Microsoft Is Taking WGA To The Next Level

By Aviran
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Rising Star

greatestfall

Posted
Posted

Yes, but the crackers do the job of making the program run on Windows and they get paid by the pirates for their work :p . So the consumers don't have to do anything much but just copy some files or open the keygen or crack. The only program that I've encountered that hasn't been cracked properly is Maya 7.0 Unlimited as I still haven't figure out how to get it installed in my computer. The instructions aren't very clear :wacko: :blink: .

PSG22

i don't know of any pirates paying the crackers to crack software.. at least not in the "scene"

Grand Master

aristotle-dude

Posted
Posted (edited)

Plus they offer a family pack with 5 licences for less than twice the price of the regular version... I'm surprised Microsoft don't.

This highlights a big difference betwen MSFT and Apple concerning not only how they deal with their customers but also what their customer focus is. MSFT is way too focused on the corporate market and they offer special discounts to their larger customers. By contrast, Apple is focused on the consumer/prosumer market and this five license pack is an example of this differing focus.

MSFT sees individual customers as insignificant and assumes that you are a criminal until proven innocent. That attitude is exemplified by Balmer and how he forces his children to only have DRM controlled contents on their computers at home. He does not even trust his children enough to allow them to choose what music store, search engine and music player they want. As Molly Wood on C/NET said, this will ensure that they will go work for either Apple or Google just to spite their dad.

:laugh:

If MSFT was smart, they would copy Apple again and offer family packs of XP, drop the price of Pro to what Home is and get rid of home altogether. They really do no need both and pro is a bit more secure. Alternatively, they could just sell Media Center Edition in place of home at the home price and lower the price of pro a bit.

I think MSFT should do something like that with Vista and only have a media rich edition for the home (Media Center) and a lean professional edition for the corporate world.

Think about it MSFT, two editions at a lower price = less piracy. They would be fools to not think about it as I'm sure many windows users are thinking about getting a macbook or macbook pro as their next laptop. Some may dual boot XP for games but if Leopard improves GPU performance even more to close the performance gap in gaming, they might not dual boot Vista on their new macs.

Edited by aristotle-dude
Grand Master

E t h a n

Posted
Posted

Doesn't bother me one bit, every copy I run, XP MCE, XP Pro, and Vista Beta are all legit. I don't mind having to do a few extra things because I know my versions are legit, and if I do run into some problems, I can get it fixed. People act like calling up microsoft to activate windows is such a pain, what does it take like 5 minutes total? Get a clue, you people complaining have no reason to unless you're running a warezed version of windows.

Uh, yeah, it is a pain calling MS. I am not a criminal, and I don't like someone even hinting at the possible suggestion that I may even be a criminal. What? Were you raised to think that everyone's a criminal until judged not to be so in some kind of Orwellian nightmare? What sort of life is that? :rolleyes:

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted (edited)

^^^ No offense, but the "I'm being treated like a criminal" argument holds no water.

Do you get upset with the local video store, because they have that sensor in the DVD cases to prevent theft?

Or with the movie theaters because they have a guy to check to see if you have purchased a ticket?

Or how about gas stations, because they have video surveillance to ensure you don't drive off without paying?

The fact is, Microsoft is losing potential sales to piracy. They are putting in steps to curb that number. No more. No less.

If you want to use Linux, find a better reason than Windows Genuine Advantage. ;)

EDIT: Yuck! I hate being in a position where I defend Microsoft. :rofl:

Grand Master

E t h a n

Posted
Posted

Mark, if you set the bar low for people, they'll oblige you readily by sinking down to it (this is what's been lately happening all round us, all too often). I'm arguing something different, perhaps a bit too idealistic.

PS I'm not a smart computer person who can get Linux working on his current laptop (I've TRIED.). What I meant by my NEXT laptop was that it would be preconfigured properly prior to my receiving it. There are only two things I need to do now that I don't know work on Linux or not that I'd like to work on Linux before shifting over. I think they won't be too much trouble, though. Or at least the amount of trouble they'd be would be something I could handle. ;)

Grand Master

andrew_f

Posted
Posted

This has got me thinking - how can Microsoft truely protect themselves from pirates?

I cannot think of anything to be honest - I think this is a move in the right direction to get rid of piracy but perhaps a bit of a side step rather than a step forwards.

Grand Master

aristotle-dude

Posted
Posted

^^^ No offense, but the "I'm being treated like a criminal" argument holds no water.

Do you get upset with the local video store, because they have that sensor in the DVD cases to prevent theft?

Or with the movie theaters because they have a guy to check to see if you have purchased a ticket?

Or how about gas stations, because they have video surveillance to ensure you don't drive off without paying?

The fact is, Microsoft is losing potential sales to piracy. They are putting in steps to curb that number. No more. No less.

If you want to use Linux, find a better reason than Windows Genuine Advantage. ;)

EDIT: Yuck! I hate being in a position where I defend Microsoft. :rofl:

Actually, I do get frustrated with all the anti-theft technology. Those damn tags in the stores do not alway get deactivated properly by the cashier. It is quite embarassing to set off the alarm on legitimately purchased goods. What is even more anoying is when my leather jacket had a tag that would reactivate itself and set off alarms in other stores. I had to cut through part of the lining to remove the RF tag.

I do not like all of the video cameras everywhere either.

Do you like being treated like a criminal? I prefer the kinder/gentler past when people had real freedom.

