[Knitebane]

Here's a way to confirm who the idiots are. Tell people about this. Those that act surprised that Microsoft would spy on them are the idiots.

I mean, really. Who didn't expect this?

[Knitebane]

For your ping list

[holymoly]

It's been known for sometime that Windows XP is spyware. I've read a number of articles on this topic.

In fact, I've spoken to someone who had WinXP on their system. One day, this person got a letter from Microsoft's legal department, stating that they knew he had illegal software on his system, and threatening legal action.

His first thought was "WTF? How do they know what I have on my computer?" Then it dawned on him - he'd recently installed WinXP.

He promptly formatted his HD, and is now running Windows 2000.

[Hodar]

Looking at the data that was uploaded, appears to be information concerning the hardware of the PC. This would be stuff like chipset revisions, soundcard info, motherboard and support components.

Why would MS need this? Easy, to determine who, if any PC vendors are NOT supplying WHQL lab reports back to MS for Windows certification. MS is blamed for everything that goes wrong with your PC. But, if your motherboard uses a chip that MS has never heard of, and your internet connection is flaky ... who get's blamed? Wal-mart, Tiger Direct, or the back alley store that sold you a non-windows conformant PC, or Microsoft? Naturally, it is a software problem, and therefore it's all Microsoft's fault.

I work in this industry. You wouldn't believe how many motherboard manufacturers there are, and how many thousands of support chips are on the market (IDE, SCSI, Ethernet controllers, memory controllers, DMA controllers, Video cards, etc.). The motherboard suppliers are SUPPOSED to run WHQL tests from MS to verify that their board is compliant with Windows specifications, and if there are deviations, apply to MS for a waiver. This is voluntary.

How else can MS gather the data, to support the non-savvy PC buyer, who is looking more at buying a low cost PC; than buying a fully compliant name brand PC?

[rdb3]

The Penguin Ping.

Wanna be Penguified? Just holla!

Got root?

[isthisnickcool]

(Insert B2k drunken Belushi like screaming fit about how gates/MS is god here)

[Siegfried]

This is just the sort of thing that got me started looking into Linux last year. It's been about six months now and I still haven't got Linux fully working on my old Pentium I, but I'm sure I'll be able to iron out all the installation glitches pretty soon. It's also running quite nicely on my old 486.

I'm going to be buying a new computer this spring and I'm not going to buy M$ operating system for it. I'm just going to put a 2 GB partition on the hard drive and install Win95 again to give me some compatibility with old dos programs that I use a lot. The rest of the space will be for Linux.

This prying into your computer by M$ is only the first salvo in a long war that Bill Gates intends to win. IMO his eventual goal is to be receiving a yearly rent check from every computer user in the world for the continuing use of their computer. He won't be receiving a check from me, that's for sure.

Check out Linux. You can get a CD for $5 on Ebay (or download it for free if you have a fast connection). It takes some work and lots of reading, so don't expect it to fire up and run just right the first day. But I think you'll find it worth it in the future.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Previous versions of WindowsUpdate explicity stated that no information was being sent to Microsoft. That little disclaimer is no longer used.