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[News] Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Give More Reasons to Switch to GNU/Linux

  • Subject: [News] Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Give More Reasons to Switch to GNU/Linux
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:03:28 +0000
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: Netscape / schestowitz.com
  • User-agent: KNode/0.10.4
Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista not for pirates

,----[ Quote ]
| Although, unlike previous Windows versions, Vista is not available as an 
| activation-free version, a number of more or less effective methods were 
| quickly found to run Vista without activation. However, this is soon to end. 
| According to Microsoft, Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista closes two 
| vulnerabilities which previously enabled operation of Vista without a 
| license.     
`----

http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/100006/from/rss09

On the other hand:

WGA anti-piracy mode for Vista softened thanks to Linux and OS X threat?

,----[ Quote ]
| Will pirates give in and pay for a legal copy of Vista Home Premium at less 
| than half price, or consider moving to Linux or Mac OS X instead?  
`----

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15639/1103/

This isn't about Linux, but about the constant and abysmal failures. WGA server
downtime, false positives, can't change hardware safely... (more below)

Reduced 'advantage' seems to be the only advantage of SP1, which is still
as 'fat' as its predecessor.


Related:

Long Live Free: How Free Makes Money

,----[ Quote ]
| The concept of "free" isn't exactly a new one, but it is taking on a sort of 
| new life in the digital age as major publishers (slowly) warm up to the 
| concept – except the recording industry, of course, where the "free" is 
| usually coupled with "to help make us a lot more money."   
`----

http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/10/09/long-live-free-how-free-makes-money


The interplay between software piracy and monopoly

,----[ Quote ]
| The biggest threat to any company is that no one cares enough about its 
| software to steal it. With open source, the threat of theft is essentially 
| removed.  
`----

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9797128-16.html?tag=head


Why Do You Need Windows?

,----[ Quote ]
| I’ve recently switched to Kubuntu Gutsy (the KDE version of the upcoming 
| Ubuntu release) and have to say I absolutely love it so far! 
`----

http://elyon225.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/why-do-you-need-windows/


Windows Is Free - The impact of pirated software on free software

,----[ Quote ]
| In fact, a free copy of Windows might even be freer than free. What I mean by 
| that is, unlike most tangible consumer goods, pirated software is often 
| easier to obtain and set up than making a legitimate purchase.  
`----

http://tlug.jp/articles/Windows_Is_Free


Why Piracy Hurts Open Source

,----[ Quote ]
| "...John looks at this from a different direction. He shows you why
| software piracy hurts Open Source software--the free stuff you are using."
`----

http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000266


Why the illegal market determines the success of your software
 
,----[ Quote ]
| Vista however was marketed as being harder, better, faster, stronger 
| and more importantly - nigh uncrackable. Which proved a problem 
| because it made uptake noticably slower than that for XP. However, 
| things might have changed now because some awfully clever people
| managed to crack Vista (apparently). This might have caused a 
| shift in demographics because users are now potentially able to 
| sample the "delights" of Vista without paying massively 
| inflated prices.
`----

http://www.seopher.com/articles/why_the_illegal_market_determines_the_success_of_your_software


Microsoft Happy with the Evolution of Windows Vista Piracy

,----[ Quote ]
| But the truth is that Microsoft is happy with the way Windows Vista
| piracy is evolving. Is there a catch to this? No. The fact of the
| matter is that Windows Vista has delivered a heavy blow to
| software counterfeiters. The reason for this is the new Windows
| Genuine Advantage security mechanism integrated into the
| operating system.
| 
| You may not notice this on the surface. On the surface, the
| Internet is crawling with Windows Vista cracks, hacks and
| workarounds. On the surface, every Windows Vista edition has
| been cracked and is available for download via peer-to-peer 
| networks. But this is not the true extent of Windows Vista piracy.
`----

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Happy-with-the-Evolution-of-Windows-Vista-Piracy-50577.shtml


