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Windows 7 update aimed at pirates, lands next week
What's more, the update will periodically phone home to check for additional vulnerabilities. You needn't worry though, no personally identifiable information will be transmitted according to Williams. Also, the patch is not being force-fed; users can opt out of it. Williams said the update would available for manual download via Microsoft's Genuine site or Windows Update on February 16.
Surprisingly, there's no catch -- or at least not candidly. If you don't install the patch, you will still be permitted to download other Windows updates. It's unclear whether the fixes will be present in Windows 7 Service Pack 1, in which case, they probably won't be discretionary.
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User Comments (33)
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Guest
on February 23, 2010 2:39 PM |
An addition to your message: If the software was complete at launch, it should be uncrackable. Then they wouldn't have to worry about illegal versions strung about. As for the Linux users, I wish I could switch to Linux, but most of the "Legit" software I use on my computer doesn't support Linux. |
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princeton
on March 4, 2010 7:15 AM |
Well it seems people already have found a way to bypass this on the pirated copies even though its optional. Guess the pirates are preparing for SP1. |
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Viandroto
on March 5, 2010 10:35 AM |
Poser, poser, poser. Is that all you can say? Some people really can't afford it. People who don't have jobs. $140 is actually a lot of money when you don't have a job. Sure, I probably wouldn't buy it anyway if I did have the money because I already have a pirated copy... And $140 is still quite a bit of money. I do not hate Microsoft, I just do not fully support them. Alas, I am supporting them when I actually use their product and do recommend it to people. It's free advertising is what it is. You know what it's really about? It's about greed. And really, it's not that they're greedy, or I'm greedy.... We're both greedy. They want your money, and I want their product. Everyone wants to categorize greed as good or bad... I don't see greed as something good or bad. It just is what it is. I respect those that invest in the product, but I also respect those that support their product. Personally, if they don't have the technology to stop me from getting it for free, why should I hold some standard to not using it for free... Specially when there's Linux out there, as you say? If all the pirates, and hackers decided to give up on Windows, do you think they'd have such a hold on the market? Don't think so... It's the pirates and hackers that really make Windows so popular, or you can look at it the other way. There are pirates and hackers BECAUSE Windows is so popular. I suppose I'm just a poser though. |
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bearspencer
on March 5, 2010 11:37 AM |
"What's more, the update will periodically phone home to check for additional vulnerabilities. You needn't worry though, no personally identifiable information will be transmitted according to Williams." "Needn't worry?" That phrase from a major corporation (think Sony & rootkit DRM) ranks right up there with "what makes you think something's wrong" from a wife, silence from a bunch of kids "playing" and a snake's rattle. There seems to me to be a qualitative difference between submitting to a "genuine verification" check before updating old software or downloading new and this ET phone home play. Smacks of the cable company visiting the house every quarter just to make sure we haven't hooked up an extra tv in another room. Nor am I sanguine about the prospect of performing a major upgrade to hardware or firmware, it not playing nice with Win7 or vice versa, and suddenly having to call "home" myself and hassle with MS' lack of support. |
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mrtraver
on March 6, 2010 8:46 AM |
...Once you review this totally free OS including optional free software, you have to ask yourself why windows is still in existence. It certainly wouldn't be if this would have been available before MS got their foot planted squarely in the doorway and I think the difference will come about if and when Google comes out with a Linux based system. Having a famous name behind this system will make all the difference in the world. Gee, so I can play Fallout 3 and Wheelman and Command and Conquer 3 and Freespace 2 and Mechwarrior 3 and Crimson Skies and Unreal Tournament 2004 and Battlestations: Midway and Mass Effect and World in Conflict and Crysis: Warhead and all my other 60 or so Windows-based games on Linux without tweaking or using Windows emulators or anything else? I've never installed Linux because no one has ever shown me a good reason to. What can I do with it besides web browsing, email, and an office suite? I can do those in Windows, too, and don't have to reboot to a different OS to play a game. (Except Fallout 3, which only runs on my XP partition - damn you, Bethesda and your refusal to support Windows 7 even with 90,000,000 plus legit copies of it out there!) |
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Guest
on March 9, 2010 6:46 PM |
Or, people might have more important things to take care of, like children & families that doesn't feel the necessary expense to line Microsoft's pockets with more money for 1/2-assed software that wasn't properly tested, and rushed to release to make more money. Spoken like a true pirate. I think we all remember Microsoft's ad campaign for the release of Vista. "The wow starts now". What overhyped bs that was for a polished turd. |
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kweeny
on March 14, 2010 12:39 PM |
Viandroto said: You know what it's really about? It's about greed. And really, it's not that they're greedy, or I'm greedy.... We're both greedy. They want your money, and I want their product. Everyone wants to categorize greed as good or bad... I don't see greed as something good or bad. It just is what it is. I respect those that invest in the product, but I also respect those that support their product. Personally, if they don't have the technology to stop me from getting it for free, why should I hold some standard to not using it for free... Specially when there's Linux out there, as you say? If all the pirates, and hackers decided to give up on Windows, do you think they'd have such a hold on the market? Don't think so... It's the pirates and hackers that really make Windows so popular, or you can look at it the other way. There are pirates and hackers BECAUSE Windows is so popular. I suppose I'm just a poser though. Share these thoughts too. Waiting to see what MS and the pirates/hackers come up with next. .Anyway its going to affect a lot of users. |
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mrtraver
on March 14, 2010 1:50 PM |
What overhyped bs that was for a polished turd. I just saw that episode of Mythbusters this week! |
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