Microsoft Replaces Your Pirated Windows, For Free 574
th3d0ct0r writes "ZDNet reports that Microsoft is now willing to replace your pirated version of Windows XP. As part of the recently started "Windows Genuine advantage" program, Alex Hilton explains that this incentive aims to bring out customers who bought PC's with Windows XP preinstalled from vendors that pirated the Microsoft OS. Not only do they offer amnesty to anyone coming forth with a pirated version, but also to ship an original version of their product with a valid license to replace the pirated one, each customer being able to get up to 5 such replacements. Hilton says: "Our goal is not to prosecute the individual, our goal is to get to the source".
Important to note (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Important to note (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Their generosity is incredible (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Their generosity is incredible (Score:4, Funny)
We'll believe they don't only after they prove that they don't.
Re:Their generosity is incredible (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Their generosity is incredible (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mod funny (Score:3, Funny)
Karma (Score:5, Funny)
Different variations on this reason can be given, I'm just too lazy to type them, so I'll let you think for yourself.
Re:Their generosity is incredible (Score:3, Informative)
No, the pin for your ATM is a genuine thing, it is like the key to your house. The software you develop has a development cost. The license that you sell may or may not have had one. Developers no longer sell their developed product. So I spend 5 million dollars developing my widget and no matter how many people pay me 200$ a s
Re:Important to note (Score:5, Insightful)
But see, we don't read the article. So summaries from readers who KNOW WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW make for awesome comments....
Moderating... (Score:5, Funny)
But see, we don't read the article. So summaries from readers who KNOW WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW make for awesome comments....
Where's +1 Unfortunately True?
Re:Important to note (Score:5, Funny)
This is only a pilot program for the UK, and it requires a proof of purchase (so they have someone to go after).
Crap. I thought I might be able to scam them into giving me a free upgrade to XP Pro even though I already have a paid-for W2K Pro license.
Re:Important to note (Score:5, Funny)
Your comment contains a grammatical error. You mistakenly use the word "upgrade" instead of "downgrade."
Re:Important to note (Score:3, Insightful)
The real upgrade to windows 2000 is windows 2003 (server).
Re:Important to note (Score:3, Insightful)
The invisible red ball is floating in a green love with very loud lemon flavour.
Not that it made any sense, of course
Re:Important to note (Score:5, Informative)
As is XP.
Win2k Pro DOES NOT have integrated DRM, and no "activation".
How are these even an issue, unless you are a pirate?
Win2k Pro uses less system resources
If XP uses more resources, then it's only marginally so. And that's pretty normal; not many OSes use fewer resources as new versions are released.
, does everything XP does better than XP does.
It's the exact opposite. XP's feature set is a superset of W2K Pro's. One difference you mentioned already is hyperthreading. That *is* a big deal if you have a hyperthreading CPU; you want to make full use of your hardware, don't you?
Another difference is support for dual monitors. Other posters will note that they have gotten dual monitors to work with W2K. Well, you can do it with certain video cards (mostly dual-head cards), but it is up to the video card driver writer to add support for it. However, in Windows XP, you can simply use any arbitrary combination of video cards; the work of creating the virtual desktop is done in the OS itself.
Fast user switching. A built-in firewall. Sound card emulation in NTVDM (try playing Doom on W2K, then try it on XP); better compatibility with DOS apps in general. A skinnable/themeable GUI (don't like the default? go back to the W2K look and feel). ClearType. Improved power management. Device driver rollback. Network bridging. Faster boot time.
And then there are lots of little improvements here and there, such as new command line options for various commands.
Really, it's pretty sad if you think W2K is better than XP in any way, shape, or form. Maybe you were just trolling. Otherwise feel free to continue to use W2K in blissful ignorance.
Re:Important to note (Score:3, Interesting)
Have you ever *seen* subpixel text rendering? I work on a laptop all day and there is *no way* I would leave that switched on - it gives me a headache to look at for 10 minutes let alone 8 hours.
