MS releases new WGA update. Continues to ruin user's experience

[Onoskelis]

http://blogs.msdn.com/wga/archive/2009/02/24/update-to-windows-vista-activation-exploit-detection-begins-today.aspx

Oh Microsoft. Instead of encouraging their customers to purchase a valid license, Microsoft continues to alienate them. Thank god for Ubuntu.

[Grant A.]

It's their right to try and keep piracy of their products down, and I applaud them for not taking strict DRM measures into effect. Anyways here's a simple way to not get annoyed by WGA: Obey the law and actually buy it. The Microsoft devs, as evil as people may think they are, are people trying to make an honest living. If you pirate something, you only make industries force out stricter DRM. If no one had ever pirated music, DRM music would have never been a problem to begin with, for instance.

I would much rather prefer to pay the developers for their hard work rather than steal from them.

[tom66]

Problems include with this system, even if you buy a legitimate copy, are that you can be falsely flagged. It happened to my Dell laptop when I had factory-installed Windows XP. It is better not to block/restrict or annoy the user from/when using the computer (as this will only alienate them and make them dislike Windows), but instead market the benefits of purchasing a license (like being able to get support, or feature-adding updates.)

[Skripka]

It's their right to try and keep piracy of their products down, and I applaud them for not taking strict DRM measures into effect. Anyways here's a simple way to not get annoyed by WGA: Obey the law and actually buy it. The Microsoft devs, as evil as people may think they are, are people trying to make an honest living. If you pirate something, you only make industries force out stricter DRM. If no one had ever pirated music, DRM music would have never been a problem to begin with, for instance.

I would much rather prefer to pay the developers for their hard work rather than steal from them.

Regardless of the prior thread. Microsoft has the right to protect their product from piracy. I have to agree on this one, if you don't want to get caught by this-just buy a legit version of Windows. It is THAT easy.

[Grant A.]

Regardless of the prior thread. Microsoft has the right to protect their product from piracy. I have to agree on this one, if you don't want to get caught by this-just buy a legit version of Windows. It is THAT easy.

Exactly, that's what the Intellectual Property and Copyright systems are for, to allow inventors to protect their creations. Unfortunately, the patent system itself has turned into a "who has the most patents" scare-off.

[Sealbhach]

So to "repair" Windows you have to send some money to Microsoft. I hate all that double-speak they use.

Like when they say they're "excited" about market challenges what they really mean is "paranoid".


.

[Skripka]

Exactly, that's what the Intellectual Property and Copyright systems are for, to allow inventors to protect their creations. Unfortunately, the patent system itself has turned into a "who has the most patents" scare-off.


The patent system is a joke, in the US. Regardless of patents: You use pirated software-you automatically lose any right to byotch about said software being locked down by the vendor via DRM. It is the equivalent of stealing a car and being pissed and wanting to pursue litigation against the owner-when the car runs out of gas a mile down the road.

If you need an OS-try Linux...it is a sad thing when Linux can be had for free...and folks insist on pirating Microsoft Windows-when most of the time whatever they want to do on Win can be done on Linux, most of the time.


I will say though, DRM pisses me off. All such DRM schemes do is make life more difficult for legit users, the majority of the time. Anyone who is going to hack/unlock windows is going to-no matter what you do....by forcing 25 digit activation codes, computercodes, authentication servers, etc on people-Microsoft and other software giants only annoys legit end users...and drive up development costs, and thereby costs to the end-user-to create such DRM.

[swoll1980]

If I was allowed to, I would shoot someone in the face for stealing from me. I sure as hell wouldn't politely ask them to buy it. They have every right to protect themselves from thieves.

[Dekkon]

Grant has a valid point.

Some people have a financial ability they are required to pay, Open-Source and creating free software doesn't exactly pay that financial ability that everyone has to abide by. It's there software, if piracy didn't happen, they have no excuse for DRM or these "annoyances" from the start.

