News When Product Activation isn't enough - WGA

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/05/16/windows_product_activation_wga/

 

Uni gives me a free copy of Windows XP its updated with latest service packs too. As well as visual studio, Win 2003 Server enterprise, Visual Studio...blah blah they up MS's arse tbh. But at least I have a legit copy of windows

'doc

 

I give it two hours before this is rendered useless by some kind of hack .

Death

 

Haha, the article says its already been bypassed.

 

Is this a bit like games were 10-15 years ago, where the "copy protection" did nothing but annoy the crap out of those with legit copies, while people with pirated copies just breezed past it??

I'm sure it's far easier to annoy your current customers rather than go after the factories in the Far East that churn out thousands of iffy CDs every day :S

 

i'm sorry, but we spend £300 on video cards but are not prepared to spend £70 on an OEM copy of winXP Home? (don't tell me you "need" pro - if you do then pay the extra 20 bloody quid)

WHAT? that makes about as much sense as the following word: spwerkphamulastic.

 

Well, buying OEM versions as everyone knows is dodgy legal ground at best. Suppliers should NOT be selling them without hardware to the best of my knowlege, so lets take the completely inarguable off the shelf prices:

Windows XP Home is roughly £140 inc VAT
Windows XP Pro is £200 inc VAT

Some people, like me, need the additional networking features in Pro in order to be able to work remotely from home. So, for every PC we have (which in my case is 4) that's £200 a pop.

Whilst I am anti-piracy, MS still have a wildly insulting pricing scheme for home users which makes it understandable why people pirate. I generally put this high charging policy down to them only wanting them to ship OEM versions on preapproved hardware.

If Windows was a reasonable cost (under £100 for the Pro version) then all this would neither be neccessary or an issue because many more people *would* pay for the OS.

 

yes, and what's to stop you buying OEM with your next upgrade?

hell, it's not even specified what kind of hardware it should be - just "internal". £3 IDE cable qualifies you to buy OEM windows. Simply computers actively promote this fact!

 

If you are into piracy you wont have to worry for too long. It is easy as hell to get around WPA, WGA wont be that tough.. now there will be 'cracked' versions of WMP or DX9. They will keep bringing out new things just for them to be cracked again.

 

What MS dosn't seem to understand is that the hackers are as highly if not even more dedicated to hacking thier software as MS is to protecting it. In the end MS will have spent a ton of money to get this working, but it will be wasted becasue there will always be a way around it. Then again it might be time for me too pull out my Windows 2000 Corp disc

-Bob

 

I got an OEM copy of XP Pro from where I used to work because the machine it came with ended up using Linux. However at some point Microsoft decided that the legit key I was using was no longer legit and I was forced to get a dodgy code off the net. So now I wonder if I will pass this WGA test and if not how do I explain that although I am using a legit copy that was paid for I am not using it on the machine it was sold with?

 

As mad as it sounds, their licence agreements on OEM software are NON transferrable. Which means if you're using the licence which came with one PC on another PC, it's illegal.

Well, it's not-licenced at least in their eyes, whether it's illegal is another matter.

 

Pope is right. Copy protection annoys the **** out of end-users and doesn't bother those of us who can crack in the slightest.

Does it bother anyone that for about half of my LEGAL games, I have to go download a CD crack to make it not have license errors? Yet for every program I downloaded illegally in college, it ran like a champ. Hell, they ought to pay us for fixing their bloody errors. Nowadays I buy my software, but I still have to crack it just so it works right most of the time.

As for reasonable prices, they jack up the end-purchaser so they can sell it for $0.50 to Dell and other bulk OEMs. The money they make off of us, the enthusiasts who BUILD our pcs, is gravy. Rip off.

Cracking used to be a fun game between the crackers and the security people. We did it because it was fun to try and figure out what they did. Nowadays it's a right of survival in order to either use legitimate software we already purchased or not get raped buying legitimate software (ahem, M$).

All this is going to do is encourage more and more people to go underground with their software, which is going to increase viruses, faulty code, etc from the downloaded warez and cracks sites.