Network bridging - useful only for the 0.1% of users who try to use XP as a switch. Everyone else uses a switch. (I don't get what you mean by 'moderately complex networks using XP'. XP is a *client* OS. It sits
Re:Important to note (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Important to note (Score:3, Funny)
So if you're not a pilot, you need not apply.
Re:Important to note (Score:5, Insightful)
I feel too lazy right now to draw up a "step 1, step 2, profit!" list, but I think this is a pretty smooth move by Microsoft: increase consumer trust/goodwill, nail pirate "hubs" and generally solidify market share.
I'm no fan, but I have to say, Microsoft has its act together on this one.
Re:Important to note (Score:4, Funny)
"We'll give you the DVD to any movie you have on your computer, and the CD to any songs you downloaded."
Re:Important to note (Score:3, Informative)
Being an honest guy, he'd actually purchased 5 copies at the local computer show. Unfortunately, they were counterfeit copies - a fact that probably wasn't obvious to someone who didn't see the real thing every day.
Anyway, we called Micr
Re:Yeah we had this in Lithuania some time ago (Score:4, Interesting)
The program is clearly designed for those who paid for a comp with bootleg Windows or who paid an OEM to install bootleg windows. Not at those with the half a brain required to install it themselves.
Thus if they start busting doors, instead of increasing consumer confidence and market share, they'll end up on the front page of CNET and gain nothing but bills for replacing Grandpa's front door.
Instead, they're going after those who sell pirated copies of XP. This is essentially a much more ethical move than suing your 12-year old fans, and it will hit the one branch of piracy that could use the hitting: asshats that sell it to idiots that couldn't figure out IRC to save their lives.
Re:Important to note (Score:4, Insightful)
Ah, but lack of a paper trail will not make your pissed off users forget where they bought their computer. Say, a policeman out of uniform stops by at your store to do a little shopping, then makes a call to Microsoft to validate the Windows copy they got on their HD?
And abandon it they will because the only way to sustain this is to keep dishing out Windows free, which of course MS cannot possibly do.
What's the harm to give a free copy to people who are already using your stuff without paying and are likely trying to come clear?
It's funny that you mentioned it though, because I believe eventually Microsoft will have a free basic OS and sell stuff that runs on top of it. Think of what happened when Netscape released a good, free web browser. Once Linux functionality reaches certain level and PC+monitor can be had for $200 or so, vendors will start to take a notice of even $20 OEM copy price. Then there is only one thing Microsoft can do to compete.
Re:Important to note (Score:3, Insightful)
Yet another saavy PR move by M$ -- nothing more (Score:4, Interesting)
I seriously doubt many knowing pirates are going to turn themselves in after a sudden guilt trip. M$ knows this too. But this puts them in the blogs and the papers, and they appear to be the good guy.
It's a PR move, nothing more, nothing less, move along.
Re:Yet another saavy PR move by M$ -- nothing more (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yet another saavy PR move by M$ -- nothing more (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Yet another saavy PR move by M$ -- nothing more (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft then checks your version to see if it really is genuine. If it isn't, they assume you are innocent (since you have receipt to demonstrate that you bought it believing it was the real deal). Then, they go after the company that sold you the pirate version.
So it's not a trick, it's not about converting pirates, and it's not a PR move. If you pirated your copy deliberately, then you won't be able to get a legal copy for free without getting in trouble. If you believe you have a legal copy but want to check, this is a way to do so for free.
I'm a member of the popular Microsoft hating slashdot group, but this is not what you suggest - not as far as I understand it.
Re:Yet another saavy PR move by M$ -- nothing more (Score:3, Insightful)
Does anyone else find this post disturbing? It starts off with the comment that the crooks operate with impunity (even M$ realizes they can't stop the pirates). This "M$" moniker stems from the idea that somehow Microsoft is this evil empire stealing from the
How do you know? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How do you know? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:How do you know? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How do you know? (Score:2)
RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
Apparantly, Microsoft knows. They know everything. They're right behind you.
