Re: [newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
Sridhar, I'm beginning to worry that you are becoming a cybical young fellow! New Rigby word - cybical adj., from old Amerenglish: cynical: meaning to think ii. molecular brain changes as a result of (a) exposure to too many (unofficial) other ideas (b) Radiation from the new idiot boxes :-) No gumnit of mine would do *that*!! (nah, surely not...) interactive parts, if any). One major reason why the government wants to cut off analogue television is so the spectrum it used will revert back to them. They can then sell it to somebody else and make $billions. Cheers, John -- Cheers, John http://counter.li.org GO HERE IF YOU SUPPORT LINUX! Fablor is now Webhosting?? What on earth for?? Info here: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (it's only an Autoresponder) :-)
Re: [newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
LOL! I'll try my _very_ best to take that as a compliment! :-) On Wed, 25 Jul 2001 16:40, John Rigby wrote: Sridhar, I'm beginning to worry that you are becoming a cybical young fellow! New Rigby word - cybical adj., from old Amerenglish: cynical: meaning to think ii. molecular brain changes as a result of (a) exposure to too many (unofficial) other ideas (b) Radiation from the new idiot boxes :-) No gumnit of mine would do *that*!! (nah, surely not...) interactive parts, if any). One major reason why the government wants to cut off analogue television is so the spectrum it used will revert back to them. They can then sell it to somebody else and make $billions. Cheers, John -- Sridhar Dhanapalan. There are two major products that come from Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence. -- Jeremy S. Anderson
[newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
,--- Forwarded message (begin) Windows XP Activation Changes We spoke with Microsoft about how it is addressing user concerns over XP's inflexibility toward hardware upgrades. Microsoft has revealed that it plans to change its antipiracy measures in Windows XP to respond to the beta testers' concerns of that XP's product activation system wasn't tolerant enough of typical system upgrades. Windows product activation (WPA) is a method of tying the serial number to a specific system's hardware. Windows XP prompts the user to activate Windows in the first month of installation, and once the serial code is used for one configuration it cannot be used to activate Windows XP on a different hardware configuration. However, savvy users have been concerned that incremental hardware upgrades would be enough to cause WPA to lock Windows from use. Microsoft has indicated that the final version of Windows XP, set for release in late October, will modify the activation procedure to allow for a certain number of hardware changes within an unstated amount of time. A German company recently revealed how WPA generates its hardware fingerprint from 10 hardware components, including the model identification codes for the processor and graphics card, as well as the hard drive's serial number and network card's MAC address. GameSpot spoke with Allen Nieman, technical product manager for Windows XP, to get more information on how product activation will work. GameSpot: Tell us a bit about the changes to Windows product activation. What now triggers the prompt for reactivation? Allen Nieman: What triggers the prompt for reactivation hasn't changed. What has changed is that we have addressed feedback from power users participating in the beta that the need to reactivate by telephoning can be a hassle. Therefore we have made changes in the way those reactivation requests are handled to allow it to be done over the Internet based on the amount of time that has passed since the last time that product key was used to activate Windows XP. As we've always said, we are trying to strike a balance between our desire to reduce piracy and our desire to ensure a positive customer experience with Windows XP. As far as what changes will prompt for a reactivation, we plan to provide the user community with more information on this in the next couple of days. GS: You mention that the changes have to do with the amount of time since the key was last used, presumably for either the initial activation or one due to hardware changes. How long are we talking about? AN: The amount of time is based on initial activation. If you make changes to your PC--changes that would normally prompt a need to reactiviate--120 days from the time you initially activate the product, it will automatically do it online for you. GS: What's the process for reactivation if the upgrades do exceed the new limits? AN: As before, the user still has the opportunity to contact Microsoft via telephone to obtain another confirmation ID. GS: Does the activation system need access to the Internet after the initial activation to confirm hardware changes with Microsoft? AN: No, there is no ongoing access to Microsoft or phone home. The only time a user may have to reactivate is when a substantial hardware change occurs such that the PC appears to Windows to be a completely different PC. This is to protect against hard disk cloning piracy. GS: Thanks, Allen. By Sam Parker, GameSpot PC [UPDATED: 07/20/01] Hehin other words We're M$ Winblows, we'll be kind enough to make you pay too much for a 'license' to use our OS, and also, since we believe you don't know what you're doing, we think it'll be best if you let us control how you decide to upgrade any part of 'your' system. We'll let you change 'certain' different things on 'your' system only a certain amount of times, then we feel it'd be best that we lock up your system until you let us know what you've done and we'll make a decision to allow/disallow you to use our OS againNow, don't you feel just rosy and warm inside knowing that we have you by the cods? John -- Freedom equates to the use of Linux and GnuPG Registered Linux user #214117 Reply to: YochanonATyahooDOTTEcom `--- Forwarded message (end) -- Freedom equates to the use of Linux and GnuPG Registered Linux user#214117 Reply to: YochanonATyahooDOTTEcom