[Toffeeapple]

thinkpol at work here! your opinion is not concurrent with the acceptable norm.. you have been removed.

[Methuselah]

No they have to go through hoops to invent and implement DRM because things that are now legally defined as property do not behave like property by default. NVidia does have to worry about me buying a Geforce and having as many as I'd ever need. Whose fault is it that software does not behave like property or that the transient strains of music do not behave like property? In Microsoft's/RIAA's way of doing business they have to force them to behave that way. The trouble and effort to enforce these unnatural rules is inevitable and deserved.

[kidux]

Exactly, that's what the Intellectual Property and Copyright systems are for, to allow inventors to protect their creations. Unfortunately, the patent system itself has turned into a "who has the most patents" scare-off.
You're missing the point, I'm afraid. This does nothing to prevent piracy. If a user has pirated the software and hacked it, odds are they are going to be able to work around any and all DRM/WGA thrown at them. The only people this affects ARE the honest ones who bought the software in the first place when some malware messes up their registry keys and the WGA sees it as a hack (happened to me at work).

Instead, MS needs to change their business models as a whole to keep up with the new millenium.

[Skripka]

You're missing the point, I'm afraid. This does nothing to prevent piracy. If a user has pirated the software and hacked it, odds are they are going to be able to work around any and all DRM/WGA thrown at them. The only people this affects ARE the honest ones who bought the software in the first place when some malware messes up their registry keys and the WGA sees it as a hack (happened to me at work).

Instead, MS needs to change their business models as a whole to keep up with the new millenium.

The people they are going after with this aren't the hackers themselves--they are going after the casual bittorrent surfer who wants to install Win7Beta without the cutoffs...and grabs an ISO off PirateBay. THAT is the crowd they are aiming at, the "casual pirate", if you will, who every now and again does something illegal.

[Vince4Amy]

I'm all for stopping software pirates, but these WGA updates are annoying (System Resources + Using My Internet Connection). I purchased Windows and the activation at the start should be enough, not keep installing these updates.

I may be wrong but I've always thought DRM isn't Microsoft's fault but rather the authorities forcing them to include DRM.

[kelvin spratt]

Vince4Amy
you are exactly right.

[kidux]

The people they are going after with this aren't the hackers themselves--they are going after the casual bittorrent surfer who wants to install Win7Beta without the cutoffs...and grabs an ISO off PirateBay. THAT is the crowd they are aiming at, the "casual pirate", if you will, who every now and again does something illegal.

Regardless of what level of pirate they are going after with it, they aren't going to impact piracy in general because any software can be hacked, and the majority of the software is hacked by the programmers themselves. Forcing this kind of draconian regulations on end users alienates them further because they already spent upwards of $150 on the OS only to have to spend more money on technical support to fix a so called hack.

[Therion]

Oh, Windows Vista.

Well I'm sure this is really gonna **** off everyone who uses Vista.

And I mean ALL three or four of them.

[Dekkon]

No they have to go through hoops to invent and implement DRM because things that are now legally defined as property do not behave like property by default. NVidia does have to worry about me buying a Geforce and having as many as I'd ever need. Whose fault is it that software does not behave like property or that the transient strains of music do not behave like property? In Microsoft's/RIAA's way of doing business they have to force them to behave that way. The trouble and effort to enforce these unnatural rules is inevitable and deserved.

You must not be familiar with that device your typing on right now called the computer, which in fact is property. As with most property, it has a value, which someone had to have paid for. Correct. There is a great deal of time and frustration when developing software, time is money, and no one is going to waste there time developing if they can't abide by there financial ability.

Most open-source developers, develop on there free time, with a job and donations on the side. If developing software was there primary income, they could focus all there time developing software, which results in better software, more innovation, and happy users.

*Ends run on sentence*


Oh, Windows Vista.

Well I'm sure this is really gonna **** off everyone who uses Vista.

And I mean ALL three or four of them.

