Posted on 03/02/2007 7:31:22 AM PST by sionnsar
Bengt writes "The Inquirer has a story about a brute force Vista key activation crack. It's nothing fancy; it's described as a 'glorified guesser'. The danger of this approach is that sooner or later the key cracker will begin activating legitimate keys purchased by other consumers. From the article: 'The code is floating, the method is known, and there is nothing MS can do at this point other than suck it down and prepare for the problems this causes. To make matters worse, Microsoft will have to decide if it is worth it to allow people to take back legit keys that have been hijacked, or tell customers to go away, we have your money already, read your license agreement and get bent, we owe you nothing.'"
haha, security, windows, business
ping
Justice comes in varying forms.
Microsoft is going to have to admit that 'security' is just a relative concept. They still believe it's absolute, and it just isn't, ESPECIALLY in the electronic world.
How exactly is theft considered justice?
You seem preoccupied with "theft". Are you a hacker? Or just a Microsoft shill?
I think the justice he is referring to is Microsoft will realize how stupid it is to have these activation schemes that do nothing but anger legitimate users.
I'm a Microsoft shill? Why? Because I tried to inform people who don't understand technology why they were wrong? The DRM issue was badly misrepresented.
This rather juvenile (and completely nontechnical) article seems to be celebrating the idea of software theft. That's ridiculous.
My guess is that Microsoft will do the latter, judging by its past high levels of customer service.
That's completely incorrect. Legitimate users of Windows have to deal with activation for a minute or two and in the vast majority of cases they never see it again. People who steal software are angered by it - all of the people I knew who had problems with XP activation in college, for example, were trying to steal it.
It's not perfect, but it more or less serves its purpose.
Pointing out their weaknesses actually helps Microsoft. Pointing out their piss-poor public relations should also help them, but they seem to be so arrogant that they ignore it. Believe it or not, not everyone is a thief, they just want to challenge silly claims that a product is secure.
As for your DRM comments, I said before that Microsoft is responsible for not making their Vista limitations clear.
How exactly is theft considered justice?
----
Theft is not the justice. The justice is the breaking of the mile-thick bubble of arrogance and predatory marketing that surrounds MS. One has to only read the EULA agreement that comes with Vista, and have knowledge of what MS does to its OEM customers to understand. It is not a pretty picture and the reason I, and many others, will never buy another (even Vista) operating system from MS.
Activation is the reason I never went with Windows XP. I just didn't want to deal with it. I'm still cruising along with Windows 2000 Pro (although I'm typing this with my Dell laptop using Mepis linux). I remember people being upset with activation when XP came out, but it looks like most folks finally accepted it, just like they will with Vista.
From past experience, I've had to jump through hoops to get my legitimately purchased XP Pro reactivated when I reinstall. With Vista and crap like this, I will never purchase another MS OS. There is absolutely nothing besides game playing you can do with Windows that can't be done with free software.
Unless they are building a system, and decides upon certain choices. I decided to add a SATA drive, and change the video card, for example, and had to endure some long conversations. This was with XP; I cannot comment on Vista.
Activation is one thing. Re-activation is another (apparently likely under Vista? don't recall about XP). Win2K is as far as we got in our house (a copy of XP has been sitting on the shelf uninstalled since Nov/Dec 2001 -- though I did open the box back around 2005); my main machine is now Kubuntu Linux.
I've heard about changing hardware and such but never experienced it myself. While all my evidence is anecdotal, it suggests that reactivation is successful (while inconvenient). I've changed graphics cards twice, added a hard drive, and replaced both DVD drives in my machine while never having to reactivate, so I don't know.
Why is it alright to steal from MS but not for Adobe, Apple or any of the the others?
and this has nothing to do with security.
Well, I guess that it's all fun and games until someone rips off YOUR intellectual property. It's nothing to celebrate, IMHO.
They are not limitations of Vista. They are limitations of DRM. I now believe with the vast majority of uninformed people blaming Microsoft for the restrictions of DRM that Microsoft simply should've never supported playback of such content. Complying with AACS standards might turn out to be a nightmare.
ping
I didn't celebrate anything. I'm simply pointing out that putting your faith in anything as being 'uncrackable' makes some people eager to prove you wrong (especially Microsoft with it's long list of detractors), and sets you up for disappointment when they do.
