The Truth on Windows Product Activation

[Neep]

http://www.licenturion.com/xp/fully-licensed-wpa.txt

shows that "Microshaft" isn't out to get us and eat our babies

here's a good quote:

"In contrast to many critics of Windows Product Activation, we think
that WPA does not prevent typical hardware modifications and,
moreover, respects the user's right to privacy."

want to find out why they say that? read it yourself


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1 GHz T-bird
256 Megs PC133 CL2 Crucial SDRAM
KT7-RAID
Elsa Gladiac GeForce 2 GTS
Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21 Inch (.22 horizontal and .18 vertical refurb for $350 best buy I ever made)
2 40 Gig IBM Deskstar 60s in RAID
Maxtor 30 Gig 7200 rpm ATA100
Windows 2000 SP2/Windows XP Pro RC1 build 2505
10x DVD-ROM
Lite-On 12x/10x/32x CD-RW
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Value
Cable Modem

[swampy]

an interesting read. So I guess there is some use for all that checksum crap in my digital design course.

[Catscratch]

Originally posted by Neep:
shows that "Microshaft" isn't out to get us and eat our babies

LOL. Duh.

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Q: What do you want in a girlfriend?
A: Me.

[Bolweval]

For some reason, as I read that article, I kept getting this picture in my head of The_Hitman holding his hands over his ears and yelling BLA BLA BLA BLA!!!!! ; )

Originally posted by Neep:
http://www.licenturion.com/xp/fully-licensed-wpa.txt

shows that "Microshaft" isn't out to get us and eat our babies

here's a good quote:

"In contrast to many critics of Windows Product Activation, we think
that WPA does not prevent typical hardware modifications and,
moreover, respects the user's right to privacy."

want to find out why they say that? read it yourself

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ßolweval

P3 850@1054mhz
Elsa G-Force2-GTS
384 megs PC133@124
Vortex2 Sound Card
60gig ata100 Maxtor
30gig ata100 Quantum
13gig ata66 Seagate
Abit BE6-2
Win2K Pro
WinXP Pro Build 2505 RC1
Linux Mandrake8.0 ___________________

Make it idiot proof, And they'll make a better idiot.

[The_Hitman]

Originally posted by Bolweval:
For some reason, as I read that article, I kept getting this picture in my head of The_Hitman holding his hands over his ears and yelling BLA BLA BLA BLA!!!!! ; )

When I read the article I kept imagining some faceless Microsoft drone having a press conference and saying how "this activation stuff is not for us (ms)..... Its for YOU the consumer...we are only protecting YOU...and by *INNOVATING* this new product activation *FEATURE*, we are providing more capabilities than ever before to the consumer."

And all the sheep like you that will buy it...

If you ask me, this just looks like a classic Trojon horse to me, and if your too blind to see that then there is nothing I can say to open your tightly welded shut eyes.

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"Given enough time and money..Microsoft will eventually invent a Unix." - ME

Why Yes! I am a proud member of the SF Linux Hippy Club.
-----------------------------
ABIT KT133A-RAID
Athlon 1.2/266 OC@1330 Mhz (10x133)
512MB PC133 Crucial RAM
2 x Quantum 20GB Fireballs
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP (Still getting 60 FPS baby)
SB Live 5.1
Linux Debian Unstable+
Linux Mandrake 8.0+
Linux Flavor of the Month
Windows 2000 Professional
BeOS 5 just for fun

[This message has been edited by The_Hitman (edited July 10, 2001).]

[Bolweval]

Then stop trying.

Originally posted by The_Hitman:



If you ask me, this just looks like a classic Trojon horse to me, and if your too blind to see that then there is nothing I can say to open your tightly welded shut eyes.

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ßolweval

P3 850@1054mhz
Elsa G-Force2-GTS
384 megs PC133@124
Vortex2 Sound Card
60gig ata100 Maxtor
30gig ata100 Quantum
13gig ata66 Seagate
Abit BE6-2
Win2K Pro
WinXP Pro Build 2505 RC1
Linux Mandrake8.0 ___________________

Make it idiot proof, And they'll make a better idiot.