Your cool, I didn't realize bashing Microsoft was still the "in" thing. It's people like you who make the Linux Community look like crap, because we can't accept that people have there own opinion on what software they use.

[Skripka]

Regardless of what level of pirate they are going after with it, they aren't going to impact piracy in general because any software can be hacked, and the majority of the software is hacked by the programmers themselves. Forcing this kind of draconian regulations on end users alienates them further because they already spent upwards of $150 on the OS only to have to spend more money on technical support to fix a so called hack.

You'll note I posted something earlier to a similar effect ;)

I'm saying yes and no on the topic for various reasons.



We all know the RIAA/MPAA are suing the Pirate Bay, yea? Stop piracy, enabling piracy, blah, blah, blah.


My work took my to the island of Antigua a few years back-I was in St. John's (the capital).

I was wandering downtown there, and I walking in front of a police stations, uniformed police walking around, yes? Across the street (every day I was in town), a guy would drive his SUV down and park it in front of the Police HQ...He opens up the back door (all seats inside removed minus driver's seat)...and show his wares, 100s if not 1000s of openly pirated DVDs and CDs all neatly organized and stacked-cover jackets printed on laser paper-completely blatant. Cops didn't do a thing. That one guy on one street corner does more fiscal damage to the RIAA/MPAA yearly than all the "filesharers" they have sued thus far combined.

With so many monopolies where one company owns the standard application for a professional field-and charge through the NOSE for it...is it surprising that people fileshare such absurdly priced softwares? When their only other choices leave them unable to use all other commercial softwares-as they are written to only work with the monopolies?

I'm ranting...there was a point to all of that typing...but the author has forgotten it.

[Grant A.]

Oh, Windows Vista.

Well I'm sure this is really gonna **** off everyone who uses Vista.

And I mean ALL three or four of them.

Make that two or three of us, I'm not pissed off at all. ;)

[Skripka]

Make that two or three of us, I'm not pissed off at all. ;)

Make that one or two. My brother has been away from his Vista box for the last few weeks-and as such hasn't heard experienced any of this yet.

[Therion]

Your cool, I didn't realize bashing Microsoft was still the "in" thing. It's people like you who make the Linux Community look like crap, because we can't accept that people have there own opinion on what software they use.
Lighten up Francis.

I still run a Windows box at home from time to time.

[kidux]

You'll note I posted something earlier to a similar effect ;)

I'm saying yes and no on the topic for various reasons.



We all know the RIAA/MPAA are suing the Pirate Bay, yea? Stop piracy, enabling piracy, blah, blah, blah.


My work took my to the island of Antigua a few years back-I was in St. John's (the capital).

I was wandering downtown there, and I walking in front of a police stations, uniformed police walking around, yes? Across the street (every day I was in town), a guy would drive his SUV down and park it in front of the Police HQ...He opens up the back door (all seats inside removed minus driver's seat)...and show his wares, 100s if not 1000s of openly pirated DVDs and CDs all neatly organized and stacked-cover jackets printed on laser paper-completely blatant. Cops didn't do a thing. That one guy on one street corner does more fiscal damage to the RIAA/MPAA yearly than all the "filesharers" they have sued thus far combined.

With so many monopolies where one company owns the standard application for a professional field-and charge through the NOSE for it...is it surprising that people fileshare such absurdly priced softwares? When their only other choices leave them unable to use all other commercial softwares-as they are written to only work with the monopolies?

I'm ranting...there was a point to all of that typing...but the author has forgotten it.
Naw, I saw it earlier. I think changing the root of the problem rather than trying to use an iron fist is a better solution. In the end, restrictive and closed minded practices hurt legit users and the company itself rather than those targeted. Look at Metallica, they lost droves of fans after they started sueing everyone.