Re:How do you know? (Score:3, Informative)
And stuff...
Cheerz, Jason.
Re:How do you know? (Score:5, Informative)
That's how you know.
Re:How do you know? (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/ww/w
How do you know?-Flying the flag. (Score:5, Funny)
The flying flag screensaver is replaced with the skull and bones.
Re:How do you know?-Flying the flag. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How do you know? (Score:5, Funny)
If it says "Arrr matey, thar be a general protection fault!" and the slogan appears as "Where do ya want to sail?".
Re:How do you know? (Score:3, Funny)
Do you have any idea how much it hurts when you laugh so hard that Chex Mix and Dr. Pepper come out of your nose?
While I am sure the Dr.Pepper was painful enough, I think the Chex Mix was particulary dangerous. Melba toast cannot be good for the sinus cavity, especial when traveling at a high rate of speed.
Re:How do you know? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How do you know? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How do you know? (Score:5, Funny)
If you are short of a couple, it was probably a genuine copy!
Re:How do you know? (Score:3, Interesting)
The Right Move (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm curious to see what the general reaction to this move is.
Re:The Right Move (Score:2)
Slashdot: mixed but more negative
Generally: positive
Danger of Joe Jobs? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Danger of Joe Jobs? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Danger of Joe Jobs? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Danger of Joe Jobs? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Danger of Joe Jobs? (Score:3, Insightful)
When you make a deal with the devil...
Clever (Score:5, Insightful)
Makes as much sense... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Makes as much sense... (Score:3, Interesting)
xix.
MS speak (Score:3, Insightful)
Translation: Our goal is future upgrade revenue.
Re:MS speak (Score:4, Funny)
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that Microsoft is asking for someone to make their source available?
Maybe not a bad thing for Linux (Score:3)
Not a bad thing really however - because a great deal of Microsoft's monopoly has been achieved because people have pirated their software. It will likely be a way that consumers are forced to make the switch to Linux, because they'll be no way for them to access illegal copies.
Change of focus (Score:3, Insightful)
This is interesting and I'd be especially interested to see which countries get this treatment.
If I were a cynical MS executive, I'd tolerate, heck, encourage widespread piracy of my products in developing markets such as Asia, but ruthlessly crack down on developed markets that already have high (monopolistic?) Windows penetration.
It maximises profits; those British will still have to pay the Microsoft Tax on new PCs, whereas PC retailers in asian countries, who don't do what MS tells them anyway, will still be spreading Windows throughout the region at the expense of every other OS. Eventually, MS will lean on those governments and say, "Do you know how much money our company is losing to piracy? Enforce your laws or else. By the way, your department's support contract for MS Longhorn is about to expire and we're raising prices by a lot. It's to cover lost sales due to piracy, doncherknow..."
Not to seem paranoid but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
IMO, I think Microsoft is honest in their intentions, but I can see where this might come back to bite some people, with the RIAA and MPAA lawsuits as an example.
All in all, though, this is good business for Microsoft - they've ALWAYS been quite generous with their licenses (developers, network admins, etc have always enjoyed a lot of freebies or outrageously generous package deals). Microsoft knows that once they get you on the straight and narrow, you'll probably keep coming back to them with legitimate purchases.
Of course, an outfit like the RIAA has the opposite business model and problem - selling crap CDs at inflated prices and chasing down, threatening and prosecuting every last potential user. The real problem for them is that for every person they "catch", there are 100 more who decide the RIAA and their ilk deserve no business and pirate out of spite.
Microsoft doesn't have that problem... the "haters" would be hipocritical to pirate Microsoft products, after all, they hate the product, right? So pirated copies almost become "free samples" to entice people in, and amnesty is the way to get that user back to buying the product (or at least the next cycle). Sure, they'd prefer you paid for the license, but they aren't as stupid as the record labels and movie people... they know many users either won't pay or paid a dishonest vendor; if you couldn't afford it anyway, they haven't lost a customer - but if you could afford it, you'll probably BUY the next version, or perhaps other Microsoft packages, because they were nice to you.