Governments Must Reject Gates' $3 Bid to Addict Next Billion PC Users 

,----[ Quote ]
| "Microsoft's strategy of getting developing nations hooked on its
| software was clearly outlined by Bill Gates almost a decade ago," said
| Con Zymaris, CEO of long-standing open source firm Cybersource. 
| 
| Specifically, Bill Gates, citing China as an example, said:
|  
|   "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but
|   people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though.
|   As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours.
|   They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to
|   collect sometime in the next decade."[1]
`----

http://www.cybersource.com.au/press/gates_set_to_addict_next_billion.html


Microsoft seals its Windows and opens the door to Linux

,----[ Quote ]
| Now comes the really interesting question. With Vista's activation
| technology, Microsoft has the power to stamp out piracy everywhere. But
| will it choose to do so everywhere? After all, if folks in China or
| Thailand or Ethiopia have to pay for Vista, they won't be able to run
| it because they won't be able to afford the licence fee. In which case
| they may finally wake up to the attractions of free software such as
| Linux - and it's easy to imagine what that will do to Microsoft's
| plans for world domination.
|
| It's a delicious prospect: Microsoft impaling itself on the horns
| of a dilemma it has created for itself. Roll on Thursday.
`----

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1956941,00.html 


How Piracy Opens Doors for Windows

,----[ Article's summary ]
| Bill Gates may not be entirely dismayed by software thieves. They
| seed the world market and make Microsoft a standard.
`----

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-micropiracy9apr09,0,414067.story?track=tottext


Why piracy kills Open Source

,----[ Quote ]
| Because for them, the price is the same.
| 
| So, please, Microsoft, defend your own products, and don't allow users to
| use pirated versions. You'll be doing the best for the Open Source
| products.
`----

http://youmaybeinterrupting.com/desktop.php?view&postid=12&a=apps%2FBlog%3B%3B


Piracy of software, and why it helps software companies

,----[ Quote ]
| I recall something that Bill Gates said about the issue of piracy
| of Windows 98 a few years back. The piracy situation was pretty
| bad in South-East Asia (and the rest of the world) and he did
| not seem to mind. I can't remember the exact quote, but it was
| something to the effect of "I don't mind them using my software
| for free as long as they are using it. I understand they cannot
| afford the price, especially in this part of the world."
`----

http://blog.jeffkee.com/2007/02/14/piracy-of-software-and-why-it-helps-software-companies/


Average Indian person just gets a copy of pirated Windows instead of a free
and legal copy of Linux 

,----[ Quote ]
| One of Linux's compelling features is the cost; Linux is free.
| However, as far as the average Indian person is concerned, there
| is no difference in cost between Linux and Windows, since he gets
| a copy of pirated Windows instead of an authorized and legal
| copy of Windows anyway..
`----

http://www.webpublishingforum.com/about965.html


Chinese attitude on buying Vista

,----[ Quote ]
| I've mentioned above,the price of Vista is higher than RMB2000 (about
| USD257) may not shake users in developed countries, but do you know it
| is equal to the average monthly salary in China's economic center
| Shanghai!So please take this fact into consideration before
| criticize our behavior of buying pirate softwares.
| 
| recent survey of public opinion from China's portal NetEase shows that 81%
| of netizens think Microsoft is forcing them to use pirate Vista...
`----

http://ya.iyee.cn/2007/02/chinese-attitude-on-buying-vista.html


Microsoft says college students can 'steal' Office

,----[ Quote ]
| Well, actually Microsoft isn't encouraging piracy. Rather it is launching a 
| promotion, dubbed "Ultimate Steal," in which college students can get the 
| ultra high-end Ultimate edition of Office for just $60.  
`----

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9777020-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20


Microsoft "learning" from WGA failures, but the lesson should be: kill it

,----[ Quote ]
| The other problem with WGA is that its very name is oxymoronic: there is no 
| advantage for users who pass WGA's tests. Microsoft attempted to add a carrot 
| to go with its WGA stick by tying it to certain products (such as the first 
| releases of Internet Explorer 7—subsequent versions have had their WGA 
| requirement removed), but for all intents and purposes, passing a WGA check 
| brought no additional benefits to the end user. Fixing WGA's flaws may not be 
| enough here: Microsoft should really take a long, hard look at whether or not 
| WGA is really necessary at all.       
`----

