Microsoft Genuine Advantage Cracked in 24 Hours 522
jrobie writes "It looks like mandatory validation of your Windows XP license is now voluntary again. A simple hack has been found that disables the check.
BoingBoing has the story. "
Javascript?? (Score:5, Insightful)
as always (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't really be suprised (Score:2, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It works... for now (Score:5, Insightful)
How long before someone creates a phishing site that lets people download a 'genuinewindows.exe' that's not so genuine?
piracy leads to marketshare? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's why choosy SysAdmins choose LINUX. (Score:2, Insightful)
Is that anything like Military Intelligence?
---
Somewhere in Redmond, a developer is emptying his desk.
Re:Way to go M$ (Score:5, Insightful)
Fairly.
Don't mistake MS's "see, we tried" pretend attempts at security, and their "this hurts our bottom line" real security.
The original XBox still has no generally applicable software-only crack for it, after several years in the field. Real security.
This new "please don't pirate Windows" joke lasted 24 hours. Why? Microsoft WANTS people to pirate Windows. Very, very few private individuals would pay $300 for an OS plus $300 for an office app suite. However, if "everyone" uses it already, then the sort of customers who do buy, such as businesses and governments, will far more likely go with Microsoft.
Call me paranoid if you want, but NO modern attempt at secure authentication has any excuse for not using server-side verified, AES-encrypted communication. A pathetic little unverified Javascript toy? Gimme a break.
Product Activation wouldn't be bad if... (Score:5, Insightful)
I have enough PCs that I'd pay $300 for a "home site license." Microsoft could create such a thing without any hassle because for many households, it'd be worth it. All they'd have to do is make you send a copy of your driver's license or something in the mail and then if someone tries using your serial number that doesn't share the data on your driver's license, they go after them for infringement. That way, product activation doesn't harass law-abiding users.
I'd love to use Longhorn because it looks like a good release, but damned if I'm going to buy it and get 2 "harassment-free" installs. If I buy it, you can bet that I'll only buy it after I've either gotten a cracked CD or found a site license serial that actually works like the ones that XP uses. Every windows license I have is valid, though I use cracked CDs just to get around the PA. Seesh, why am I forced to behave like a common criminal? I can't wait to be able to switch back to OS X at this rate...
Re:It works... for now (Score:2, Insightful)
An interesting view point, which is quite pervasive.
So why should you get free continued support?
Now, if you had paid a maintenance fee (quarterly, yearly,
But free?
You could of course argue that the company has a moral obligation to provide updates, and in fact it makes good Public Relations sense to provide free fixes for broken software, but they are really not obligated to.
Re:It works... for now (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It works... for now (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because you are a fast jumper doesn't mean it wasn't a hoop.
Weapons and Armor (Score:3, Insightful)
Which is much of WHY, in a race between weapons and armor, weapons always eventually win.
Re:It works... for now (Score:5, Insightful)
So why should you get free continued support?
Now, if you had paid a maintenance fee (quarterly, yearly, ..), then you would of course get updates for the life of the maintenance contract.
But free?
It's supposed to be free because that's how Microsoft has done it. If they want to change it, change it. But define that change clearly and prominently at the time of sale.
Lots of smaller software companies sell you A & B & C packages:
If Microsoft wants to follow that model, fine. Do it... on all new copies of XP they've sold. But for the prior ones, stop adding hoops and checks to make sure I paid. I bought it, I installed it, activated it, I've done enough to qualify for my updates.
- Greg
My tin foil hat on: was this really a crack? (Score:4, Insightful)
Which leads me to put my tin foil hat on and say: was this really a hack? Or is Microsoft happy to have this effect 99% of people on earth, and allow the 1% of techies who are unhappy about this either for privacy reasons, or because they have have a "pirate" edition of Windows, to get around it and stop complaining? I don't really see this as getting one over on Microsoft, smart authoritarian hierarchies often leave little safety valves for discontent like this around, allowing a few people to get away with breaking the rules, instead of them going about trying to change or get rid of the rules.
Re:It works... for now (Score:5, Insightful)
If I buy a Television (OR motherboard, hard drive, child's car seat, shingles for the roof, combine for the wheat harvest, CNC press brake for the machine shop, etc.) that doesn't work I can get my money back.
If it works when I get it, I use it correctly, and it breaks in a short period of time (because of a hidden weakness in the product) I get it fixed for free.