[The_Hitman]

Originally posted by Bolweval:
Then stop trying.

So according to the article THIS is what they can tell about you:

For this purpose, the double words are divided into twelve bit-fields. The relationship between the computer hardware and the bit-fields is given in the following table.

double word | offset | length | bit-field value based on
H1 | 0 | 10 | volume serial number string of system volume
H1 | 10 | 10 | network adapter MAC address string
H1 | 20 | 7 | CD-ROM drive hardware identification string
H1 | 27 | 5 | graphics adapter hardware identification string
H2 | 0 | 3 | unused, set to 001
H2 | 3 | 6 | CPU serial number string
H2 | 9 | 7 | harddrive hardware identification string
H2 | 16 | 5 | SCSI host adapter hardware identification string
H2 | 21 | 4 | IDE controller hardware identification string
H2 | 25 | 3 | processor model string
H2 | 28 | 3 | RAM size
H2 | 31 | 1 | 1 = dockable 0 = not dockable

Still seems kinda scary to me.



------------------
"Given enough time and money..Microsoft will eventually invent a Unix." - ME

Why Yes! I am a proud member of the SF Linux Hippy Club.
-----------------------------
ABIT KT133A-RAID
Athlon 1.2/266 OC@1330 Mhz (10x133)
512MB PC133 Crucial RAM
2 x Quantum 20GB Fireballs
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP (Still getting 60 FPS baby)
SB Live 5.1
Linux Debian Unstable+
Linux Mandrake 8.0+
Linux Flavor of the Month
Windows 2000 Professional
BeOS 5 just for fun

[Bolweval]

Simple, then don't use it.

Originally posted by The_Hitman:

Still seems kinda scary to me.

------------------
ßolweval

P3 850@1054mhz
Elsa G-Force2-GTS
384 megs PC133@124
Vortex2 Sound Card
60gig ata100 Maxtor
30gig ata100 Quantum
13gig ata66 Seagate
Abit BE6-2
Win2K Pro
WinXP Pro Build 2505 RC1
Linux Mandrake8.0 ___________________

Make it idiot proof, And they'll make a better idiot.

[Racer^]

Whether its scarry or not, I still think it is ludicrous to have to ask permission to change the hardware on my computer. Heck, its stupid to have to ask permission to install it on another PC. People get new computers often and I usually scrap the old one for parts...now MS has to hold my hand when I cross the street?

Ahhh forget it...I'm sure there'll be a protection crack or keygen within a few weeks of XP's release. After I buy it, if the Windows XP "protection error" ever comes up, I'll just crack it.

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TBird 880 (oc 110 x 8) /
ABit KT7 (YH) VIA 4.29 /
256 MB PC133 RAM /
TNT2 16MB (oc 160/160) Det 7.58 /
Maxtor 5.1GB 85120A8 & 40GB 5T040H4 /
ESS 1869 & NetGear FA311 10/100 NIC /
Win2k Pro SP2

[praxis]

I've already decided that I will not buy WinXP because of this...neither will my company and neither will many, many other computer professionals I know.

That's really what it comes down to...how much will you compramise/put up with for a new product. Privacy is important to me, and so is flexibility, almost as much as innovation. I feel that MS is taking advantage of their "you have no choice" position, and I don't like that at all. I am by no means a linux advocate, and I wish there was a viable alternative for desktop OS, so I could show my support elsewhere. Que sera.

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I AM ELECTRO

spex

[Neep]

Originally posted by The_Hitman:

Still seems kinda scary to me.

is it scary because you don't understand it? Most of the article is explaining the algorithm. If you read the conclusion, it says the hardware configuration is more flexable than most of you think. WPA is not a *feature* its a way to protect MS's product. They can do it if they want to, but of course it can hurt sales if the initial reaction to it is negative.

