New Windows OS.... Windows XP HA HA HA

Originally posted by SonyFan
"Im a big linux user and this has to be the worst operating system I have ever seen." - kilrath

Well hey, if you know what Linux and it\'s programs are like, can you answer a question for me? I just got a copy of MacMillan\'s Complete Linux-Mandrake 6.1 (Red Hat+ Enhancements) and I just need to know how dependable WINE is. I\'ve got a crapload of Dos and Windows games/applications that I\'d hate to loose because they won\'t run under Linux.

It works really well acutally.  But then again it also depends on what applications you are running.  If your MS office crashes on you in windows all the time then its going to have a tuff job running good in wine.  ACtually some people say it runs better under wine.  I know someone who was running windows95 in a window.  Pretty damn funny.  ANd don\'t go 6.1...  6.1 is nice and its really stable, but you really have to do a lot of updating.  If your new to the ball game, go 7.2..   Or kernel release 2.2.4  REally really nice features and compatablity with all the hardware out there.  I love it.  I just set up a server the other day and got Web services, e-mail, mp3 streaming all set up in about 4 hours.  Good good stuff.

Originally posted by nO-One
And to me the worst part about XP is that you have to be a subscriber (or something like that) to it.(no more free Windows for me ).And the same thing with OfficeXP.
You can\'t just go out and buy the OS (or borrow the CD from a friend ) you have to register at MS.

Are you sure about this?? I haven\'t heard that before. That would suck (for those who likes to pirate Windows I mean, not me personally of course ). So how is it supposed to work?

[nO-One]

I\'m not sure how it works but apparently you can\'t pirate XP.We who like to ummm "borrow" windows CD\'s will be in deep doh if we have to actually buy the OS (shudder) :crap:+
Ohh well we will find someway to "borrow" the OS.
Ohh and a few things I\'ve heard.
XP will be tied to your hardware.
If your not allowed to listen to a downloaded (pirated) song the OS will insert noise while playing it.

Those are the things I\'ve heard.

People devote hours and even their lives to undermining the monopoly of MS..  And good, because it keeps that company slightly in check.  

They will find a way around it, they always do..

Originally posted by nO-One
I\'m not sure how it works but apparently you can\'t pirate XP.We who like to ummm "borrow" windows CD\'s will be in deep doh if we have to actually buy the OS (shudder) :crap:+
Ohh well we will find someway to "borrow" the OS.
Ohh and a few things I\'ve heard.
XP will be tied to your hardware.
If your not allowed to listen to a downloaded (pirated) song the OS will insert noise while playing it.

Those are the things I\'ve heard.

LOL, that sounds horrible. I guess I\'ll stick to Win2K if all of this is indeed true. But we\'d better wait till it\'s actually released.

[nO-One]

Originally posted by kirath
People devote hours and even their lives to undermining the monopoly of MS..  And good, because it keeps that company slightly in check.  

They will find a way around it, they always do..

Amen to that

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by nO-One
I\'m not sure how it works but apparently you can\'t pirate XP.We who like to ummm "borrow" windows CD\'s will be in deep doh if we have to actually buy the OS (shudder) :crap:+
Ohh well we will find someway to "borrow" the OS.
Ohh and a few things I\'ve heard.
XP will be tied to your hardware.
If your not allowed to listen to a downloaded (pirated) song the OS will insert noise while playing it.

Those are the things I\'ve heard.

http://www.The-Ctrl-Alt-Del.com/
Look around there. There was a lenghtly discussion on the new security measures for Windows XP (the pros and cons) and how simple it is to get past in all reality. You may have to look around in the archives as it was when the first leaked version of at the time "Whislter" came out. But, its there..

an article from the above source given by L-I-C

January 16, 2001  | Paul Thurrott

Whistler anti-piracy measures confirmed

As first reported in WinInfo Daily UPDATE, Microsoft will institute an anti-piracy measure in Whistler, the next version of Windows 2000, that will tie the Product Key to the machine ID of the first PC on which its installed. Dubbed "product activation" by the company, the feature is designed to reduce casual copying by requiring the Internet- or phone-based registration, or activation, of Whistler before it can be used. This process will create a unique identification code for that particular installation based on the Product Key that was entered and certain criteria from the hardware configuration. If the user attempts to install that copy of Whistler on a different machine with the same Product Key, the activation will fail. Whistler\'s product activation feature is similar to that used by Office 10, which will debut a few months before the Whistler desktop versions.
Microsoft says that product activation does not scan a user\'s hard drive or register the make and model of the PC with the company. Instead, a random installation ID is generated using unnamed parts of the hardware configuration, and the Product ID, and that number is registered along with the Product ID at Microsoft. Users concerned about changing their system\'s configuration have nothing to fear: Microsoft understands that people upgrade components in their systems and their product activation scheme takes this into account. If a user completely recreates a system from scratch, say replacing the motherboard and other main components simultaneously, they will need to call Microsoft to activate the product when it is re-registered. This process will make it impossible to reinstall the OS on the old system.