[Skripka]

Naw, I saw it earlier. I think changing the root of the problem rather than trying to use an iron fist is a better solution. In the end, restrictive and closed minded practices hurt legit users and the company itself rather than those targeted. Look at Metallica, they lost droves of fans after they started sueing everyone.

Look at Adobe or Autodesk, are their obnoxious practices DRM hurting themselves? People may grudginly keep buying their products at high prices-but they are still buying them.

Metallica didn't have a monopoly on music.

[Dekkon]

Lighten up Francis.

I still run a Windows box at home from time to time.

Sorry, my eSarcastic meter is broken and can't interpret sarcasm in text correctly. ;)

lol.

[sydbat]

You'll note I posted something earlier to a similar effect ;)

I'm saying yes and no on the topic for various reasons.



We all know the RIAA/MPAA are suing the Pirate Bay, yea? Stop piracy, enabling piracy, blah, blah, blah.


My work took my to the island of Antigua a few years back-I was in St. John's (the capital).

I was wandering downtown there, and I walking in front of a police stations, uniformed police walking around, yes? Across the street (every day I was in town), a guy would drive his SUV down and park it in front of the Police HQ...He opens up the back door (all seats inside removed minus driver's seat)...and show his wares, 100s if not 1000s of openly pirated DVDs and CDs all neatly organized and stacked-cover jackets printed on laser paper-completely blatant. Cops didn't do a thing. That one guy on one street corner does more fiscal damage to the RIAA/MPAA yearly than all the "filesharers" they have sued thus far combined.

With so many monopolies where one company owns the standard application for a professional field-and charge through the NOSE for it...is it surprising that people fileshare such absurdly priced softwares? When their only other choices leave them unable to use all other commercial softwares-as they are written to only work with the monopolies?

I'm ranting...there was a point to all of that typing...but the author has forgotten it.You are partially correct. People in other countries are selling "pirated" whatever, and the US based companies are retaliating with DRM, etc, etc aimed at legitimate users. But you must understand these other countries have completely different laws than the US...meaning what may be illegal in the US is often not illegal in the majority of countries (eg. making copies of DVD's or CD's is just fine most places).

However, depending on if/what international treaties are signed (and adhered to) by each of the ~200 countries on Earth, there might be something the US companies can do, in a legal sense.

Also, having read through all the posts so far, and the original article linked in the OP, I have to say that many responders have completely missed the point. The point is not "do not pirate software!!"...the point is that Microsoft, while trying to reduce piracy, is making legitimate owners of software pay the price.

By this I mean, for example, I have a copy of Vista (all legit-like) and buy a game. I install that game. Somehow the game CD gets damaged and I can no longer play the game because it requires the CD. I find (or engineer) a crack for 'no-cd' so I can continue playing the game. Vista sends me love messages about it, and possibly something worse (maybe it will brick my box...who really knows how far this will go). I still have a bought and paid for OS and game, yet I am fubared because the game CD is toast...and the WGA thinks I am a pirate.

[kidux]

Look at Adobe or Autodesk, are their obnoxious practices DRM hurting themselves? People may grudginly keep buying their products at high prices-but they are still buying them.

Metallica didn't have a monopoly on music.
That's a good point.

I think a real problem for these companies is the fact that it becomes a catch-22 for them because they either charge for closed source and suffer the piracy, or the hope for donations from open source releases. Not many of us actually donate to developes whose software we find really useful, and that's a sad fact of humanity in general.

Still a better business model is needed for the future, and more honest users as well. It's going to take collaberating from both sides of the pocket book to truly see improvement.

[Skripka]

You are partially correct. People in other countries are selling "pirated" whatever, and the US based companies are retaliating with DRM, etc, etc aimed at legitimate users. But you must understand these other countries have completely different laws than the US...meaning what may be illegal in the US is often not illegal in the majority of countries (eg. making copies of DVD's or CD's is just fine most places).

However, depending on if/what international treaties are signed (and adhered to) by each of the ~200 countries on Earth, there might be something the US companies can do, in a legal sense.