Re: [newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
This is amazing! I mean I'm completely dumb-founded at this. I know, as a previous computer gamer, hardware in my machine changed drastically from one week to the next. I remember at on point, inside one month, I added two new HDD, I added a new video card and then swapped in a better one. Not to mention going through two different sound cards then the one already in the machine. So after I've added/subtracted all that, I may have to call Microsoft and tell them about it? As well as this is Windows. Everybody knows that you need to reinstall Windows every 3 or 4 months because the registry gets to contaminated and you have driver problems, the system slows down, and the blue screen starts to be come your only screen! What happens then? Do you have to call and ask for permission to reinstall something you already paid for? If a consumer has paid X amount of money for a product why is the use of it being governed like this? Now I have absolutely no intentions of ever owning WindowsXP or using it in any fuction what so ever, but as a consumer I can't believe somebody would be interested in giving this product a try. I know I'm a more advanced user, I play with the hardware of a machine, and I build my own machines. I know there are people who will buy a machine, or install WindowsXP on a machine and never changed the hardware configuration, but does this practice still seem very extreme? I mean could you imagine buying a car and then the vendor calls you up saying, Sir, your car has been activated. You're only allowed to use reverse 5 times a day. You can only put and remove objects from it's trunk 3 times. If you exceed those numbers you will have to call Technical support to gain access to your vehicle again. Thank you for buying a _ Which, if you ask me, translates to, Thank you for letting us screw you! People are learning more and doing more with their computers. They're more comfortable buying and installing a new video card so they can watch DvDs on the machine. So why would they do something like this, that's really just becoming more constricting to the consumer. People are already extremely paranoid about their privacy. I remember working at ISP and a customer calling me frantically saying he visited a porn site that asked him to become a member, and he was worried they already had their credit card number, or if his name was added to some smut list for the FBI. So why would people allow their MAC address, or serial numbers to the parts inside their machine to be sent to Microsoft? Now for me, this is the first time I've heard this. And for all I know others have really gotten into this debate, but I'm shocked that I've not heard about some lawsuit on preventing this. I know I've become anti-Microsoft due to my years of working with, and hearing more of their actions on how the see competition, but as a consume this scares me. tdh -- T. Holmes - UNIXTECHS.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Real Men Use Vi! Uptime: 1:56pm up 4 days, 14:23, 7 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 | | ,--- Forwarded message (begin) | | | | Windows XP Activation Changes | | | We spoke with Microsoft about how it is addressing user concerns over | XP's inflexibility toward hardware upgrades. | | Microsoft has revealed that it plans to change its antipiracy measures | in Windows XP to respond to the beta testers' concerns of that XP's | product activation system wasn't tolerant enough of typical system | upgrades. Windows product activation (WPA) is a method of tying the | serial number to a specific system's hardware. Windows XP prompts the | user to activate Windows in the first month of installation, and | once the serial code is used for one configuration it cannot be used | to activate Windows XP on a different hardware configuration. However, | savvy users have been concerned that incremental hardware upgrades | would be enough to cause WPA to lock Windows from use. Microsoft has | indicated that the final version of Windows XP, set for release in | late October, will modify the activation procedure to allow for a | certain number of hardware changes within an unstated amount of time. | A German company recently revealed how WPA generates its hardware | fingerprint from 10 hardware components, including the model | identification codes for the processor and graphics card, as well as | the hard drive's serial number and network card's MAC address. | GameSpot spoke with Allen Nieman, technical product manager for | Windows XP, to get more information on how product activation will | work. | GameSpot: Tell us a bit about the changes to Windows product | activation. What now triggers the prompt for reactivation? | Allen Nieman: What
RE: [newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
this is just one of a laundry list of concerns about this particular product. I'm actually hoping that they go through with everything they promise (no java, anti-piracy, bloted code). perhaps this will provide some momentum to our beloved linux and others. check out some benchmarks comparing XP to win2000 at www.anandtech.com people still scoff at linux on the desktop. I firmly believe that if end users could get their box preloaded with all the software they need (email, web, offfice, multimedia) they would dump MS without blinking simply on price, and there wouldn't be any problem. Linux-Mandrake _is_ ready for the desktop. that's why I use and reccomend it.