Grand Master

illicit

Posted
Posted

The problem is, the people they are aiming to catch with this, wont be effected (like Product Activation), it will be the people who brought the software from stores, just to be told they need to validate (it's like DRM, hurts the people who play along)

Like, when i downloaded Windows .NET server (during the public preview, when the only way to get it was a ISO or a cd shipped from the states, guess which i chose), i installed it, booted and it wanted to activate, so i went into it, just for it to tell me i cant activate, so i call up MS, after being passed to 5 or 6 different people, i finally get somebody who can help get this system activated, if i had downloaded a crack or something, i would have been up and running right away.

At least Apple doesn't treat me like a pirate when i go for updates.

Nicely said, mate.

Veteran

+Fulcrum Subscriber¹

Posted
  • Subscriber¹
Posted

^^^ No offense, but the "I'm being treated like a criminal" argument holds no water.

Do you get upset with the local video store, because they have that sensor in the DVD cases to prevent theft?

Or with the movie theaters because they have a guy to check to see if you have purchased a ticket?

Or how about gas stations, because they have video surveillance to ensure you don't drive off without paying?

The fact is, Microsoft is losing potential sales to piracy. They are putting in steps to curb that number. No more. No less.

If you want to use Linux, find a better reason than Windows Genuine Advantage. ;)

...

some good points there. And who hates calling to activate windows more than me, i've done it soo many times i've had to resort to making each install Count, thanks to nLite and Autopatcher, I can don't have to call Microsoft every day to tell them I have to reinstall windows kuz something failed again.

I really don't mind though, they developed a product and this is how they have to protect it, with how easy it is to send something over the internet and crack it and spread it worldwide, I still think this protection is years behind where it needs to be.

Nag Screens are sooo Old School!

Grand Master

Circaflex

Posted
Posted

Uh, yeah, it is a pain calling MS. I am not a criminal, and I don't like someone even hinting at the possible suggestion that I may even be a criminal. What? Were you raised to think that everyone's a criminal until judged not to be so in some kind of Orwellian nightmare? What sort of life is that? :rolleyes:

Whats so painful about it? I had to constantly call when i was into overclocking and messing around with different hardware. Its like 5 minutes big deal, enter your code to the robot thing, says it fails and some person comes up and reads you a number and asks why you need to activate it, then you're done with it. I dont get the big problem? Maybe if it were a corporate buisness having to deal with it like that, but really 5 minutes isnt that much of a pain

Grand Master

aristotle-dude

Posted
Posted

Are you retarded? So are you telling me that OSX costs $15.83? Because that is 1/6 the cost of XP Home, since I just paid $90 for it 2 days ago.

Apple fanboys are uneducated and ridiculous.

199.00 for a five license pack of 10.4 is 39.80 USD each or 99 USD for a single license. With that version, you can do everything a corporate OS X user would do. There is only one version of OS X and that version can join an Open directory of Active directory domain (unlike XP Home). It also includes encryption support for your home directory and the full permissions security model and you can boot off a network home folder (unlike XP Home).

XP Pro - 299.00 USD.

Ok, maybe 1/6 was an exageration for a single license but buying five licenses of XP Pro cost 7.5 times as much as the five license pack of OS X 10.4.

Experienced

hajj_3

Posted
Posted

eth0 always crack it within hours, MS should just give up and not release a new version each month. drm and activations suck, they are treating their users like criminals, its innocent till proven guilty ms, not the other way round, have some morals and a conscience!

Grand Master

E t h a n

Posted
Posted

Whats so painful about it? I had to constantly call when i was into overclocking and messing around with different hardware. Its like 5 minutes big deal, enter your code to the robot thing, says it fails and some person comes up and reads you a number and asks why you need to activate it, then you're done with it. I dont get the big problem? Maybe if it were a corporate buisness having to deal with it like that, but really 5 minutes isnt that much of a pain

Do your thoughts ever rise up to think what it might be like in a world in which people are honest and are taken to be so without question?

Grand Master

DirtyLarry Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

some group cracked it already LOL

Umm, I am confused as to how that could be if it is supposed to be released this Tuesday?

Anyway BOT, You really honestly cannot blame MS for trying to do this, you really cannot. But I just cannot help but feel they are fighting a losing battle, because whether it takes a day or a month, someone will crack it, that is the reality of it all. Plain and simple. There are people out there who live for exactly this kind of moment. As crazy as it sounds, someone (actually more like a good amount of people) are just sitting around waiting for MS to release something like this just to see what next protection and security scheme they can circumvent. And so far I would day the truth of the matter is these people are just as smart as MS is, and in many cases it appears smarter since they can circumvent it so quickly

So I personally wonder how much of MS's resources go toward trying to stop this. If it is like a 2-5 man team, then by all means keep at it. If there is however an entire department of employees, it really would be time better spent in other places like making a more secure browser, at least this is my opinion.

I am not supporting it by any means, but it just simply is a fact that it has and always will exists.

I know to just accept it is like admitting defeat and in a way is like actually condoning something that is not morally correct, but at the same time not accepting it and releasing these so called measures against it that every time get cracked, which means in fact MS was once again outsmarted, is really just outright embarrassing.

Honestly It is almost better left not mentioned IMO.

The more you tell someone they should not be doing something, the more likely they are going to at least be interested in trying to do it. That is Psych 101

Besides, do I not recall just recently reading an article that stated a very large amount of MS OS piracy was in Third World Countries and that MS were actually okay with that? Basically because then when it does come time to actually buy hardware and software, the person will go with Windows because it is what they know already? Which actually does make sense to a certain degree from a business point of view.

Regardless if I did read that, they have every right in the world to try and stop non legit copies being used...

Again my issue with them doing so is it is a battle I really do not think they will ever win.

So take the resources spent on stopping non legit copies being used, and simply put them to better use. I am sure there is something else at MS where the manpower could be used. Then again, maybe I am dead wrong.

Meh...

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