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071126-microsoft-learning-from-wga-failures-but-the-lesson-should-be-kill-it.html
http://tinyurl.com/2vevrs


Microsoft WGA validation servers down 

,----[ Quote ]
| It just goes to show that MS DRM infections and inbuilt malware are 
| unacceptable. If you buy anything with activation, you are simply wasting 
| money. Avoid Vista like the plague, it simply isn't worth it. If today is not 
| a warning sign in big red letters, I don't know what is.   
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41924


Windows users: Get Ready for a Long Weekend

,----[ Quote ]
| The discussion on the Microsoft forums has not been kind. As you might 
| expect, the “U-word” Ubuntu has been bandied about.  
`---- 

http://www.askreamaor.com/microsoft-and-windows/windows-users-get-ready-for-a-long-weekend/


Cancelling WGA Installation sends a report to Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| They decided to cancel the installation and immediately after doing
| so the firewall reported that update.exe tried to connect to the
| internet. This caught their attention of course and they decided
| to analyze the data that was send after the connection was established.
| 
| They used Wireshark to analyze the traffic and found out that
| update.exe sends data to genuine.microsoft.com. Some of the data
| seems to be encrypted while some could be identified. It sends
| registry information, namely the SusClientID as well as information
| about the version of the WGA tool, the windows version and the
| language of the operating system. It also sets a cookie whichc
| ontains a GUID which could possibly be used to identify the computer.
`----

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=38614


I've had it up to HERE with the likes of Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| When WGA was first implemented, certain free downloads from MS
| were unavailable unless you installed something to "verify" you
| didn't "pirate" your OS. Then comes the WGA "tool" that phones home
| several times a day/week/month "verifying" your installation, and
| now most interesting downloads from MS are blocked unless you
| validate your OS. Add to this the certainty that Vista is going
| to up the ante on WGA and MS found one less customer.
| 
| Speaking of Vista, I tried out RC1 and found it slow, ill-conceived
| and just plain ugly. You cannot change basic interface elements like
| menus without warning. Things are moved all over the place, never got
| a sense of uniformity, etc, etc. Bottom line - I hated it. Add this
| to the unrest in my stomach over WGA and I found myself at the
| crossroads.
`----

http://www.applexnet.com/node/549


Vista's EULA Product Activation Worries

,----[ Quote ]
| Mark Rasch looks at the license agreement for Windows Vista and how its 
| product activation component, which can disable operation of the computer, 
| may be like walking on thin ice.
| 
| [...]
| 
| "Does the Microsoft EULA adequately tell you what will happen if you
| don't activate the product or if you can't establish that it is
| genuine? Well, not exactly. It does tell you that some parts of the
| product won't work - but it also ambiguously says that the product
| itself won't work. Moreover, it allows Microsoft, through fine print
| in a generally unread and non negotiable agreement, to create an
| opportunity for economic extortion."
`----

http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/423


Dvorak: 'Something To Avoid at All Costs'

,----[ Quote ]
| Many in Health IT are moving to all over-the-web 'asp', software-as-service 
| Electronic Medical Records services with total centralized control of data. 
| John C. Dvorak sounds off a note of caution for such a trend with the recent 
| Windows Genuine Advantage server outage...
`----

http://www.linuxmednews.com/1188267152


Still no word on cause of WGA outage or Microsoft’s future prevention plans

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft officials say they are continuing to investigate how the outage 
| occurred, as well as why someone on the support team inappropriately told 
| users the outage wouldn’t be resolved until August 28. If the team already 
| knows what happened, so far, it’s not saying.   
`----

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=677


WGA Meltdown Casts Doubt on Microsoft Reliability

,----[ Quote ]
| Gartner Inc. analyst Michael Silver also dinged Microsoft on the reliability 
| issue. "A system that's not totally reliable really should not be so 
| punitive," he said. "This issue is not really how long it take for Microsoft 
| to fix the problem, but also how when the user can get back on the network to 
| revalidate. What happens when someone's about to get on a plane and won't be 
| able to revalidate for three days?"     
`----