Re: [newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
Hi Civileme, On Wed, 25 Jul 2001 08:49, you manipulated electrons to produce: OK, First, the Microsoft Product Activation is a _requirement_ for winXP or it stops working after 30 days (10 in some circumstances). Corporate licenses have other arrangements. Product activation does _not_ reveal your hardware to microsoft, so they claim at their website. What they describe is a hashing algorithm that makes it easy to detect changes but also makes a non-unique key. Can we end this thread here? I'd rather be positive about linux any day and fight necromancers with disbelief. * Oh, ya spoiled a lot of the excitement, now... :-) ** THEN how about this lot! A great idea unless.. it falls into the worng hands :-) We also have a reportng mechanism that snapshots your computer. It will likely be in next release. Of course the source is available so people can examine how it functions. Its purpose is different-- Civileme -- Cheers, John http://counter.li.org GO HERE IF YOU SUPPORT LINUX! Fablor is now Webhosting?? What on earth for?? Info here: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (it's only an Autoresponder) :-)
Re: [newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
I think that by 2008 the prices of digital television sets should be about as cheap as analogue ones are now. Digital TV will still be free-to-air for ordinary programming (they may charge for the interactive parts, if any). One major reason why the government wants to cut off analogue television is so the spectrum it used will revert back to them. They can then sell it to somebody else and make $billions. On Wed, 25 Jul 2001 12:53, John Rigby wrote: Welcome to 1984. In the far off mythical land of Oz - (Oztralia to the untravelled) the Media Moguls and Glovenment (not a spelling error) tried to sell us on Digital TV - nobody was interested. So they simply announced that we all had 7 years to save up for one ( prices here start at $4000) because in 2008 they will simply cutoff free-to-air normal TV. There will be no choice and Big Brother WILL be watching us all. Cheers, John -- Sridhar Dhanapalan. There are two major products that come from Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence. -- Jeremy S. Anderson
Re: [newbie] Fwd: Re: WinXP is better....My reply to this BS
OK, First, the Microsoft Product Activation is a _requirement_ for winXP or it stops working after 30 days (10 in some circumstances). Corporate licenses have other arrangements. Product activation does _not_ reveal your hardware to microsoft, so they claim at their website. What they describe is a hashing algorithm that makes it easy to detect changes but also makes a non-unique key. That is, several different hardware configurations can compile to the same key, but a minor chaqnge on the hardware is highly unlikely to produce an indentical key. Re-Activation will be required, either by web or by telephone, when the hardware has changed a lot. This is Microsoft's remedy, they say, for casual piracy where one person makes a copy of the software for a friend who installs it and makes two copies for his friends, and so on. Unfortunately, the plan fell through. It's not out of BETA and the activation key has been cracked, finally, totally, fatally, which is what Microsoft probably had iin mind all along, since most new machines come with a ready-made microsoft tax anyway. Can we end this thread here? I'd rather be positive about linux any day and fight necromancers with disbelief. We also have a reportng mechanism that snapshots your computer. It will likely be in next release. Of course the source is available so people can examine how it functions. Its purpose is different--you will have a menu of things to report, like hardware configuration, security configuration (no password files), network configuration, Printing Config, USB configuration, Samba configuration, Wine Config, a list of installed packages, partitioning and filesystems, symbolic links, and they're in a checklist. The send button will contact the MandrakeExpert website and upload as much of your configuration as you care to report, so that any experts helping you can see it. Civileme
