Vista - Paul Thurrott.... a software pirate.

"Donald McDaniel" <orthocross@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:j5kkc292854spqkvuqmau959r3udfare8g@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 13:41:09 -0500, rockwell <pet@rock.not> wrote:
>
>>Donald McDaniel wrote:
>><snip>
>>>> Are you
>>>> supposed to give up your freedom to WGA-N DRM DCMA and (soon AACS) and
>>>> live
>>>> your life like a criminal on parole? Are the USA, Canada and Australia
>>>> supposed to be police state tyrannies or free countries? For the time
>>>> being
>>>> you are still free to not care. But if things keep going the way they
>>>> are
>>>> going you will not be free.
>>>
>>> Well, if you ARE a criminal, you COULD be in PRISON, rather than "on
>>> parole". But you know that solution to that, don't you? DON'T be a
>>> CRIMINAL!!! Don't steal software. Don't steal music. Don't STEAL,
>>> and the Law will not apply to you, and none of your "freedoms" will be
>>> taken away from you.
>>
>>But that is the whole point you are missing! One of the rights we have
>>as Americans is the rights to see our civil liberties respected! But
>>that is all going down the toilet as Bush and the NSA take any info on
>>any and all of us they want with out requiring a checks and balances
>>system for it. I can tell you that I did nothing to have my civil
>>liberties abused like that, and I'm sure many other Americans didn't do
>>anything to deserve that either.
>
> I don't miss the point, sir. I certainly agree that our current
> government has gone beyond its Constitutional mandates. However, our
> "rights" do NOT include the "right" to abuse OURS.
>
>>
>>Another right we have as Americans put forth in the bill of rights is
>>fair use rights! No one should be able to tell me or anyone else what I
>>have the right to do in the privacy of my home for non-commercial use
>>with my copy of a CD of software! Corporations DO NOT have the power to
>>strip me of my fair use rights, no matter how unconscionable their post
>>sale shrink wrap license is for their software.
>
> Again, I agree. But HOW do you propose that those Corporations protect
> THEIR rights (since they ALSO have rights)? I am sure you would
> complain just as loudly if they used methods to PROTECT their rights
> which included copy-protection built into those CDs, rather than
> "shrink-wrap" licenses.
>
> And the fact is, if you are abusing your fair use rights by passing
> YOUR copy of a cd or software (or purchased music) to OTHERS who do
> NOT have the rights to use YOUR copies, whether it is in the privacy
> of your home or theirs (commonly called "casual piracy"), you are
> EXCEEDING YOUR mandate, which makes you JUST AS GUILTY as the
> Government and corporations when THEY exceed their mandates.
>
> "FAIR USE RIGHTS" do NOT include the right to pass your purchased
> software and copies of CDs to others through the use of P2P software
> (or through any other means). PERIOD.
>
> By the way, "fair use" rights are NOT included in the Bill of Rights
> (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution). They ARE part of the
> US Constitution, but NOT in the first 10 amendments, commonly called
> the "Bill of Rights".
>
> So your only recourse is to work to overturn the present laws about
> "fair use", and change them to less-restrictive ones.
>
> In the mean time, if you do the same things the Government and
> Corporations do, that makes you a raging hypocrite.
>
>
> ==
>
> Donald L McDaniel
> Please Reply to the Original Thread.
> ========================================================

A wise man once said:

An individual's rights end at the point that another individual's rights
begin.

--
Mark

My favourite so far: Unknown device has been correctly installed.

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:38:07 -0400, "Mark D. VandenBerg"
<mvan103REMOVE@hotmail.com> wrote:

>"Donald McDaniel" <orthocross@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>news:j5kkc292854spqkvuqmau959r3udfare8g@4ax.com...
>> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 13:41:09 -0500, rockwell <pet@rock.not> wrote:
>>
>>>Donald McDaniel wrote:
>>><snip>
>>>>> Are you
>>>>> supposed to give up your freedom to WGA-N DRM DCMA and (soon AACS) and
>>>>> live
>>>>> your life like a criminal on parole? Are the USA, Canada and Australia
>>>>> supposed to be police state tyrannies or free countries? For the time
>>>>> being
>>>>> you are still free to not care. But if things keep going the way they
>>>>> are
>>>>> going you will not be free.
>>>>
>>>> Well, if you ARE a criminal, you COULD be in PRISON, rather than "on
>>>> parole". But you know that solution to that, don't you? DON'T be a
>>>> CRIMINAL!!! Don't steal software. Don't steal music. Don't STEAL,
>>>> and the Law will not apply to you, and none of your "freedoms" will be
>>>> taken away from you.
>>>
>>>But that is the whole point you are missing! One of the rights we have
>>>as Americans is the rights to see our civil liberties respected! But
>>>that is all going down the toilet as Bush and the NSA take any info on
>>>any and all of us they want with out requiring a checks and balances
>>>system for it. I can tell you that I did nothing to have my civil
>>>liberties abused like that, and I'm sure many other Americans didn't do
>>>anything to deserve that either.
>>
>> I don't miss the point, sir. I certainly agree that our current
>> government has gone beyond its Constitutional mandates. However, our
>> "rights" do NOT include the "right" to abuse OURS.
>>
>>>
>>>Another right we have as Americans put forth in the bill of rights is
>>>fair use rights! No one should be able to tell me or anyone else what I
>>>have the right to do in the privacy of my home for non-commercial use
>>>with my copy of a CD of software! Corporations DO NOT have the power to
>>>strip me of my fair use rights, no matter how unconscionable their post
>>>sale shrink wrap license is for their software.
>>
>> Again, I agree. But HOW do you propose that those Corporations protect
>> THEIR rights (since they ALSO have rights)? I am sure you would
>> complain just as loudly if they used methods to PROTECT their rights
>> which included copy-protection built into those CDs, rather than
>> "shrink-wrap" licenses.
>>
>> And the fact is, if you are abusing your fair use rights by passing
>> YOUR copy of a cd or software (or purchased music) to OTHERS who do
>> NOT have the rights to use YOUR copies, whether it is in the privacy
>> of your home or theirs (commonly called "casual piracy"), you are
>> EXCEEDING YOUR mandate, which makes you JUST AS GUILTY as the
>> Government and corporations when THEY exceed their mandates.
>>
>> "FAIR USE RIGHTS" do NOT include the right to pass your purchased
>> software and copies of CDs to others through the use of P2P software
>> (or through any other means). PERIOD.
>>
>> By the way, "fair use" rights are NOT included in the Bill of Rights
>> (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution). They ARE part of the
>> US Constitution, but NOT in the first 10 amendments, commonly called
>> the "Bill of Rights".
>>
>> So your only recourse is to work to overturn the present laws about
>> "fair use", and change them to less-restrictive ones.
>>
>> In the mean time, if you do the same things the Government and
>> Corporations do, that makes you a raging hypocrite.
>>
>>
>> ==
>>
>> Donald L McDaniel
>> Please Reply to the Original Thread.
>> ========================================================
>
>A wise man once said:
>
>An individual's rights end at the point that another individual's rights
>begin.

I heard the same thing stated in a little more "earthy" way:

"Another man's right to take the first swing at me first ends 1" from
my nose, and if he does take the first swing, and lands it, I have the
right to go for his damned throat". That man was also a wise man,
though he was not as intellectual.

Personally, I would make my defensive attack a little "lower". Why
pander to his masculine pride? Go for the bastard's "masculinity"
right from the start, and don't leave him with any "masculine pride"
to swing back. His next swing will land on your back rather than your
face, if he has anything left. He probably won't only be able to land
another one after that.


==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================

"Frank" wrote:

> MICHAEL wrote:
> > Paul Thurrott, one of the most important Microsoft advocates, has been
> > bitten by Windows Genuine Advantage.
> > http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...52221&from=rss
> >
> >
> > http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/wga.asp
> >
> > I've found Microsoft's recent forays into customer relations with
> > Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) to be somewhat amusing. I mean, after
> > all, Microsoft is a huge company just brimming with really smart people.
> > How could they do something so silly?
> > If you're not up on the WGA saga, here's a recap. Microsoft announced
> > its Genuine Advantage software initiative in March 2006. It's designed
> > as part of the company's wider assault on software piracy (another
> > infamous part of this fight, Product Activation, won fame and fortune
> > for Microsoft went XP was released in late 2001). The Genuine Advantage
> > initiative is comprised of three parts: Education (customers should
> > understand the risks of pirated software), Engineering (Microsoft's
> > ongoing investment in anti-counterfeiting technologies and product
> > features), and Enforcement (Microsoft is helping law enforcement
> > agencies go after the world's worst software pirates).
> >
> > WGA is a component of the Engineering part of that unholy triumvirate.
> > It's a bit of software that gets installed on Windows XP (it's part of
> > Windows Vista right out of the gate, naturally) and is comprised of two
> > components. The first, dubbed WGA Validation, determines whether the
> > version of Windows on which its running is legitimate. The second
> > component, WGA Notifications, displays annoying alerts on pirated
> > Windows copies and provides a way for the user to pay for a legitimate
> > copy of Windows.
> >
> > Aside from basic trust issues--Apple, for example, does not burden users
> > with Product Activation or any similar anti-piracy technologies in its
> > Mac OS X operating system--Microsoft made two major mistakes with WGA.
> > The first was to silently post a beta version of the tool to Windows
> > Update as a Critical Update, thus ensuring that it was quietly and
> > underhandedly installed on hundreds of millions of customers' PCs: I
> > mean, seriously. Is Microsoft honestly making guinea pigs out of its
> > entire user base?
> >
> > The second mistake was that WGA Notifications was also "phoning home"
> > information to Microsoft on a regular basis. That's right: Not only was
> > the software secretly installed on your PC, but it then regularly
> > contacted Microsoft servers and provided them with data about the
> > instances of pirated and nonpirated software out there. Customers and
> > security experts reacted with alarm, as well they should: Microsoft had
> > literally shipped spyware to its customers. Microsoft, meanwhile,
> > reacted as they often do when something like this happens: They made as
> > if nothing serious had happened and acted shocked that anyone could
> > think otherwise. So much for the Glasnost of the consent decree.
> >
> > After a few days of freaking out customers, Microsoft finally changed
> > WGA in mid-June 2006 so that it wouldn't phone home every single time a
> > PC rebooted, which is how frequently it had been doing so. Now, WGA will
> > still send back piracy data to Microsoft the first time it tests a
> > system, and then it will only sporadically phone home after that. The
> > company also released a set of instructions for disabling or removing
> > the "pilot" version of WGA though Microsoft contends that the final
> > version of the software, due soon, will not support these activities.
> >
> > After the dust had settled, sort of, I was still sort of curious what
> > WGA looked like on a system that was suspected of being pirated. This
> > week, I got my wish: A copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005,
> > installed in a virtual machine, came up with various WGA alerts after I
> > installed a bunch of updates from Windows Update. Screenshots of this
> > machine can be found below.
> >
> > You're probably wondering how it is that I'm running a pirated copy of
> > Windows. It's a legitimate question.
> >
> > We're all friends here, right?
> >
> > Truthfully, I can only imagine what triggered these alerts. The software
> > was installed to a VM a long time ago and archived on my server. I no
> > doubt used a copy of XP MCE 2005 that I had received as part of my MSDN
> > subscription. If the WGA alerts are to be believed, it's possible that
> > Microsoft thinks I've installed this software on too many machines,
> > though that seems unlikely to me. I can't really say.
> >
> > Anyway, that's what it looks like to be a suspected pirate. Like many
> > people who will see these alerts, I don't believe I did anything wrong.
> > I'm sure that's going to be a common refrain in this new era of
> > untrusting software and companies. Ah well.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Please don't post any more links to trash dot.
> THX
> Frank
> Then why did you copy it?

pawlou wrote:
>
> "Frank" wrote:
>
>
>>MICHAEL wrote:
>>
>>>Paul Thurrott, one of the most important Microsoft advocates, has been
>>>bitten by Windows Genuine Advantage.
>>>http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...52221&from=rss
>>>
>>>

Classic!

>>
>>Please don't post any more links to trash dot.
>>THX
>>Frank
>>Then why did you copy it?



--
Destroy all 'WMD's ('W' Making Decisions)!

Yet, if you go and look at the follow up post, Paul found he was indeed
running an illegal copy of Windows.


WGA did its job.


Bill F.


"Monopolysoft" <me@them.you> wrote in message
news:egea49$752$1@emma.aioe.org...
> pawlou wrote:
>>
>> "Frank" wrote:
>>
>>
>>>MICHAEL wrote:
>>>
>>>>Paul Thurrott, one of the most important Microsoft advocates, has been
>>>>bitten by Windows Genuine Advantage.
>>>>http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...52221&from=rss
>>>>
>>>>
>
> Classic!
>
>>>
>>>Please don't post any more links to trash dot.
>>>THX
>>>Frank
>>>Then why did you copy it?
>
>
>
> --
> Destroy all 'WMD's ('W' Making Decisions)!