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136451-c,companynews/article.html


Microsoft set to push out updated antipiracy tool

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft will soon start pushing out a new version of its controversial 
| Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications antipiracy tool to Windows XP 
| users.
`----

http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-6139161.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news


Analyst: Microsoft's revamped WGA puts burden on users

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft announced Tuesday that it would use Automatic Updates to
| roll out changes to the component of its anti-piracy scheme that
| nags users when their copy of Windows is tagged as counterfeit. An
| analyst criticises the changes as more work for customers.
`----

http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=42894


Windows Trojan masquerades as Vista hack

,----[ Quote ]
| A supposed Windows Vista crack called Windows Vista All Versions
| Activation 21.11.06 is reportedly doing the rounds, offering those
| tempted by the chance of sticking it to Microsoft the ability to
| install illegal versions of Windows Vista.
| 
| However, the software is not a Windows Vista crack and pirates get
| something they didn't expect - installation of a Trojan called
| PSW.Win32.LdPinch.aze - something with a "high" threat level.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/06/windows_vista_trojan/


Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.5.722.0 Cracked

,----[ Quote ]
| Just press any key, and it's done cracking! All popup nag screens
| gone and you're now able to download updates from Windows Update.
`----

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2006/12/11/windows-genuine-advantage-validation-v157220-cracked/


Windows Genuine Advantage - what a pain

,----[ Quote ]
| One of the Trojans appears to have corrupted the registry of the
| PC to such an extent that Windows Genuine Advantage thinks the
| version of Windows on his machine is pirated.
| 
| It's not, but perhaps worse, a number of other applications,
| including AVG Anti-Virus are also blocking updates until the
| copy of Windows is made legitimate.
| 
| I think a complete re-install of the operating system is
| called for, as patching around the problem seems to be impossible.
`----

http://securityblog.itproportal.com/?p=655


Latest Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.7.17.0 Cracked

,----[ Quote ]
| Team ETH0 again very quickly cracked the latest Windows Genuine
| Advantage Validation v1.7.17.0 and released it to public after a week.
| So far they're the only one that cracked the latest WGA.
`----

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2007/02/28/latest-windows-genuine-advantage-validation-v17170-cracked/


Microsoft offers small-business promotions

,----[ Quote ]
| At its Small Business Summit Monday, Microsoft said that small
| businesses that take part in the WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage)
| program can receive a seven-day free trial of business credit-report 
| checks and a six-month trial of Microsoft Office OneNote 2003.
`----

http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20070319/tc_infoworld/86978


Windows Genuine Annoyance

,----[ Quote ]
| My windows Genuine Advantage experience, which doesn't provide
| any discernible advantage to anyone but Microsoft, hit a new
| low today.
`----

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2007/04/windows_genuine.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_techbeat
http://tinyurl.com/3dy86d


MS to OEMs: Get legit on Vista, or the OS is toast

,----[ Quote ]
| It gets worse. Microsoft offers OEMs a chance to "win a cool PC" by 
| taking a quiz testing their knowledge of Windows Vista and WGA. But 
| it doesn't exactly instill confidence when you type the URL into your 
| browser and find out the page doesn't exist.
`----

http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2007/06/microsoft_to_oe.html


Microsoft to offer code protection, validation to other software developers

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is encouraging developers to take the next step, and do not just 
| activation, but also Genuine Advantage-style validation. But the new SLP 
| offerings are not “Genuine Advantage” for third parties, Lindeman said.  
| 
| “We are encouraging ISVs to think about doing validation like we do with 
| Genuine Advantage. They can do that or their own thing,” Lindeman said. 
`----

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=575


Seeking market share, Microsoft removes WGA anti-piracy check from IE7

,----[ Quote ]
| The move is remarkable because it is the first time that Microsoft has 
| removed WGA checks from a product in order to increase the attractiveness of 
| that product. It's difficult to see this as any but an attempt to get as many 
| users as possible to install IE7, even those who have pirated Windows.     
`----

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071004-seeking-market-share-microsoft-removes-wga-anti-piracy-check-from-ie7.html

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