[SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Are you running a GENUINE copy of WINDOWS?

[Pete Stephenson]

In article <ct9r27$9rb$1 at news.spamcop.net>,
 "Joe Gill" <joegill at removethis@prodigy.net> wrote:

> "Microsoft in mid-2005 will put a piracy lock on two of its download 
> Web sites, requiring all Windows XP and Windows 2000 users to 
> validate their copy of Windows as genuine before downloading 
> software, the company says."

Amusingly enough, this will likely cause absolutely no trouble 
whatsoever for those inclined to pirate software.

Even if locally-applied cracks, keygenerators, or other utilities don't 
allow people to "verify" their copy of Windows at their site, there's 
plenty of sources out there to find genuine CD keys.

To test this, I went around my community college today and looked at the 
computer labs. Every single computer has it's "Windows XP Professional 
License Code" sticker attached to it. As the school uses a volume 
licensing plan, none of the computers hardware information (through the 
"Activation" that Microsoft does) would be in effect. It would be 
trivial indeed to write down the different codes, take them home, and 
now have a "genuine" copy of Windows on your PC.

Same goes for internet cafes, libraries, computer stores, etc.

> However, Validation will NOT be required for AUTOMATIC WINDOWS UPDATE

Considering that most people just let the software install itself 
automatically (except for corporations, who verify and test the software 
before pushing it to their users), I fail to see how this whole 
anti-piracy scheme would have even the slightest effect.

> Be careful to note...."In the United States alone, almost a quarter of all
> Windows users run an illegal copy. However, one problem the software maker
> faces is that many users don't know that their copy of Windows is illegal."
> So be careful not to say.. "Sure my copy is genuine "...without checking!!"

These are the people who would be affected by such measures, not the 
pirates.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a big fan of Microsoft. Windows is 
bloated, wildly overpriced, unstable, vulnerable, and generally totally 
unsuited as an operating system (though the GUI itself is not bad). 
Having people pirate Windows doesn't disturb me in the slightest -- 
Microsoft has enough money. They could start the process of justifying 
their enormous costs by actually innovating once in a while...

For the cost of XP Pro alone in the stores, I could buy a Mac Mini or 
build an entire Linux PC.

Ah, the joys of having a monopoly...

-- 
Pete Stephenson
HeyPete.com