Also, having read through all the posts so far, and the original article linked in the OP, I have to say that many responders have completely missed the point. The point is not "do not pirate software!!"...the point is that Microsoft, while trying to reduce piracy, is making legitimate owners of software pay the price.

By this I mean, for example, I have a copy of Vista (all legit-like) and buy a game. I install that game. Somehow the game CD gets damaged and I can no longer play the game because it requires the CD. I find (or engineer) a crack for 'no-cd' so I can continue playing the game. Vista sends me love messages about it, and possibly something worse (maybe it will brick my box...who really knows how far this will go). I still have a bought and paid for OS and game, yet I am fubared because the game CD is toast...and the WGA thinks I am a pirate.

Fair enough, easy-do NOT install this update, then ;)

[sydbat]

Fair enough, easy-do NOT install this update, then ;)But what if that breaks the Windows install? Or does not allow you to continue updating other stuff essential to the OS?

[kidux]

Also, having read through all the posts so far, and the original article linked in the OP, I have to say that many responders have completely missed the point. The point is not "do not pirate software!!"...the point is that Microsoft, while trying to reduce piracy, is making legitimate owners of software pay the price.

By this I mean, for example, I have a copy of Vista (all legit-like) and buy a game. I install that game. Somehow the game CD gets damaged and I can no longer play the game because it requires the CD. I find (or engineer) a crack for 'no-cd' so I can continue playing the game. Vista sends me love messages about it, and possibly something worse (maybe it will brick my box...who really knows how far this will go). I still have a bought and paid for OS and game, yet I am fubared because the game CD is toast...and the WGA thinks I am a pirate.
That's what I was driving at, except in my case is was malware that messed with the registry and caused windows itself to do some funky things, which was then seen as being hacked, compounding the problems because the tech support (from India) almost would not help because they thought I had pirated the software.

[Skripka]

But what if that breaks the Windows install? Or does not allow you to continue updating other stuff essential to the OS?

Isn't Microsoft is a byotch like that?

[darthlaidher]

But what if that breaks the Windows install? Or does not allow you to continue updating other stuff essential to the OS?

if you have vista installed before this update and got sp1 then you dont need many updates except for critical updates, even then microsoft updates are trash. you could choose not to install any microsoft updates and be fine, so long as u practice good computing.

[kidux]

But what if that breaks the Windows install? Or does not allow you to continue updating other stuff essential to the OS?
Another good point. At some point, they are going to become so paranoid that Windows will actually require an internet connection to work so they can monitor "their" system and make sure nothing illegal is being done.

[darthlaidher]

i see a legit reason to pirate windows, ok say you buy a brand new pc with windows vista that costs 900 bucks for example, and well you dont get a recovery cd because you have to pay extra for it. but you paid for the computer and paid microsoft for windows. now if your computer messes up what are you suppose to do?

[kidux]

i see a legit reason to pirate windows, ok say you buy a brand new pc with windows vista that costs 900 bucks for example, and well you dont get a recovery cd because you have to pay extra for it. but you paid for the computer and paid microsoft for windows. now if your computer messes up what are you suppose to do?
Are you sure about the recovery CD being extra?

In any case, the way it SHOULD work is you call the PC manufacturer to get a recovery CD or MS to get a copy of the OS since you already own a license.

The way it DOES work is you pay for another license because the one that came with the machine was a single seat and cannot be transferred. :p

[darthlaidher]

Are you sure about the recovery CD being extra?

In any case, the way it SHOULD work is you call the PC manufacturer to get a recovery CD or MS to get a copy of the OS since you already own a license.

The way it DOES work is you pay for another license because the one that came with the machine was a single seat and cannot be transferred. :p

yes im sure about the recovery cd, go look at hp,dell, gateway or whatever and look at the options and one of them will be choosing a recovery cd for x amount of money,loaded with everything that it came with the computer orginally (bloatware)

and the recovery cd cannot be transfered from pc to pc except for the same model of pc.