In short, it's a win-win for people who bought PCs with pirated Windows on them (and the vendor comes out as a loser when Microsoft comes knocking on THEIR door).
Well, not totally "free"... (Score:5, Insightful)
So, in essence, Microsoft gives you a legitimate copy of the software (or at least a license for the software that you already have installed) and you give Microsoft a mid-sized piracy outfit on a silver platter.
Total cost to Microsoft for eliminating a pirate that might be costing them tens, if not hundreds, of thousands: next to nothing. The pirate outfit will probably end up forking over the lost income one way or another (in court or out of court, whichever Microsoft decides) and even it it doesn't (because it declares bankrupcy or something similar) it'll never be selling another pirated copy of Windows XP again, which means more legitimate Windows XP sales for Microsoft in the long run.
You have to admit, it's one helluva smart play by Microsoft. It gets to make more money and it gets to look like the good guy too.
Oh, and why not totally free? Well, apart from the legal stuff that you have to sign, there's a good chance that any outfit that's pirating Windows XP on a large scale barely has its head above water. The cost of getting caught by Microsoft, or even the cost of going legitimate from there onwards, is likely to drag such a company down like a stone. If that happens, your PC's warranty won't be worth the paper that it's written on.
Re:Well, not totally "free"... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you bought your PC from a company that was pirating the OS, chances are your "warranty" wasn't worth anything to begin with.
What a coincidence! (Score:5, Funny)
There's another group offering to replace your copy Windows, no questions asked! Check out the free downloads [redhat.com]. And there's no limit of five free replacments. Replace as many copies of Windows as you want!
Great idea! (Score:5, Funny)
What A Great Day It's Been! (Score:5, Funny)
So what about (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a Culture Thing (Score:3, Insightful)
Even our school was using pirated software until a year ago. The government is trying to launch an anti-piracy campaign, but when the computer stores themselves sell and install only pirated software, you can't get very far. Microsoft needs to acknowlege that nobody wants to pay that much money for a piece of software full of bugs.
Look out backyard builders (Score:5, Interesting)
What stinks about this scheme is that first of all most people that buy from the corner shop guys are not mum and pop (they tend to buy from the larger retail stores), they are the semi computer savvy people and small business owners that need computers a the cheapest prices and probably know very well that they aren't getting a fully licensed version but don't really care. However now that MS are going to reward them with a legit copy and give them a golden handshake - the people that are going to cop it are the PC sellers who (while they should have known better anyway) have probably done the thing on the buyers request anyhow.
Even more scary is if you've built a system for a family member and they think they are doing the right thing by getting a legit copy may implicate you without purposely meaning to but they are trying to get something for nothing.
Another thing, to drive the local competition out of business go buy a few machines from them with a pirated version and then graciously line up for your free legit copies then drop their names and then profit.
There Goal (Score:4, Funny)
World domination - check.
Smart...Very smart (Score:5, Insightful)
The people who already have a pirate version of Windows that came pre-installed in their pc have no reason to buy a legitimate copy ; therefore, giving them one for free does not represent a loss for microsoft. They'll spend the same money they spend on manufacturing an SP2 update cd which anyone can order for free.
And I imagine quite a few people will turn on their "shady" local pc stores if it means getting something for nothing. Even if the something is only an imagined peace of mind. Microsoft can in turn sue those stores for tidy amounts of money. I suspect they'll make enough of it to pay for the cds, the publicizing and the lawyer fees.
Of course, any profits from these lawsuits would be too small to be of interest to Microsoft. However, once enough stores are sued, not only will that ensure most of them will start paying microsoft for legitimate copies of winXP, but it will also ensure that many other stores will fall in line because they fear some of their customers will report them.
