways of ensuring legitimate users are using MS software without requiring them to pull out their Office CD whenever doing an update.

I noticed no comments addressing my concerns about accessibility. I hope that it was just an oversight and not a sign of the general attitude in the technology community. Sadly, I think it is some of both... I have personally lost so many great opportunities strictly due to inaccessible technology!

The WGA process is currently inaccessible. There are two methods. The default method asks for the product key. The alternative method asks some questions about where you obtained your computer and operating system, but then presents an inaccessible graphical security verification process!
Check out http://www.blindaccessjournal.com for some sharp coverage of this issue from an accessibility standpoint.

Darrell>

The current authorization method for voluntary validation doesn't require Windows users to pull out their CD and read the label. I highly doubt they are going to change this and require users to input each single character of their CD key when this takes effect. All it currently requires is for people to download an MS Active X control and then it analyzes your key for you.

I'm not too familiar with how people with accesibility needs use computers, but there are quite a few apps out there which allow users to display their Windows keys. Also, this only applies to manually downloading items from physically going to 2 of MS' websites. Auto Updates are just fine. Upon the first activation of Windows, as long as you have an internet connection, you don't even need to worry about reading the key.

Michael Douglas (movie, Wallstreet): "Greed is good!" Well, it probably depends on one's point of view. I can understand having to go through a thorough scrutiney to get on a plane, but having to "re-activate" my OS just because I have several backup hard drives with the OS on them that have saved me scads of time is either on the edge of paranoia or over-the-top greed. It's damn silly. This new verification process is silly, too.

since were talking about piracy, i think there should be some rules changed. for example, why should a home user such as i who merely wants photoshop for personal use, have to pay such an insane amount? im not making a profit from their program, but just want to mess around with a family photo from time to time. I can understand the argument that someone might choose to do their photo editing themselves, but why couldnt we just get a reduced price, say around $60 or something?

back to the original subject *sorry to get so off track* I think that M$ was talking about releasing a free, watered down version of xp, am i correct? if so, i dont see any problem with them requiring extra authentications to make sure the standard home user is legitimately using their software. bottom line, like it or leave it.

I have a legitimate copy of XP. When I typed the authorization number stamped (on the back of the PC) it came up with a no go. However microsoft gave me a goaround by letting them know which store I bought the pc from and that was enough for them. Regardless, Banda Aech or not it was a hassle. Thats not counting all the other free MS customer service we provide for family and friends who get stuck with XP issues.

This is crap. I bought a legitimate laptop from a major vendor and Microsoft is now telling me it is pirated. What borsht. It is more likely that their code is falwed and does not know what is pirated and what is not. Now I have to put up with an extra 10 minutes of boot time while it goes through some more crap and nags me. So much for buying legit copies. I have the COA with mine! I am still nagged. They want me to buy another one.

On starting my computer one message will be apply.

1) Your windows is not genuine..

what can i do??

I already let MS know what I thought of WGA when it first gave me the bogus "can't read your product key" message in Windows Update and then after following their instructions the thing tells me It's not legit and activates the WGA crap. Funny, must be good pirates to fake the hologrammed CD, COA and the freakin box it came in! MS ignored me after multiple contact attempts. What I find amazing is the number of people who just automatically assume that anyone who had a problem with WGA is automatically a software pirate. Talk about brainwashing of course I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering how many people believe the crap that's happening in DC is a good thing...