[cmat]

Just buy a valid licence. Plain and simple. False positives are rare and even when the happen MS will fix it if you have a valid licence. The only people that I see having trouble with this are pirates.

[jacz]

i see a legit reason to pirate windows, ok say you buy a brand new pc with windows vista that costs 900 bucks for example, and well you dont get a recovery cd because you have to pay extra for it. but you paid for the computer and paid microsoft for windows. now if your computer messes up what are you suppose to do?

Even if you did burn the recovery media there's no guarantee they would work, in my experience it's less than 50% chance of a successful burn

Best to download a bootable untouched version of your vista after noting down your genuin serial and product key

Best yet is to use free ghosting software to make a bootable cd

[darthlaidher]

i got to give hp some credit though if you dont want to buy a recovery cd they allow you to make your own recovery cd one time only. i dont know about dell and the rest though.

[Grant A.]

i got to give hp some credit though if you dont want to buy a recovery cd they allow you to make your own recovery cd one time only. i dont know about dell and the rest though.

HP actually includes a recovery partition now that ghosts a factory image back to your disk in the event of failure. It's for this reason that I install *nix operating systems on my 1TB HDD, rather than my 325GB one.

[darthlaidher]

HP actually includes a recovery partition now that ghosts a factory image back to your disk in the event of failure. It's for this reason that I install *nix operating systems on my 1TB HDD, rather than my 325GB one.

i know mine has well had that but once you creat a recovery dvd the recovery partition is no good, its a one time use.

[Polygon]

i know mine has well had that but once you creat a recovery dvd the recovery partition is no good, its a one time use.

but then you have the DVD's, and once you reinstall from the DVD's it creates another recovery partition again.

[darthlaidher]

but then you have the DVD's, and once you reinstall from the DVD's it creates another recovery partition again.

no it doesnt

[Polygon]

as a owner of a compaq laptop that DOES have a reinstall partition, i created the restore dvds, wiped the entire hard drive to try to install linux, and then restored windows vista with teh restore cds, and i found that the restore partition was back and i can make another restore dvd set.

[phrostbyte]

Software piracy hurts open source adoption.

Excessive DRM in proprietary software help open source adoption.

As a fan of open source, I have to say go Microsoft! Don't forget to make WGA really annoying and have plenty of false positives.

:guitar:

[whoop]

This is good news (don't mean to **** people off). I think piracy is keeping windows user base higher than it should be.

[darthlaidher]

as a owner of a compaq laptop that DOES have a reinstall partition, i created the restore dvds, wiped the entire hard drive to try to install linux, and then restored windows vista with teh restore cds, and i found that the restore partition was back and i can make another restore dvd set.

as a owner of a HP desktop that DID have a recovery partition it is no longer useful after i made the dvds

my friend also has a HP desktop and his recovery partition is no longer useful.

[kidux]

Just buy a valid licence. Plain and simple. False positives are rare and even when the happen MS will fix it if you have a valid licence. The only people that I see having trouble with this are pirates.
It's not that simple. False positives aren't that rare, much like anti-virus' producing falses. And malware can screw up dll files very easily, causing it to look like it's hacked to WGA.

As far as buying a valid license, that's not the issue, which is what happens after you have your valid license. MS tech support is not free, you have to pay for it.

After all that, you only have so many times you can re-install that copy of Windows. I had a co-worker who had to re-install 3 times due to malware hosing his machine, and on the 3rd time it wouldn't let him install anymore, and this is on the same machine. It came up with a number that said he had to call for a new license, after which I was able to migrate him to Ubuntu and he hasn't had an issue since. Granted, if he fdisk'd it first to format the drive prior to trying to re-install it probably wouldn't have been an issue, but that's besides the point.

[Bölvaður]

Thank god for Ubuntu.