The DRM isn't as restrictive nor as hard to break as everyone says that it is, it has already been broken. do some research.
That depends on the circumstances of the reinstall.
I've found many Dell computers that used a CD key for the installation that is different from the key on the sticky label. That causes problems on reinstalls, but it is a Dell problem, not a Microsoft problem.
So why doesn't Microsoft make their case to the general public? They do a really poor job of that. It should not be Microsoft's problem to enforce DRM, but they should at least explain their position to their customers.
BTW, Xandros is very good if you haven't tried it. I'm a windoze guy trying to ween off the tit. Linux is still Greek to me. Xandros has a feature to make it look and feel like Windows to lessen the learning curve.
you mean like loading keyloggers into Mac video card frame buffers? LOL
Because fighting against a barrage of FUD - largely uninformed FUD - is difficult. I don't know that it's a big enough issue yet for them to address it because as far as I know Vista is the only operating system capable of even supporting Blu-Ray or HD-DVD playback. There are likely very few people who are attempting to use their PCs as such players.
ping
Fixed it for you.
in order to view HD Content you must have HD compliant hardware, "HDCP" High Definition Copy Protection, this is the same no matter if you want to view it on a stand alone TV or if want to view it on a Computer. Regular DVD's DO NOT have this.
You would think this would be easy to stop or slow down from the server side. If repeated activation attempts are made in a short time from the same remote address, just block the remote address for a duration.
No doubt! this is insane! people complaining! VISTA Allows you watch Blu-ray and HD-DVD it sucks! LOL
Actually, I was thinking of the recent reports that someone had captured the decryption codes for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks by intercepting the memory dump information and then aborting it once the decryption codes were passed (aborting so it couldn't be purged).
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/13/bluray_and_hddvd_bro.html
Indeed. The RIAA cartel threatened to make their next generations of offerings incompatible with computer playback if Microsoft didn't comply. Given how much that would have affected the RIAA and how little that would have affected Microsoft, this was equivalent to caving in to the self-hostage-taking ploy from Blazing Saddles.
I've done that - upgraded my hardware significantly on multiple machines - and never had to reactivate. Would it irritate me? Probably. Do I care much about spending time on the phone to get my OS re-activated? Probably for a few minutes.
Having never been inconvenienced, I don't care about it, but I do understand why they take the measures they take.
Until you replace your motherboard or get a new BIOS.
Which is why I'm boycotting Vista.
It's my understanding that activation is tied to a BIOS checksum and your MAC address. If both of them are different your license has to be transferred.
Hence my statement "in the vast majority of cases." Unless, of course, you're implying that replacing your motherboard is a frequent occurrence. I've never had a problem with BIOS upgrades in terms of activation.
Seeing as the motherboard is the most basic (and least likely to be replaced) component of a computer, replacing it makes it seem to the software that it's on a different machine.
My comment was meant as a general statement - apologies if it seemed to be aimed at you in particular. The issue of protection of IP is one that seems to be ignored in most of these discussions. Perhaps it's because not that many of us actualy generate what we could call IP of our own - we are for the most part consumers, not creators of IP.
It's not hard to spot the envy and schadenfreud of the non-creators and the something-for-nothing crowd. You have to ask yourself - what have THEY created lately? How many jobs have THEY provided? Dig a little deeper, and what you find is sheer envy of the creators and what Rand characterized as the hatred of the good for being good.
Microsoft's continuing arrogance is backed up by the fact that people in general, are nothing but sheep that will baa baa baa, but do nothing to change their buying habits.
Fair enough. Sometimes here on FR its hard to know a general reply from a personal one... :-)
AHHH! AnyDVD the lazyman's way. "HA!"
I replaced my motherboard recently and all that happened was it asked me to reactivate, and it only took 5 seconds with a couple of clicks.
PS: I was using XP. I haven't yet tried reactivating Vista.
It was a funny ploy.
Your understanding is not correct.
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