Be glad you don't run Windows XP

i am monkeyi am monkey
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
But if you do....



<a href="http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020117S0002"; target="_blank">http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020117S0002</a>;



Microsoft ain't nice! :eek:

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    arakageetaarakageeta Posts: 141member
    And people were complaining about Ambrosia's new registration process. GEES!
  • Reply 2 of 7
    sizzle chestsizzle chest Posts: 1,133member
    That's pretty heinous. You'll see people who actually BOUGHT a copy of XP over-installing a cracked version so they don't have to run the authorization process. Sheesh. Can't they come up with some better copy protection scheme than this?
  • Reply 3 of 7
    eskimoeskimo Posts: 474member
    None of this is new information. It's the same WPA as has been present since the product shipped. You don't have to call Microsoft unless you don't have an internet connection. And if you own a legal copy it takes no time at all, took me all of 2 seconds to click yes and have it activate me.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    Dont you have to fill out more information?
  • Reply 5 of 7
    eskimoeskimo Posts: 474member
    [quote]Originally posted by MajorMatt:

    <strong>Dont you have to fill out more information?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    No, a unique number is generated automatically by the OS from a combination of hardware identifiers in your system and sent as an encoded string of characters.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    ok now Eskimo, put a new sound card in your machine, add a RAID 100 card and run two 40 gig drives in a striped RAID.



    oh wait, you'll have to reregister your machine and call up MS to prove it's still the same one.



    if it weren't for this aspect i might have been tempted to give XP a spin, but considering i tinker with my PC's hardware at least a few times a week, this is not an option.



    i swear, Moto can't pull a decent chip out of their butts to save their lives, but MS does a wonderful job of keeping Apple a real option
  • Reply 7 of 7
    eskimoeskimo Posts: 474member
    [quote]Originally posted by alcimedes:

    <strong>ok now Eskimo, put a new sound card in your machine, add a RAID 100 card and run two 40 gig drives in a striped RAID.



    oh wait, you'll have to reregister your machine and call up MS to prove it's still the same one.



    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    It takes 6 "points" (for lack of a better term) to warrant a call to microsoft. I've changed my video card, sound card, and memory and didn't have to do anything. (this is worth 3 "points") Changing your motherboard is worth about 3 points I think. Adding in new hardware like a RAID card and hard drives shouldn't ever require you to re-activate, only changes to existing hardware in the system. Only thing I can think of that would require an instant reactivation besides swapping out all your hardware would be replacing the hard drive on which your system is installed. Of course this would require you to reinstall your OS which means reactivation. Unless you use Norton Ghost or an equivalent.



    Hey it could be worse, at least MS is being upfront about this and not just activating behind your back
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