Im sorry to say that hinting a deity is the reason Ubuntu is here but not Mark Shuttleworth is very wrong. I guess you are partly correct though, Linus Torvalds should at least get portion of the thanks.

:lolflag:

[Polygon]

as a owner of a HP desktop that DID have a recovery partition it is no longer useful after i made the dvds

my friend also has a HP desktop and his recovery partition is no longer useful.

you have to reinstall windows from the restore cd to have the recovery partition work again.

[SunnyRabbiera]

This is just going to get more hackers and crackers at their door...
Arr :D

[darthlaidher]

you have to reinstall windows from the restore cd to have the recovery partition work again.

i did, but when i pressed f5 or which key it is i cant remember right now it did nothing.

[Sealbhach]

As a fan of open source, I have to say go Microsoft! Don't forget to make WGA really annoying and have plenty of false positives.

:guitar:

Exactly my thoughts when I read about this. Make it REALLY irritating. Another point someone made, piracy is falsely inflating Microsoft's market share.


.

[3rdalbum]

I had a co-worker who had to re-install 3 times due to malware hosing his machine, and on the 3rd time it wouldn't let him install anymore, and this is on the same machine. It came up with a number that said he had to call for a new license, after which I was able to migrate him to Ubuntu and he hasn't had an issue since.

It's good that you got him to use Ubuntu, but seriously there's nothing scary about the Microsoft activation hotline. I called it once because a computer at work decided that the serial number was already in use on another computer after the IT support department did a restore.

I was asked "Are you already using the product key for a copy of Windows installed on another computer" and "Would you know what caused Windows to become deactivated", after which I was given a set of numbers to type into the Windows Activation program that would activate the operating system again.

It was relatively quick and easy, and it was even a free call. If it pushes more people to Ubuntu permanently that's great, but if you're already using Ubuntu or if the person isn't an Ubuntu-switching candidate, you can just give the number a call and get your Windows reactivated without fuss.

[3rdalbum]

Look at Adobe or Autodesk, are their obnoxious practices DRM hurting themselves? People may grudginly keep buying their products at high prices-but they are still buying them.


Adobe actually license Photoshop to be run simultaneously on two computers. It's a little-known fact. I often used to think I was a pirate for using my father's workplace's copy of Photoshop on my PC, but actually it was completely legal!

[insane_alien]

i've been burned three times by WGA before (all false positives) the only illegitimate copy of windows i have is a copy of windows 1.01 which i don't think they'll mind too much :P

so, i'm really not a fan of it. until they can completely eliminate the false positives i think they should just keep it to themselves, no way am i shelling out another £100 for something I ALREADY OWN.

[Skripka]

Adobe actually license Photoshop to be run simultaneously on two computers. It's a little-known fact. I often used to think I was a pirate for using my father's workplace's copy of Photoshop on my PC, but actually it was completely legal!

It depends on the specific license terms. The student licensed version (very $$$$$ cheap) of Design Premium CS3 that I own courtesy of my graduate school is only allowed on 1 machine at a time.

[Polygon]

i did, but when i pressed f5 or which key it is i cant remember right now it did nothing.

for me i had to go to start > programs > (and somewhere in the program list) was 'create recovery cds....'

and then you click that and it should let you create the recovery cds again.

even if not, just copy and reburn the recovery dvds or ask HP for some.

[darthlaidher]

for me i had to go to start > programs > (and somewhere in the program list) was 'create recovery cds....'

and then you click that and it should let you create the recovery cds again.

even if not, just copy and reburn the recovery dvds or ask HP for some.

well this artical seems to agree with me that you can only make one copy of the disc's
http://www.pctechbytes.com/hp-recovery-cd.htm

[kidux]

It's good that you got him to use Ubuntu, but seriously there's nothing scary about the Microsoft activation hotline. I called it once because a computer at work decided that the serial number was already in use on another computer after the IT support department did a restore.

