Everyday I visit CNET.com to see if anything interesting has happened on the net.Today a main story is that Microsoft are stopping on-line reactivation of Windows XP,if it was pre-installed on the consumer PC.In other words,if you bought a new PC with XP on it,and you just have the rescue disc,you will have to speak to a Microsoft representative after you've formated your hard drive due to catastrophe,tell them the number/code of your disc,and if they say you have a legal copy,they will 'ping' you an activation/authorisation code.

What will they do if your hard drive goes awol every three weeks."Are,good to hear from you again sir!!!"

Why now.To stop piracy is Redmonds answer.But why did'nt they sort this out back in 2001 when XP hit the shelves?

Nez. :eek:

As a footnote,if the beta version of Microsoft's anti-spyware program destroys your hard drive,they will refund you $5.00.About £7.60.

Why steal Windows when Linux is free, http://www.justlinux.com/?

I think the timing has something to do with the fact that they will "pushing" SP2 out to all legit XP owners soon. I don't have a problem with a company trying to stop the piracy of their product. I do believe that they should lower the price to make it more appetizing to get a legit copy; but if Microsoft wants to shut down updates to pirated copies then I'm OK with that (except for the fact that there would tons of PCs out there with well publicised holes to exploit).

Do you have any ideas that are better than activation?

Ive started to use Linux at home,but at work we have no choice but to use XP,as that's the standard company OS.As usual no one seems to know where any discs are,even though we back up everything last thing at night.I'm sure thousands are in the same boat.God help our company if the grim reaper calls. :D

As for activation.A market ploy surelly to tell Redmond how many copies of XP are out there.As for piracy,I don't support it,but we all know it goes on.I guess your right,there is no real alternative to activation,other than use another OS full time.I don't always agree with what Microsoft do,but I do applaud their anti-piracy stance,it's just the fact that as a legal holder since 3.1,they always upset genuine customers to deny the illegal ones.

All the best,
Nez.

SP2.

From April 12th,you will no longer be able to 'refuse' SP2 from your home PC,if you have auto update set to on.If you don't want this controversial security update,available since last summer,then don't enable auto update.

Just thought I'd add my input here. Not got much else to do during my lunch break. First, nice subject Nez :) Made me chuckle.

Anyway, firstly I agree with NeedKarma. If Windows dropped their price, they would have more interest from people. Lets see what XP costs at the moment... Home - £163, Prof - £233. Now I'm only 22 and in my first "real" job, so that would be a considerable chunk of my wages.

As for Linux, I have been trying to use SuSE Linux recently. Trouble is, I'm lazy. Linux is not a lazy persons OS. I find I need to go into the console for a lot of things in Linux. Sure I can do it, I just don't want to! On Windows you very rarely have to even look at the command prompt.

Finally if Linux wants to make a serious impact on the home/desktop user they need one things. Mainstream, commercial games. If my games worked on Linux, I would switch today within two seconds.

Guess I should also add something about the original topic. I think the new activation policy is fine. Firstly, having to make a phone call once every three months is no big deal to me. It will only take 5 seconds. Reformatting your PC and starting from clean takes long enough anyway - what's another few minutes going to matter? Plus actually having to physically phone up somebody to activate your software will stop the majority of the piracy. Computer codes can be cracked and broken, workarounds found etc. There's no work around for having to ring up and retrieve something that only Microsoft have.

Hi, Nez,
Very interesting; good to know this.
Microshaft is really the best name I've heard yet!
The very worst thing anyone can do to their computer is to download and install a Beta from Microsoft!
Microsoft is very famous for releasing new versions; with many, many bugs associated with it.
Remember Internet Explorer 5.5? It was so bad that News Groups all over the world were ready to take them to court... and did.
Then, they issued SP1, which wasn't any good, then finally SP2, which worked OK... to a certain extent.

The Web is full of "cures" and "what to do" about Microsoft patches and new products not working. Just use any search engine for problems, and most were caused by service packs.

Windows ME was another fast product to beat the competition, and was a complete disaster; leading up to Windows 2000. Win2000 wasn't ready yet, so they came up with ME to sell in the meantime.

XP was released fast, needing SP1, and then SP2 was released so fast that even now, it is causing major problems. Some sites even discourage people from downloading/installing SP2 with XP. It totally messes up security in many instances.

Security with Microsoft is such an issue that new "security patches" are released about every 2 to 3 months; beginning back with Win98.

So now, your information about the XP, and calling Microsoft is no surprise. People are getting fed up with paying for products that don't perform well; hence, trying to get it for free is understandable.
Best wishes,
fredg

Redhat,SuSe,Mandrake,all good names to play with.As I said earlier,I'm having a bash with Linux.I'm trying to get to grips with Feather Linux.It's replaced my reserve PC copy of Win98 SE,sorry Fred,but I can't afford three PC's!! and is interesting to say the least.Linux is one of those OS systems that's incomprehensable to most,and uses far too many 'strange' jargonisms,if such a word exists.Yes I've sworn at Linux,laughed,and nearly thumped the casing protecting my hardware.Not recommended.But I do know that if my version of Linux becomes too much I can smile,delete it and try again.Or more usually,call a more technically minded friend.Can you imagine the fuss with doing that with XP?

Windows to me is like a hotel kitchen with everybody whose nobody trying their hand at cooking something new for the guests.The trouble is,like confetti in the wind,things often hit you when you are'nt looking.

Maybe I should get a mini Mac.Maybe.No,I shall stick with Windows and Linux because I like a challenge,or maybe I'm just stupid. :D

As Fred says it's update after update,patch after patch,and with SP3 out soon,the merry-go-round continues.Thanx Redmond.

All the best guys,
Nez.

Microsoft has not slowed piracy at all with activation. All the versions the pirates are using don't even require activation. Only the honest people are stuck with this hassle. And they all think 'ohh well if it helps stop crime... ' As a system builder who has run into activation hell, let me tell you its not your friend and you will be pissed when you have a hardware problem and have to install windows several times over. Then all the sudden MS won't let you back into your windows and you'll have to buy a new copy. All along the 'pirate' hasn't even seen those little keys awaiting activation in the task bar. How funny is this.

Usually software is pirated before it even leaves beta.

Piracy is a fact,we all know that.Any good key generator can fool the server.Who knows you might even 'hit' legit details,and poor old John Doe of Kansas can't understand why his anti-virus updates have stopped working. :D

The plain fact is that software wraparounds,as my 'tech' friends call them,will always be available,with the major companies making the 'keys' harder to unlock every year.Sooner or later however,a lot of cloned copies will become redundant with a lot of unhappy downloaders.

I 'm happy stumbling along with Linux and my legal copy of XP.

All the best,
Nez.