News This copy of Windows is not validated as genuine

ring the phone number they offer, chat to a MS representative and all is good again, bit of a PITA, but, no at least you don't have to purchase again!!

K

 

i know thanks

another thing, if you buy a car from EA, and you can only use it on roads that are owned by microsoft and the best roads are in Linux and you live in Linux and houses in microsoft are expensive and licences are expensive what will you do with the car?

 

"slipstream"

I use a leaked pro corporate version, I won't lie. But only so I don't have to call up MS every single time I reinstall, which all things considered is fairly often. As I've said, I own a legal copy (recently transferred the other with the sale of my laptop), just in case not paying way too much for software that's forced on me for what I plan to do (gaming) due to an illegal monopoly is ever against my morals.

I would use Linux, but it gives me squat-all of an option for gaming, and my next laptop is almost certainly going to me a MBP. I'll have Bootcamp/XP on there for gaming, but the rest of the time I plan to stay in the world of OSX. While you can hardly buy a Mac without OSX, it's actually software I want, and the costs aren't as insane (IIRC, $129 for a five-user license, which is totally fair in my books).

 

Don't be ridiculous. Game developers head for the largest target market, and this just so happens to be Windows. Microsoft haven't "forced" them to do anything.

Face it: if you develop games for Linux, is Joe Consumer going to care? No, because he uses Windows, just like 90% of the target audience. Porting games to Linux isn't usually commercially viable for large game studios, because the percentage of their market who actually use something other than Redmond's finest is so small that it's not worth the bother.

That's a bit of a disanalogy... are there many cars that you can get for free?

 

Look at it this way. If you buy a car, you are forced to put petrol in it (this is a more fair comparison, because you run the game on the OS). You pay way too much for that, yet you fill it up every time again if you have to go somewhere. Yet there is an alternative, public transportation... Not as comfortable, not as fast, but it gets you there. You want comfort, speed, freedom, buy a car, but don't complain about the cost.

And in your example, I'd sell the car and get me a decent bike...

 

actually beacause they used Direct3D, DX is not compatible with anything but windows

If they used OpenGL it would be easy for them to port over to other formats

Like WoW, savage and a few others

 

Yahoo, WRONG.

Wine AND Cedega can perform some basic form of DirectX emulation.

 

Well see, that's just the problem. 'some basic form of DirectX emulation'

See what I mean?
If you only have basic support of it, and then it's still only emulation, it means that everything is going to run like crap, if at all.

 

yeh and "basic DX" will work with modern games

good one

 

And yet the game developers seem to have no qualms about using it in preference to OpenGL. How have Microsoft locked them into doing this? They're well within their rights not to allow DirectX - a Microsoft invention - to run on competing operating systems that are available for free.

 

My understanding is that OpenGL as a project in standardization can be quite slow on the up-take (sometimes even measured in years) when it comes to updating with newer technologies/techniques, which means if a developer wants to take advantage of features on cards that came out recently, they end up writing large amounts of extra code, for each card specifically, whereas directx is updated frequently to include it all, In otherwords its often cheaper to code for DirectX.

It might be cheaper to port an OpenGL game to other formats, but if they have to pay extra cost to make the OpenGL version in the first place its not making such a big difference in the end.

I can see why WoW would go OpenGL - Theyre a huge company with plenty of money to throw at the project, hoping for massive numbers of subscribers and a game they will continue support for a long time for. Also of course, they seemingly deliberately went with quite an "old-school" engine, which I'm sure relieves OpenGL's problem with taking full advantage of modern techniques somewhat.

 

technically im not sure what the law is on this, beacause to create a monopoly is definetly not allowed

OpenGL isnt developed as much, as developers are less willing to code for it (probably due to MS propoganda)

Open GL is missing about 1 function of DX, however, it has quite a few extra, and is also faster (less overhead)

 

Yeah, that all fits into MS's "grand plan to take over the world"...

It's not because the game manufacturers force you to use Windows that you have the right to steal it. If your job insists you drive a car for mobility, you can just steal one? If you have a problem with it, don't point the finger at MS, point it at game coders. MS just made an OS, which is very user friendly and therefore is chosen by the PC-illiterates. If the Linux community would turn more to user-friendliness (like with Ubuntu) it will be more widely used. An average pc user doesn't want to go through 50 config files just to change his background (ok, maybe a mild exaggeration, but you get the point)

OT: If I were Microsoft, I'd make a patch that bugs the hell out of pirated versions. I'd make stuff pop up every 15 second, prevent stuff from working, have the system lock up ever 5 minutes for 30 seconds,... Just make it impossible to work on it. And if you can't stand it, either get a legit copy, or get away. No need for leechers. That is called protecting your intellectual property.

