Posted on 01/26/2005 1:59:43 PM PST by Happy2BMe
No big deal. It'll take 2 weeks and the crackers will have a patch.
and I would also guess this will not apply to corporate volume-license installations, like all the pirates use anyways.
Or, if you just cant download them, updates will become like "warez"
yay -- go microsoft.
Further evidence that Microsoft just WANTS to lose its dominance in the marketplace. The Chinese may use counterfeit copies, but they are using the Microsoft products. That Microsoft is doing this means that Microsoft will be replaced by Linux in a lot of boxes there. I don't mean to say they can't assert their property rights any way they see fit, but I can certainly understand why the average Chinese guy operating a basement PC room doesn't wanna pay $200 for a single box's Microsoft commercial use "license."
Until they figure out a better way to move product (perhaps lowering their licensing fees in growing markets) Microsoft is just pushing people into Papa Linus's waiting arms. Communists ought to be predisposed to prefer communitarianism anyway.
Microsoft ping!
Yep.
Real men don't whine.
I say if it's good for prescription drugs, then it's gotta be good for software! I call for the re-importation of Windoze from the $10 country!
I don't mind the system checking to see that I have paid for my operating system. But I will be extremely annoyed if I have to go fish out the Windows installation CD every time I update, the way they make you do with MS Office.
Also, what will this do to their highly vaunted automatic updates? If they can do this seamlessly, fine. If you have to jump through hoops every time you update, a lot of people will be angry, including me.
Why isn't there a "means test" price for software in the USofA?
I even dare say we would see a more robust, compatible, and yes more secure and virus-resistent OS if Micro$oft would just get past that one big hurdle.
So the non-authentic systems would be free to continue to spur viruses that predominantly attack Windows users who don't know enough about how to maintain their own machine.
Geez, this is why folks should buy a Mac.
Have you ever had to reinstall a M$ product? You get two installs, after that, you have to call Microsoft and explain to them why you are re-installing the software and beg their permission so that they will give you a new key.
I had FrontPage installed on two machines, both of which lost their hard drives in the same year, after that I upgraded both machines. That meant four phone calls to Microsoft, each time having to answer a series of questions from a suspicious customer services rep about why I need to keep installing MY software that I PAID FOR!!!
Apple just came out with a new iWorks package containing a word processor and presentation package. I might finally be able to dump the last of my Microsoft software now.
*yawn*
(Mepis Linux user)
Good point. But not sure how me buying a Mac fixes the unpatched-windows masses out there in the ROW.
If you have a Mac you no longer have to worry about viruses. There aren't any for the Mac.
We're already verifying the XP key is legit with the activation scheme, now this? I can understand Microsoft wanting to protect their copyright but at the same time if they start becoming too draconian and making things inconvenient all they'll do is push more people to their competitors.
Nice answer. Wrong question.
I was asking how you or I getting a Mac reduces the headache of unpatched-windoze boxes out there that drag down the net with DOS attacks, spam, etc.
You're correct that Microsoft's program here will do nothing but encourage more Chinese pirate machines to stay unpatched. Buying Macs doesn't fix that.
Apple's are still too expensive for a lot of consumers.
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