Miscellaneous Forums > General Discussion

Windows sucks. No really.

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Qhimm:
I've recently fully realized Linux is the way to go, Windows is a sinking ship. If Microsoft gets away with their new program registration system, I hope they'll go bankrupt. It completely overweighs all of the advantages of Windows (ease-of-use, common platform, etc.).For those of you who haven't heard of the new system (coming with Windows XP), it works like this: Everytime you install a product like Windows or Office, the installation programs scans your hardware and compiles this information into a 'hash' ID. This, together with the product code, is sent to Microsoft.com for storage. Now, consider this: If you upgrade your PC (eg. new gfx card) or get a new PC altogether and want to (re-)install the program, the hash ID is different from the one stored at Microsoft, and installation is halted. Basically, Microsoft has locked the program to a specific PC, with a specific hardware configuration. The good news in all this? There are none, except that I doubt Microsoft will be able to get a way with such a stunt.So whatever you do; don't upgrade above Windows 2000.

Jedimark:
Wow.... can Microsoft realy get away with doing that. It must be illegal. What happens then if you have a computer without access to the internet then?  :x  :-?

The SaiNt:
I remember reading about that a few days ago in my local tech papers. Fortunately, I seriously doubt their ability in doing that cause the market will cry for sure and that will make them bankcrupt for sure.

halkun:
Nice of you to see you over here on the good side. If you want a little more proof, to a search for "secure audio path" which also comes with XP. Basicly it does a "secirity check" on your sound card drivers and the mp3 to make sure that the audio stream isn't getting piped off to somehing else like an mp3 encoder or hard drive. If the audio is tapped upstream, it would be encrypted and useless. The sound driver does the decryping and playing keeping you out of the loop.A side shot is that things like winamp plugins, that use the raw sound streams to make the pretty fluff on the screen will no longer work, but Microsoft Windows media player will work great. -halkun

ficedula:
Oh yeah, I've heard about this. Personally I'd be surprised if they actually went ahead with this ... surely they realise how much trade they'd lose by doing it. MS have backed down in the past from things they realised were completely going to fail - lets hope this is going to be another one of them.

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