I find it so funny to look at. If you steal a car, you're a criminal, if you steal software or music, you're a bad guy, but nobody cares.

I don't want to sound a fanboy, I use both Windows and Linux (and Unix) on various workstations and servers which both I own, and which are owned by others.

 

Exactly. Linux (notably Ubuntu) has become easier to use, but it's still inherently a bit more complex than Windows, which is slightly more intuitive. Installing programs on Linux is something that I assume is just nowhere near as easy for the first-time user, especially if binaries aren't included. Makefile? Terminal? On Windows, you just click "Next" a few times and it's done.

The problem with that is that the numerous people who have unknowingly bought illegitimate copies of the software (PC markets, dubious retailers, etc...) will have their PCs rendered unusable. That having been said, the counterfeit message did give them ample warning!

 

I also read somewhere that though Microsoft talks quite a bit about pirated copies... they don't really care. And this seems a good example. You'd think if they really cared about getting rid of the illegitimate copies, they'd have made this patch compulsory, unable to be uninstalled, and do a little more than pop up some notifications. I'm sure that if they wanted to, they could easily cut off the illegitimate versions. But they haven't.

Because of the cost of Windows, a lot of home users won't or can't buy it. So they get pirated copies. If the pirated copies were rendered useless, then they probably wouldn't be able to use Windows. There would certainly be less people on Windows at any rate, and probably without Windows, some people may not use the computer as much at all. However, if they continue to use windows... then Microsoft can keep it's large market share, and make money on other products, and licensing from games and etc etc.

 

seems a bit pointless to me, i mean with vista coming out soon .. why bother

just make it harder to pirate vista

MS's compulsary 5yr support time is practically over

 

caution: after re-reading what i wrote before pressing enter, i did notice this was a little rant, so please be warned, i have strong opinions and all those opinions should be taken in the spirit of discussion.

<shameless self-promotion>
for some of us, this isnt so much of a problem: see the bit-tech news article here.
</shameless self promotion>

because if they did this, half the world would laugh at them as their illigitimate copy's passed, and the other half would sue as their legitimate copies failed. (see link above)

i'm personally not convinced this will really change anything. they forced people into validating windows before receiving windows updates, and that fell right on its arse, even allowing linux to id as genuine windows. now, this didnt work before, so lets make something new that acts just like malware, so we can annoy people even more.... and looksie, its allready been killed.


personally, i find this amazing. you buy a peice of software, you have to ask permission to install it, then you allow microsoft to decide what you can and cant put into your pc whilst you are using the software? ok, im sure software piracy is a big problem for microsoft, that one copy of pro that got copied a zillion times sure has pushed them to the brink of bancruptcy hasnt it, i can hear the bailiffs banging on the door of bills mountain-top mansion right now.... oh, no, wait, thats the sound of them stamping on your rights.

whats next, vista can only be installed by an authorised windows installer-man, who visits your home to install it, surrounded by armed guards? sure, it sounds stupid, but only as stupid as having to call up microsoft to ask them for their permission to use their software.... oh, wait... nevermind.

as i'm sure everyone knows by now, im a linux zealot, and this is the bit where it really shows why. im writing this on windows, because my machine is down for its bi-annual cleaning (scraping the ciggarette smoke off the hsf blades). so i'm on a machine i have for visitors, which is running windows XP. it amazes me how people can use this backwards, limited, non-intuative interface for any length of time. you pay for something thats outrageously expensive, prostituting your rights, making sure that your time with a pc is a limited and frustrating as possible. scary.

there is an alternative. yes, there is linux, but there is also mac, which is much better for 'noobs'. linux isnt for everyone, but its for me, because it means when i see all this 'MS ate my soul' stuff, i can laugh a little nervous laugh, cause sooner or later, it will be the armed guards.

 

I really think American's need to start rethinking their generic views on Monopolies, remember America is against the world now and you can't play fair when your toughest competition is a Monopoly Endorsing nation like China.
I'm Chinese and I can say that China's part state owned super monopolies are eating away at America a bit a a time and it's about time the American's put down their high horse morality and deal with the issues of global economy. (Haier buys Maytag, Lenovo takes IBM PC)
In other words strengthen what monopolies you have left to compete against the world before it's too late.