Divide and conquer : The oldest trick in the world
And while I do not harbor any affection for Microsoft because of their condemnable business practices, I have take my hat off to the guy who thought of this.
Microsoft Conquers New Economy (Score:5, Funny)
1. Allow users to get free, pirated copies of your product.
2. Contact those users and offer to give them a free, unpirated copy of your product.
3. ???
4. Profit!!!
OEM "Restore" Discs (Score:5, Interesting)
IRC (Score:3, Insightful)
[XDCC-R4p3-M3] your file transfer Windows.XP.With.Crack is done
Piracy Made MS a Powerhouse (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah. There. I Said it.
If Microsoft had bulletproof copy protection back in the Microsoft Windows 3.1/WFW3.11 days, they wouldn't have become the giant they are today. "Back in the day" lots of folks made a copy of the Windows floppies (yep, people used to sell software on floppies!) that came with the new PC delivered to the office for use on their home PCs, or even to 'update' older PCs in the office. It was a trivial task and it made Windows so prevalent in the work and home environment that by the time Windows 95 was launched people were hooked. Think crack dealer ("first one's free, dude.").
Whether by guilty conscience, rabid fan-dom, or dare I say consumer satisfaction, people were ready and willing to pony up the bucks to get the latest goods, even using a very liberal and unchecked upgrade policy. How many folks here remember doing the math on upgrades and realizing you could save a hundred bucks by using your copied diskettes as a "qualfying upgrade" product? This was also the case for Microsoft Office - you could go out and buy MS Works and an Upgrade Edition of MS Office 4.2 for less than the shelf price of a full-blown Office Standard install and feel like you've laid a can O' whup-ass on "the man".
That's about to change, the hammer is coming down, World Domination has been achieved. Every potential customer has been tapped. Format lock-in and closed document 'standards' ensure consumer lock-in for the next upgrade round. Maybe.
Consumers are geting really tired of the upgrade mill caused by operating system version changes/upgrades which invariably require them to upgrade all their applications as well, and the insufferable gymnastics involved in something as simple as moving or *gasp* copying their root install to a new hard disk. People really are getting smarter about software and the realize that Microsost is more worried about their intellectual property than the users' precious data. In short, they're treating us like criminals; guilty until proven innocent. SOP.
I like it. I see more and more customers looking at alternatives, and even if that means that have to buy a Linux install from us with Crossover Office just to run their MS Office stuff, so be it. The sooner the end user, the part of the equation that really matters, realizes how badly they've been treated, the better.
Sure, beige box twits who install dodgy copies of XP, and Joe Sixpack users who find themselves unable to update the pirated version they just "bought" with their new whiz-bang PC will find their machine rendered more useless with each newly discovered exploit to go wild, are gonna sweat it huge, but it just means more clients to me. I'm armed and ready with whatever distro they think is pretty enough, and can sell it with a clear conscience.
Are you?
Re:Piracy Made MS a Powerhouse (Score:3, Interesting)
All my friends here are begging me to install Linux so they can go on the Internet safely. The first person I made the mistake of installing Gentoo. What a mistake. I can't even get my own machine into a usable state let alone find time to do someone else's. I'm going
Profit (Score:5, Funny)
1. Create a crappy OS.
2. Let every pirate copy it for free.
3. Everybody uses crappy OS.
4. Every company switches to crappy OS because everybody already uses it.
5. Profit
Now they've protected WinXP a bit too good;
1. Create a crappy OS.
2. Nobody can pirate it.
3. Nobody uses it.
4. No company switches.
5. No profit.
So they're fixing it like this;
1. Create a crappy OS.
2. Nobody can pirate it.
3. Distribute it for free to pirates.
4. Everybody uses it.
5. Every company switches.
6. Profit.
Sounds familiar?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Who is it going to get? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is how it works in the UK. If you go to a back-street computer shop -- not PriCey World, not Dixons, but an actual independent retailer, a 21st century artisan -- to buy a machine, you get told the cost of the hardware not including software. Not even Windows. You are then given a choice: either you can take the machine away like that and install your own software, or you can pay for a legitimate copy of Windows and Office and all the usual crap like Outlook Express and Internet Exploder.
