Quote:
Originally posted by Kyle Fenton
What they are doing in XP is that they are making a registration number on your computer. And you need to get on the internet, so secertly the operating system can send the regristration number to the microsoft web site.
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I just read an article on this whole thing in the Detroit Free Press, so here's my comments on it...being one of the people who ordered the Windows XP Preview, I have somewhat of a unique perspective...First, if you don't want to go on the internet to do it, you don't have to...there is an option to do the WPA (Windows Product Authorization) over the phone. But, it involves reading the person you talk to a 50-character code that shows up on your screen, and then they turn around and give you an 40-something character code to type in to authorize the software. As far as sharing the software and then having the other copies terminated, my understanding is that works through the Automatic product updates system, similar to the one included in Windows ME. Whatever calculations are done to originally determine the WPA code are done again, and sent as a system identifier to the Automatic Updates system. Also, the code that is created on your end is specific to the hardware of that computer, which means that if you did share it with somebody else, you wouldn't be able to use the same 40-character authorization code to authorize the software. Which means you would only be able to use it for X days(still TBD for the release version in October) before it would shut itself down. Curiously enough, this is the same technique that Autodesk uses on products like AutoCad, Inventor, and 3DS MAX to get you to register. Microsoft has also been using it in the 2000 and XP versions of Office. But as far as all that goes, like Eddie said, it would be considered piracy to share the software, just as it is now. Of course, somebody found a way to hack past the Office 2000 authorization system, so I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before somebody does with XP.
So, in a nutshell, here's my take on the whole thing...is it going to make people upset? Definitely (look at this thread for proof.) Is it simply Microsoft "flexing their muscles?" No, they're trying to cut down on the illegal distribution of their software, which they have every right to do. And the way they've decided to do it has been used by other companies in the past, but since all eyes have been on every move Microsoft makes lately, only now has it become an issue.