Favorite Files

No favorite files added yet

Recent Posts

1. Comment - Microsoft Closes Activation Loophole

   (Feb 27, 2005 - 11:13 AM)

   How does what your teachers are familiar with control what you use?
   Look into OpenOffice or Star Office. Completely free and completely compatible with M$ Office. You can save in Office format and no one can tell the difference.
   Windows is (currently) a different issue and (for now) you are stuck with it if you must remain complete.
   You can get Office for the Mac (it is also fully compatible, although you can have issues is you use fancy fonts) and you will be free of Windows and Viruses and Spyware (although you won't be abel to play as many games).
   We are working on that, though.

2. Comment - Microsoft Closes Activation Loophole

   (Feb 26, 2005 - 4:01 PM)

   I applaud your attempt to be ethical, especially while in Business, but Ethics is never that easy.
   Suppose I buy a new computer from Dell or HP. Microsoft FORCES them to pre-install Windows. There is no way I can avoid paying for it (is that Ethical or just "business today"?). Yes, Dell will sell me the same PC with no OS, but it will actually cost me *more* because that makes it a 'special order' (I pay more for less, is that Ethical or just "business today"?).
   Now suppose that I decide not to use that OS and I donate it anonymously to a charity. Will the Charity even be able to activate it? It will depend on whether or not they can convince someone at Microsoft to activate it (is that Ethical or just "business today"?).
   
   At least you seem to know something about how the 'activation' process and "business today" work.
   Let us suppose that a computer manufacturer, like Dell, has Inventory Control software. Then they could notify Microsoft of the machine serial number and all the activation information and associate it with a specific serial number or Windows. As a user of this new machine, I could re-activate it over the internet as often as I wish without a single problem and never have to speak to wait on hold.
   What Microsoft claims as the reason for stopping the automatic activation is that when they sell a specific serial number of Windows that they do not realize that it is being installed on completely different hardware. This is *not* good business. It is especially bad for a company that writes Databases to claim that they are unable to track a serial number. This implies that Microsoft is not aware of even simple Inventory Control practices and probably should not be in business. What else have they 'lost'?
   Since they cannot track what they do sell, how can they come up with numbers for what they do not sell? Sounds like Enron to me.
   I challenge you that dealing with such a business may be unethical itself becasue you help to perpetuate the poor business practices that are probably the real reason behind this move and that have landed Microsoft in so many court cases (which they usually lose).

3. Comment - Microsoft Closes Activation Loophole

   (Feb 26, 2005 - 3:32 PM)

   It is my opinion that Microsoft has not focused on the problem of piracy with Office because it is not required for their monopoly. They MUST lock people into their OS, then other sales follow.
   There are very good competitors to Office, OpenOffice is free and Star Office is $50 or free if you tell them you are in school. M$ has essentially dropped the price of Office (at least the version without Access). You can buy the 'education' version of Office at nearly any retailer for $150 or less without any 'proof' of being in school required (the full Office on Amazon is $399).
   The 'educational' version of Windows XP Home (from academic superstore) is $199 and from Amazon the retail product costs $104.
   
   The Academic price is almost $100 MORE. Nice discount.
   
   Remember, you paid for these 'features' and this pricing structure. Enjoy it, tell Congress ot break up this monopoly, or buy a different OS. No one forced you to buy Windows, you chose it.

4. Comment - Microsoft Closes Activation Loophole

   (Feb 26, 2005 - 1:02 AM)

   Windows does not just activate itself. It has to send a 'description' of the hardware that makes up your computer to Microsoft to get the activation key.
   If you attempt to restore th Ghost on substantially different hardware, it may require activation again anyway.
   I have seen situations where too many hardware changes caused Windows to need to re-activate over the internet.
   Ghost may not work.
   What if Microsoft starts to recors that a specific Windows serial number has already download SP1? If you restore the Ghost, you may not get the chance to download it again.
   
   What I don't understand is that if Microsoft will allow even pirated copies of it's software to download 'critical' updates, what is the big deal?
   How many of these 'updates' are really necessary and how many are "just for fun"?
   Who decides which updates are 'critical'? Microsoft. (With Microsoft's***ory of secure products, THAT should scare you.)
   
   If every system has a different set of updates, does that not increase the chance that any new update may cause the system to be less stable? Less secure? Easier to use as spam relays? Or to use to distribute Child Porn?
   
   Thanks Microsoft.
   Large corporations are usually their own worst enemies.

5. Comment - Microsoft Closes Activation Loophole

   (Feb 26, 2005 - 12:35 AM)

   Re-activatin can be triggered by more than just re-formatting the drive.
   Microsoft records several serial numbers, the CPU (yes, the CPU has an internal Serial Number, it is just turned 'off' by default and softwware can turn it back on), Hard Drive(s), Video Card(s) and possibly more (a developer might be able to tell us, it is probably documented somewhere). Windows not only wants to know that it has been activated, but wants to record which machine it was activated on. (Even Ghost may not work if you try to install the Ghost on a completely different set of hardware, I have not tested this.)
   A co-worker and I were staying late one night testing various hardware set-ups, multiple video cards, multiple hard drives, different motherboards, etc. to find out which combination was teh fastest. More than once Windows XP told us we would have to re-activate over the Internet, but after a few four letter words, an ethernet connection and a few seconds delay we were back to testing.
   I am not sure what combination did it, but I could imagine a situation where a dedicated built-it-yourself or gamer could end up calling Microsoft once a year or so.
   
   To save time, you could buy a couple of extra activation codes. ;)
   Which may be an indirect way to increase sales in a Flat market.
   
   Is a new Activation Scheme "Innovation"?
   
   A Monopoly cannot last forever.
   I think that FINALLY we are watching Microsoft die. Attempting to increase revenue through 'fake' sales.