At this point the customer probably is going to be shocked by how much the software will cost; and unless they are particularly straight-arsed about such matters, will inquire discreetly about a cheaper way. The shopkeeper's younger assistant will offer to do the job, strictly on the quiet and subject to the customer never breathing a word. The receipt says "No Operating System" and the cost of the software is paid, in cash, straight into the assistant's sky rocket. Lovely!
The customer leaves, thinking they got one up on Microsoft by ripping off "hundreds of pounds" of software. Hey, it feels so good, stickin' it to The Man! And Ballmer cackles, because he knows the customer still believes they need Microsoft. Truth is, it's The Man who stuck it to you. Just because you didn't pay for it, doesn't make it less buggy or crash-prone. You still haven't got the source code -- and having a competent programmer look at the source code is the only way ever to make it less buggy and crash-prone. You still get every disadvantage you would have got if you had paid full whack for a legit copy, on top of the twin disadvantages that it's illegal and you know full well.
In a more sorted universe, the shopkeeper would of course say, "Sure! You could have Linux and OpenOffice instead, for nothing." The customer would spend a day or two getting used to it and then realise they didn't need Microsoft. The customer's friends, being emailed loads of
Easy (Score:3, Insightful)
Which distro would you like?
Re:Okay? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Okay? (Score:3, Insightful)
They are saying "If you bought Microsoft Windows (TM) in good faith from a supplier, and they turned out to be selling pirated stuff, we will give you a legitimate copy, and probably sue the seller back to the stone age."
Good for Microsoft's business. They remove pirates, and will get more sales (in the future), as fewer people wholesale pirate Windows (TM) for the purpose of selling it.
Re:Okay? (Score:3, Informative)
Oh sure, that's easy enough. OEMs are selling boxes preloaded with pirate versions of Windows. Microsoft would like to set the dogs on them, but it would be prohibitively expensive to track them all down, assuming they could do so at all.
By getting the customers themselves to identify them they find out who they are at no actual cost (since these wouldn't be paying customers anyway, and the cost of goods to MS is zilch).
It's pretty straight forwar
Re:Okay? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Okay? (Score:5, Insightful)
This has been well documented. Basically, its the best of both worlds for Microsoft because the illegal copies are not counting towards Microsoft's sales (and therefore not helping antitrust prosecutions), the governments and large businesses were the majority of desktop PCs are (who have to obey the law and can afford the ludicrous per-seat prices of MSW) have to buy MSW because it is ubiqitous as everyone else uses (illegal copies of) MSW. If MS inflates the prices of MSW enough (as they have) they will get illegal copying but that just encourages the ubiquity of MSW, but they will be more than payed back by the sales to the few who own the majority of PCs, need to stay within the law and will pay any ludicrious price.
Also, as Bill Gates stated in a frank moment, Microsoft want to introduce pirated copies of MSW "like a drug" into less-econmically developed countries in order to "get them hooked on" and lock them in to MSW and remove usage of free software in these countries.
Re:Okay? (Score:3)
Re:Okay? (Score:3, Insightful)
"I think, the only reason Microsoft products are buggy, is because they have SO MANY USERS using them."
To mutilate a quote from Charles Babbage:-
"I am not able to rightly comprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a conclusion."
Re:Okay? (Score:3, Informative)
The software update capability is OS X is pretty damn impressive. It shows a list of what software has updates, lets me choose which to install and handles everything else for me. The only action I may have to take is accept a EULA, but this only happened the first time I updated some apps.
