On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Tilly, Lawrence wrote: > I was not attempting to imply that the "evil corporation" is actually > collecting significant information from your machine.
They may be, or they may not. Because it is closed source, we have little way of knowing. We will have to wait until (note: not "if") someone reverse engineers the MSPA code and protocol, before we can say with any certainty. > It should be no concern with M$ if I choose to buy a new NIC, or if I > pick up a larger HD ... My guess is they actually don't care. What they *do* care about is that those changes might indicate you have copied the install to another PC. That would explain why the MAC address is so important in their scheme. Dell (for example) must ship a kabillion identical machines every month -- but the NIC hardware address makes them unique. > ... or, heaven forbid, I simply decide to make one computer a Linux box > and reinstall my paid for and licensed copy of XP on an entirely new > machine. Don't forget, with most "OEM" copies of MS products, that violates the EULA, and thus is illegal. > It's nearly as ignorant as when you buy a Dell, Compaq, etc. machine and > they do not come with actual installation discs but rather a "recovery" > cd of all your pre-installed software and OS. I have seen cases where > those will only work on the exact same size HD your machine shipped > with, or they force an entire re-format. It's not malice, just > stupidity. No, in this case, it is malice. Or rather, greed. That software is licensed for *that* *particular* *computer*. That one box, and that one box alone. The license is not valid on any other computer, no matter how carefully you have erased the original install. I have also heard it said that the EULA for the latest release of MS FrontPage forbids you from using FP to create or publish a web page criticizing Microsoft or its products. I have not substantiated that rumor at this time, so consider it suspect -- but it would fit with the trend we've been seeing from Redmond as of late. -- Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | The opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not | | necessarily represent the views or policy of any other person, entity or | | organization. All information is provided without warranty of any kind. | ***************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. *****************************************************************