Product activation is designed almost solely for consumers, and it won\'t affect most corporations, which typically purchase Microsoft products with volume licenses. Microsoft says that product activation will only be included in versions of Whistler that are sold at retail or acquired by consumers through PC makers and other OEMs.

so that pretty much confrims some of no one\'s statements about not being able to borrow windows from someone and put it on your computer - so it is gonna be pretty hard to find a way around it

BTW here is a pic that was with the article i thought was funny:


windows through smifnoff vodka - who would have known

[Living-In-Clip]

The URL I posted earlier somewhere in the archives has the way to beat XP protection. I remember reading it, it wasn\'t that complicated either. Few register tweaks and what not, if I remember correctly. That is--if MS doesn\'t change it since the beta proteciton was already defeated. It wouldn\'t suprise me if MS doesn\'t go back to the drawing board for its copyright protection, before the final release of XP. Even if so, it would only be an extremely short time, before it was figured out.

The mere idea of binding one copy of XP to the hardware is beyond stupid. Think of it like this, for Network Admins who wish to install Xp over a network, that would mean they have to buy a copy of XP for each PC and keep up with the reg  codes for each copy also. Good for Microsoft? Yeah, they could in theory sell 200 + copies of Xp to just one network. Bad for the network Admins? More then you can imagine. It would be a huge hassle / expensive / time consuming.

Also, what about situation B? Where you upgrade the HD and what not and then it won\'t let you install Xp over? There is  alot of situations / instances that would make XP and its copy protection a hassle that shouldn\'t be dealt with.

 

I believe this is the article you were talking about:

Copy protection on Whistler easily cracked
By: John Lettice
Posted: 19/01/2001 at 13:26 GMT


Whistler\'s copy protection is by no means uncrackable, according to various of The Register\'s shady sources. The hardware-locked key system currently shipping with the Whistler beta seems to be fairly easy to get around, and the inconvenience of the system - if it ships with the production Whistler - will be likely to encourage the widespread use of cracks, and even of doctored installation disks that are entirely unlocked.

As we said the other month, the greater the inconvenience for the user that comes with anti-piracy measures, the more likely the users are going to feel morally justified in ripping the protection off. Whistler protection sounds like one of Microsoft\'s most inconvenient methods ever, so go figure.

Whistler (along with Office 10) uses a combination of a CD key and a code generated from the specific machine\'s hardware to generate another code, which is then validated by Microsoft by phone or over the Web, and you get another key which unlocks the software. You can\'t use it on two different machines,* and if you change your hardware and need to reinstall the key you have isn\'t valid. It\'s aggravating for ordinary users, and likely to be crippling for systems admins who want to be able to do multiple installs simply.

But the protection isn\'t rocket science, and we\'re told the following method works (as we don\'t yet have the version of Whistler with the protection, we can\'t verify it):
[list=1]

• Disconnect from any network.
• Start the install, but don\'t use dynamic update (which wants to connect, right?)
• After installation and on first boot, don\'t set up your

Internet connection when it asks. Click next or skip - the wizard will crash when you click next.

• Click Start/Run and type:

regsvr32.exe -u regwizc.dll
Close the confirmation window that appears.

• Start/run: regedit
• Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\WindowsNT\\CurrentVersion change RegDone value to 1
• Open up Internet Explorer. Open the Tools/Internet Properties and change your home page to something that isn\'t Microsoft or MSN.
• Reboot and before windows starts up, plug your network connection back in.
[/list=1]

Basically, the protection is circumventable with just a little bit of detouring and a regedit. Microsoft no doubt knows this, but is presumably banking on most users going along with the process, as they\'ve tended to do in the past. But as we say, the inconvenience factor may well change the ratios.

And another thing worth considering - granted ordinary users who\'ve paid for the software will tend to just go through the process as specified by Microsoft, but who are the people most motivated not to? That\'s right, it\'s the pirates the system is supposed to be tackling. Pirates will make it their business to know how to rip off the protection and burn the software onto modified install CDs, which they\'ll then sell cheap. If the protection isn\'t very good - which it isn\'t - then they don\'t have any more trouble with it than before, so Microsoft hits the honest punters, misses the target entirely, and maybe co-opts the people in the middle into the twilight zone of legality.

So friends, is this system really intended to tackle piracy at all? Isn\'t it perhaps more plausible to think of the objective as being to enforce universal registration of Microsoft products with Microsoft?

* On this subject, we\'re not sure where this leaves the legendary \'two machine\' Microsoft licence agreement. According to the Microsoft site some licences allow to run the software on two machines, say, office and portable, but just not at the same time. We don\'t know who gets these licences, we know all ours say just the one machine, so it may be an academic question anyway. ®

[Living-In-Clip]

That is what I was talking about. Thanks man.

no prob

it wasn\'t hard to find - i should have seen it earlier whe getting the other

guess i must have just overlooked it

oh well at least people don\'t have to go and find it now like i did

[nO-One]

Yes just what I needed I don\'t have to be afraid to use Fisher PriceOS any more woohoo

[nO-One]

Keeping\'em screenies coming

Just click here

I hate the start button

ohh and here\'s a small part from an article on Wired.com about the noise XP will make while your listening to unsecure media

The Secure Audio Path (SAP) adds "static" interference to media files that require video and audio cards to authenticate themselves with Windows software before they can be played. The company would be able to verify that a media player isn\'t playing an "unsecured" file, which according to Microsoft would eliminate much of the threat of piracy.

and here\'s the link

yea but does that mean it would not allow you to burn MP3\'s?

if so i think i might need to stay away from XP

I make cds for people at work and my friends all the time and also that is just sorry