I was asked "Are you already using the product key for a copy of Windows installed on another computer" and "Would you know what caused Windows to become deactivated", after which I was given a set of numbers to type into the Windows Activation program that would activate the operating system again.

It was relatively quick and easy, and it was even a free call. If it pushes more people to Ubuntu permanently that's great, but if you're already using Ubuntu or if the person isn't an Ubuntu-switching candidate, you can just give the number a call and get your Windows reactivated without fuss.
Oh, I know, but he was just fed up and pissed off that he had to go through the extra hoops to get his own software back up and running.

Course it you read EULA, you don't actually own windows, just the right to use it.

[geoken]

It's not that simple. False positives aren't that rare, much like anti-virus' producing falses. And malware can screw up dll files very easily, causing it to look like it's hacked to WGA.

As far as buying a valid license, that's not the issue, which is what happens after you have your valid license. MS tech support is not free, you have to pay for it.

After all that, you only have so many times you can re-install that copy of Windows. I had a co-worker who had to re-install 3 times due to malware hosing his machine, and on the 3rd time it wouldn't let him install anymore, and this is on the same machine. It came up with a number that said he had to call for a new license, after which I was able to migrate him to Ubuntu and he hasn't had an issue since. Granted, if he fdisk'd it first to format the drive prior to trying to re-install it probably wouldn't have been an issue, but that's besides the point.

Calling MS support for activation issues costs nothing. I had to call them when I upgraded the motherboard on my computer and the system signature changed. It was a 5-10 minute process. For anyone who thinks that's a big deal, it's about 1/5th of the time that it takes me to troubleshoot the average Ubuntu issue.

[BigSilly]

I have a lot to thank WGA for. If it wasn't for that, I would never have discovered Linux!

I agree they have every right to protect their software. But flagging up users as criminals is a very dangerous game to play with your end users. I had Windows XP pre-installed when I bought my last PC years ago, but after a while (on dial up) I got the WGA nagware which eventually over time completely locked me out of my PC. The company I bought the PC off was no longer around, and with no receipt or disc I didn't see the point arguing with them. I had to presume I did indeed have a dodgy copy installed.

I managed to remove WGA manually so I could back up my files, but it was too late. My perception of Microsoft's ability to manipulate my computer without my knowledge was very worrying to me. My relationship with MS changed after that. A friend gave me some Linux discs, and that was me on the road away from Windows.

So hey, thanks WGA. :biggrin:

[kelvin spratt]

Why are so many people supporting Microsoft. this is the same company that once said
they did not mind XP being pirated as it stopped people using MAC/Linux. and then people defend them. ask your selves 1st where did the Genuine Microsoft key generator come from microsoft of course. who leaked vista sp2, windows7 to the piratebay before they were released Microsoft.

[PythonPower]

Doesn't look too bad to me. It just brings up a warning which is possibly even useful considering hacks often bring spyware too.

I'm a legitimate user of Vista anyway; I don't really care what others who hack lose as long as Microsoft doesn't irritate me!

[kidux]

I think my biggest issue with this is the fact that it is Big Brother. MS is watching what you are doing on your computer, and deciding that it's against their rules, and so tell you what they want done about it. If I shell out $150+ for software, I want and expect to have the right to change it as I see fit for my personal preference, plain and simple. In addition, I do not want nor expect to have a corporate piece of spyware running on my machine phoning home to tattle.

[sydbat]

I think my biggest issue with this is the fact that it is Big Brother. MS is watching what you are doing on your computer, and deciding that it's against their rules, and so tell you what they want done about it. If I shell out $150+ for software, I want and expect to have the right to change it as I see fit for my personal preference, plain and simple. In addition, I do not want nor expect to have a corporate piece of spyware running on my machine phoning home to tattle.Apple does it too...

[kidux]

Apple does it too...
Didn't know that. Haven't used apple since the Mac IIGS days in elementary school, lol. Just reinforces my desire to have Linux.