The windows update is pretty good, but I don't really care for the "automatically download and install" option. Also, why do many updates take SO long to install? Not a huge
Re:Suspicious... (Score:2, Informative)
sheesh, thought that was clear as day.
Re:Does anyone else see this? (Score:3, Interesting)
And if John Q Jackass has his vendetta, he'll wind up spending more time behind bars than the PC store for slander, possible perjury, whatever the formal charge is for inciting a malicious prosecution, etc.
MS is no more or less warm or fuzzy than Apple, IBM, Nintendo or Gillette. Corporations are corporations, not people or cartoon characters. They all exist solely to seperate your wallet from its contents
Re:Does anyone else see this? (Score:5, Insightful)
> up spending more time behind bars than the PC
> store for slander, possible perjury, whatever the
> formal charge is for inciting a malicious
> prosecution, etc.
I realise this is a totally hypothetical example, but what law has he broken?
JQJ says "Vendor X sold me a PC with dodgy Windows on it" to Microsoft (note: not someone with any legal authority to act in this matter).
MS gives JQJ a shiny new Windows, which JQJ then dutifully installs on the PC.
MS then confronts X with a "Please explain" email or visit from BSA or whatever. All X has to do is say "I didn't do anything wrong", produce some sort of supporting paperwork and that's game over.
If MS goes back to JQJ and says "You've been telling porkies", JQJ can say "This PC had the bogus version of Windows on it since I bought it. Now I've installed the shiny new version you gave me". How is MS (note: without any legal powers) to decide which of X and JQJ is telling the truth?
MS isn't about to visit every JQJ out there and examine the InstallDate registry entry to find out when Windows was installed on that particular PC. MS and/or the BSA can jump up and down and try to get local law enforcement involved, but any evidence that did exist would be well and truly gone by then.
Have I missed anything?
Re:Does anyone else see this? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Does anyone else see this? (Score:3, Insightful)
Here's where I think you skipped a step. Microsoft will almost certainly verify that you obtained the OS from the specified vendor (paid or otherwise) before sending the hellhounds after them. You have to provide some sort of proof of purchase at the time that you make the claim, or you're
MS isn't the RIAA/MPAA (Score:4, Insightful)
They aren't going to be taking Joe Numbnut and his personal pirated copy to court now or in the future. An individual person simply isn't worth going after.
Obviously OS piracy is easier to target. People generally expect computers to come with an OS so computer makers pirating in a nice physical location make a nice target.
With music/movies there's no need for such centralisation.
Re:It's things like this... (Score:3, Informative)
Some tips:
Re:It's things like this... (Score:3, Interesting)
Despite you're desire not to, you most certainly managed to be one anyway - adding a new wierd layer of superstitions on a old legend once grounded in buggy old OS's.
With a non-buggy OS that can read block devices correctly 'cp' will work as well as 'dd'. Or were you talking about a SunOS 1.X system?
from beowulf.org [beowulf.org]
Re:Sounds a lot like springfield (Score:3, Funny)
Or..... (Score:3, Interesting)
Gneo*: That sounds like a really good deal. But...I think I've got a better one. How 'bout I give Microsoft the finger, and I start replacing ALL my crappy installations of Microsoft Windows with GNU and free software, FREE...as in freedom... That way we'll all be free of the evil tyrrany.
Agent Smith^WGates:Hmmm, Mr. Anderson, you disappoint me.
Gneo: You can't scare me with this gestapo crap. I know my rights, I want to use my free software.
Agent Smith^WGates:Tell me, Mr. Anderson. What good is yo
Re:Does anybody remember this. . . (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, they were also here illegally so fuck them and fuck you.
Slowing down. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes. That was my point.
If you turn yourself in when there is an expectation of amnesty, which was the case during that incident, there is a very good chance you will still be punished if the agency delivering the promise has a history of deceitful behavior. Very basic.
But then I suppose, somebody functioning at your level of refinement can't really be expected to grasp such 'difficult' concepts. Don't worry. The game is rapidly deteriorat