In most industries, anyone who doesn't follow that rule goes out of business very quickly.
I think that we are just used to software being an exception.
Re:Product Activation wouldn't be bad if... (Score:3, Insightful)
For $199 (A single user license is $129), you can get a 5 license copy of OS X - They call it the Family Pack.
No activation required!
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:5, Insightful)
Who wouldn't know ? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't believe that there are many people who don't know that they are using a "quote" pirated "unquote" version of Windows. In the USA, it is extremely rare for unregistered versions of Windows to be used in Offices. And most people who buy PCs 'ready-to-operate' will have the Windows license included at a vastly reduced bulk price. People who build their own PC from components will know that the installed Windows is unregistered.
The only people who might not know that their Windows is unregistered are those who have had a friend or relative assemble a super-cheap PC from components for them. Or who have received a hand-me-down or secondhand PC from someone who installed an unregistered Windows, and didn't pass this piece of information along.
This is maybe 1% or less of all users in the USA. Outside the wealthy countries of the world, the situation would be that people would probably assume that either the Windows on the PC was unregistered or would not be aware that Microsoft was actually expecting to receive a large sum of money for every copy of Windows on every PC.
But Microsoft should lighten up about this policy. They are already the richest software company. Their chairman is the richest man in the world and possibly the richest man that every lived. They don't really do anything with the money that they already have. It would be in their best interest to lower the cost of their operating system in the developing world. Not by actually lowering the price, which would cause arbitrage from the wealthy countries, but by reducing the difficulty of inplementation of unregistered and by not penalizing people who use unregistered copies. They already have all the money that they are going to get from operating systems, so they should concentrate on preserving market share in the face of low cost alternatives like Linux.
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What about softmods? (Score:1, Insightful)
While there might be some that are specialised for XBMC all the ones I've seen launch a different dashboard from which you can run pretty much anything, inluding MythTV on linux which begs the question why would anyone settle for XBMC
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:5, Insightful)
"Customers who discover they have a counterfeit copy of Windows will either be given a free version of the operating system or can purchase it for a discounted price, he said.
To get the free version of Windows, a customer must fill out a counterfeit report identifying the source of the software, provide a proof of purchase and send in a counterfeit CD of the software. If customers don't have all of that information, they can still fill out a counterfeit report and receive a copy of Windows XP Home Edition for $99 or a copy of Windows XP Professional Edition for $149, Lazar said."
So looks like even if you dealt in a shady off-the-truck operation, you would still be eliglble for OEM pricing.
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:3, Insightful)
Many, many people have bought pre-built PCs with Windows loaded on it by a PC builder that was pirating Windows to his heart's content They just have no idea it's not legit.
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you think MS is crazy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:1, Insightful)
That group is the people that help out friends and family with computers. The people who everyone turns to and says 'is this worth x dollars? it's got 3 gigahertz of ram'. Somehow I don't think that scenario is worth the amount they'd get from those who chose to go out and legitimise their installs.
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:3, Insightful)
If you buy a vacuum cleaner, you expect a working belt to come with it.
But people who buy an open-box vacuum off the back of a truck and discover that there is no belt probably aren't going to complain to the vacuum maker. And if they do, the vacuum maker is going to laugh in their face.
Without the CoA, a Windows license/installation is no better than a vacuum cleaner bought off the back of a truck.
You buy a fax machine, you expect a reasonable amount of toner to come with it.
You might expect it, but unless that's written on the box, you shouldn't complain if you don't get it. And again, we get into the "authorized retailer" game, where someone might sell you a used or stolen fax machine without the box and all the manuals. Microsoft is targetting people who bought a PC from a retailer who didn't give them all the manuals/CoA/License, etc. Everything you're talking about has the unspoken assumption that you've purchased it legitimately and from either an authorized retailer or the company itself. No one who buys Windows off the shelf from Best Buy is going to run into a problem with this security check.
It really is a smart way that MS is trying to catch the unscrupulous dealers but shitting on potential customers is just plain wrong.
Ah, so you prefix "customers" with "potential". That's good.
Of course, you still overlook the fact that's been pointed out several times in various other
It's like buying flood insurance for you house and your house floods and they don't cut a check for you.
That's not even an analogy to this situation.
Possible explanation (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I can't believe I was actually worried about th (Score:3, Insightful)
This policy wasn't intended to fight P2P piracy (not directly anyway).