M$, if you want people to stop pirating, stop overcharging. Look at iTunes: So many people now buy the music they used to pirate. It only costs $0.99 a song now, instead of the $17.95 a CD costs...people will pay when the rates are fair. Building yet more legal-user-annoyances (I would laugh at the idea that this is any "copy protection") is just trying to build a better mousetrap. And when you build a better mousetrap, you build a better, angrier mouse.

By the way, you guys pay 200 POUNDS over there? Man, Pro costs $200USD here...with the conversion rate, we're a bit better off.

EDIT: By the way, when they put in all this new "protection," doesn't it cost more bandwidth and programmer time, etc, etc, etc? Just lower prices to an affordable level and that huge waste of money goes away.

 

In the majority of cases just replace the $ with a £ and that's how much it costs us.

 

Man, that sucks. I wonder if that's a "you live on an island" surcharge or what?

 

I've always wondered what activation does, so I guess it's good to know it does essentially nothing. I have a running fear that I will re-install Windows one day and MS will claim I'm using a pirated copy because someone else (myself) has already activated an installation with the same CD-key.

 

Thats what makes me mad right there. Having to call MS after installing the software so many times. Having to deal with their moronic call centers to reactivate a peice of software that I paid for just because I needed to reformat because their operating system bombs out atleast every couple years and then having to explain what Im doing.

The pricing is unreal for their upgrades as well, especially considering that they dont offer a family pack like apple (apples works for up to 5 computers for about $50 more) so like kna said it can easily cost your thousands of dollars just to upgrade your home PCs, I dont even want to imagine what some companies have to pay to do this.

Its easy to see why Gates is the richest man in the world (err hes in the top 5 atleast, some oil guy I think beat him out this year), he gouges his customers becasue there are basicly no other options, especially if you want to use games (if there are let me know)

 

I errr *know* someone who had an activation free version of Windows XP about 5 days before it came out, he was using this version until he obtained a free copy by legal means
MS will not win on this front.
The only reason MS gives away free products it to get us 'hooked' on that product, for example ASP so they get money in the long run.

'doc

 

Using a key generator that produces valid product keys for XP Pro Corporate Edition will let you validate Windows with WGA, but will Microsoft change that once it becomes mandatory... or is it just too difficult to tell the valid keys from the generated ones?

I thought they were going to link up their database of known valid keys to WindowsUpdate (or Microsoft Update when it comes out of beta) and the WGA protected pages, but so far it doesn't seem that way.

 

Guys guys guys...

The first version before Windows actually came out was called the D3vils 0wn Copy which was a RTM final version but NOT the Gold version. A copy that I had and don't use because it would die after a couple of months. This version works with all VLK's from Microsoft. You can change the PID number within the winnt.sif to make it OEM, Retail or VLK. To act, when installing, as an upgrade only, full install only, or upgrade and full install. The VLK copies you didn't authenticate and didn't have to register if you didnt want to.

Microsoft has blacklisted many many license key's and pid's. You must get a new key. Blue Listed VLK's and normal keys won't get the genuine certificate but will still be able to download the critical updates. Normal genuine users will be able to update np's. These include the ones that have the genuine sticker and cd in their hands or on their computer or through a university program such as MSDNAA.

I have had copies from the University Microsoft program. While good if you are the only one to use it and keep the computer forever or stay with the university. I believe in the contract you cannot sell the computer with the OS still on it or give away the software or resell it.

I do however have a VLK copy [legit] of windows that does not require any registration or authentication. The key's do work with the Genuine test. I've made them into a full unattended install, all the drivers I could ever need for any computer and all slipstreamed updates till today. Which I use on my home computers, not connected to the net. It runs beautifully, fast and stable. If my computer does crash I can get everything back to normal within about 3 cd's, including the XP cd.

If I didn't have this I would go through our vendor at work and get a copy of the cd and license for about $70 US, hehe... BTW, betanews is good for info as well as msfn.org forums