Quote: "Recent press reports indicating Windows XP Service Pack 2 will install on pirated or illegal copies of Windows XP are not entirely true," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "Instead, prior to installing, SP2 will check the OS' product ID [PID] against a list of known pirated PIDs. If a PID is found to be invalid, SP2 will not install." This behavior is essentially similar to that of Windows XP SP1.

lmao....right...

oooh *tear*

wait, whoop dee doo!

man, I really need to save up money and get my copy of linux installed. I gotta quit slackin'

what happens to you if you have a pirated version and they dont let it install.......should you expect the police to come after you or will you be forced to buy a copy of xp pro

(mine is legit im just curious)

It just doesn't install.

Quote: Originally Posted by Spectrum It just doesn't install.

thats good......my friend is using a copy of windows xp pro corporate edition and he was worried...if he decided to but xp pro from a store and install it would that send any red flags to microsoft.....ya know they look and see "hey he had a corperate edition now its just xp pro" will they catch him. and what happens if he does get caught i heard it was a 250,000 fine and up to 2 years in jail.

Normally that wont happen. To be totaly honest Microsoft doesnt give a rats as s about the single end user. And for one reason. MONEY.

Hypothtical situation:

User A downloads a copy of xp. He hacks the cd key and the pid and activation. Now microsoft notices this one way or another and decided to take care of user a.

First they hire somebody to find user a. tracing ip's finally to User A's ISP. Then they have to use the courts to force the isp to release their information (I forget what this is called). Provided they wont give it willingly. Now they must contact local courts and the police to issue a warrent and to call the defendant to be in the case. Now lets make this simple and say User A lives alone. and his parents arent subscribing to the isp.

Now that user A knows has a supena (spelling) to appear in court for X charges. Where X charges is whatever microsoft can do to an individual. Now at this point Microsoft needa a lawyer. And they dont come cheap. He goes to court and files all the papers which some require fees to be paid. Now the judge finds user A guilty and for sake of arguement gives him the maximum sentence. Now user A must pay 250K$ + fees (all costs to microsoft from this point) and spend 2 years in jail. He goes to jail and never pays, but instead declares bankrupsy (again spelling, I'm not a lawyer) Now microsoft is shafted. They get usualy jack squat because the bank gets the car and house. (depending on the verdict of the judge)

so now microsoft has paid Z dollars and gotten nothing for their trouble. Sure User A is in jail but microsoft doesnt directly profit from that. So they spent $2000 (for sake of arguement) trying to get 252k from some guy and they end up 2k in the hole. All over a $150 dollar piece of sh1t not worth the cd its stamped on.

Now a school or corporation is different. They have the money. If they lose they have lots of stull for bankrupsy court to pawn off. There Microsoft can make money sueing people for lisences.

Now the riaa or somebody similar tried sueing people for using kazaa. So? Look around. How many of you have bitten on this obvious scare tactic. I'm betting they wanted to put out all kinds of money to sue people whad no money and in the end it really diddnt work.

I am the last person in the world who wants to give microsoft money. I only just recently aquired XP and I really dont care for it. I dont want microsoft to know how often I change my hardware and what brands I purchase.

Its really sad that there isnt a real alternative, sure there is linux. But try to run doom 3 on it without extensive setup. (wine)

But to get back on topic. I've tried Sp2. It BLOWS. I t reminds me of macintosh. The OS tells you what you need and you are just a passenger. Take your software firewall and SHOVE IT where the sun doesnt shine.

I have a copy of dos 2.1 doesnt that qualify me for free lifetime upgrades?

cool the only way i could see those charges justified would be if you sold copies of it and made a profit. That would probobly justify the charges and the ones i mentioned are the extremes.

thank you all for the help

yeah, microsoft's only incentive so far, that I notice, is to get SP2 for legit users. OOH! so far, all I've seen SP2 do is crash my friends laptop. Good thing I refuse to install it.

Got to be a bit carefull here, but there are workarounds to getting SP2. There is and Ican prove it.
Now that being said I have to agree totally with luckybob. He nailed the piracy problem on the head. Now you as a tax payer..or soon to be taxpayer have to think about the god aweful amount of money that is paid to the FBI,CIA and what ever your secret police are in your government. Recently there was a huge bust in the UK/German Warez circles..things died off for about a month. The Crackers/hackers/scanners/fillers/ all got a bit smarter and started covering there tracks. The scene isn't back to it's old self yet, mainly cause some of the best crackers got busted. Some I knew in passing, they are back @ home and behind there machines, but under heavy survalence(SP?) the ones that have been returned to there homes are not even allowed back into the circle..never know who has been turned. The best Hackers are usually caught and put to work finding other hackers...it's all a game here with big bucks as the fuel. the real reason to stop piracy has been lost as we have all seen small software companies come and go. This will never be stopped it can't be.

lets take a bank vault for example. 10 years ago you had to physically assault the vault. 1 or 5 guys @ a time trying to get in get the goods and get out. usually didn't workout so well. the bank has securities against this and it was a seldom event. Now lets come back to today. same vault but now there is no money just "electronic money" sure there is securities in place, but now we have 100s if not thousands of robbers banging on that security..it can't hold up to it, No security could. So whats a company to do?
The answer will suprise you.

Lets look @ some of the top electronic security companies right now..actually look @ the names of the owners and emploies...you would be suprised to find that they were conficted of internet crimes? I wouldn't. The best hackers are hired to test probe and penetrate companies defenses and then hired to fix the problems....whats this teaching the public today? "if I get good enough I have job security doing the thing I love most!"

It's vicous circle that will not stop ever.

Sleep well!

heh thats the biggest pile of shiat that i have heard in a while! its call slipstreaming!

damn they need to remember that there is always gonna be someone (mainly me) who is gonna find someway to do it!

do you have to install sp2, will that get microsoft pissed at you..........lets say you have a invalid key and so you decide not to download and install sp2.....will microsoft notice and furthur investigate you and your key to see if its invalid.

I honestly don't think they'd care. you have the option to install or not to install. they aren't forcing you with a gun to your head to download and install. I have my auto updated set to inform me of downloads and than I choose if I really want to download it. if it's a security update, I do download. SP2 I'm avoiding like a man being chased by fat Anna Nicole Smith. I do know somebody that works for Microsoft here in town and he says he's not installing it.

they can not track you ip weather you do or don't update, they can't even track your IP if you try to update with an invalid key. least not here in the states.

settle down kiddies big bad bill ain't after your nuts just yet.

OH NOES! Those evil squirrels are after my nuts again! I'll just have to hide them in the pockets in my cheeks! Those dreadful spies for the rabbits will never get me alive!

Quote: Originally Posted by MightyThor OH NOES! Those evil squirrels are after my nuts again! I'll just have to hide them in the pockets in my cheeks! Those dreadful spies for the rabbits will never get me alive!

LOL nice one MT

theres no way that M$ could do anything to me
sp2 would install without a problem if i so choose to
they don't call me stereo for nothing -ever wonder what the mod means?? the ability to MOD software!

xp being one of those!