Personally, I don't see it has a backdoor, but I'm going to crack it anyways. Why? Because I can




------------------
1 GHz T-bird
256 Megs PC133 CL2 Crucial SDRAM
KT7-RAID
Elsa Gladiac GeForce 2 GTS
Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21 Inch (.22 horizontal and .18 vertical refurb for $350 best buy I ever made)
2 40 Gig IBM Deskstar 60s in RAID
Maxtor 30 Gig 7200 rpm ATA100
Windows 2000 SP2/Windows XP Pro RC1 build 2505
10x DVD-ROM
Lite-On 12x/10x/32x CD-RW
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Value
Cable Modem

[ylen13]

Originally posted by Neep:
is it scary because you don't understand it? Most of the article is explaining the algorithm. If you read the conclusion, it says the hardware configuration is more flexable than most of you think. WPA is not a *feature* its a way to protect MS's product. They can do it if they want to, but of course it can hurt sales if the initial reaction to it is negative.

Personally, I don't see it has a backdoor, but I'm going to crack it anyways. Why? Because I can

i guess u people haven't heard the crack is already available

[Neep]

Originally posted by ylen13:
i guess u people haven't heard the crack is already available

I know there are cracks available for previously released builds (I'm using them) but they still could change something for the RTM build. So we'll just have to wait. We may not even need a crack at all. Office XP has a corporate key that disables WPA all together.

So nah :P

------------------
1 GHz T-bird
256 Megs PC133 CL2 Crucial SDRAM
KT7-RAID
Elsa Gladiac GeForce 2 GTS
Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21 Inch (.22 horizontal and .18 vertical refurb for $350 best buy I ever made)
2 40 Gig IBM Deskstar 60s in RAID
Maxtor 30 Gig 7200 rpm ATA100
Windows 2000 SP2/Windows XP Pro RC1 build 2505
10x DVD-ROM
Lite-On 12x/10x/32x CD-RW
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Value
Cable Modem

[Wollington]

From Microsofts FAQ on WPA.......

Won’t Product Activation be easy to crack? I’ve heard on the Internet that it will be cracked before the product is released. I also heard you can buy Office XP final product on the street in Asia. Doesn’t this mean the code has been cracked?

Product Activation has yet to be cracked. The so-called "crack" now being passed around the Internet contains a set of instructions for setting a registry key that disables activation. Microsoft made the existence of this registry key public to its technical beta testers in early February and included it as a testing tool, telling them where it was and how to set it to disable activation. That said, the intellectual property protection arena is a cat-and-mouse game. All IP protection technologies will be cracked at some point; it is just a matter of time. The measure of success is not completely stopping software piracy. Success is more likely measured in increased awareness of the terms of the license agreement and increased license compliance.



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Microsoft has acknowledged that its engineers substituted certain file names with the phrase, "Netscape engineers are weenies," in some of its internet software.

Oh well now we all know why Nutscrape is so crap!

[Neep]

Originally posted by Wollington:
From Microsofts FAQ on WPA.......

Won’t Product Activation be easy to crack? I’ve heard on the Internet that it will be cracked before the product is released. I also heard you can buy Office XP final product on the street in Asia. Doesn’t this mean the code has been cracked?

Product Activation has yet to be cracked. The so-called "crack" now being passed around the Internet contains a set of instructions for setting a registry key that disables activation. Microsoft made the existence of this registry key public to its technical beta testers in early February and included it as a testing tool, telling them where it was and how to set it to disable activation. That said, the intellectual property protection arena is a cat-and-mouse game. All IP protection technologies will be cracked at some point; it is just a matter of time. The measure of success is not completely stopping software piracy. Success is more likely measured in increased awareness of the terms of the license agreement and increased license compliance.

I personally got Office XP the day after it went RTM and it had a corporate key to disable WPA.

The crack is much more than disabling a registry key. There are several keys plus DLLs that it deregisters. Also there are a couple files that need to be replaced. So the crack is much more than you imply.


------------------
1 GHz T-bird
256 Megs PC133 CL2 Crucial SDRAM
KT7-RAID
Elsa Gladiac GeForce 2 GTS
Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21 Inch (.22 horizontal and .18 vertical refurb for $350 best buy I ever made)
2 40 Gig IBM Deskstar 60s in RAID
Maxtor 30 Gig 7200 rpm ATA100
Windows 2000 SP2/Windows XP Pro RC1 build 2505
10x DVD-ROM
Lite-On 12x/10x/32x CD-RW
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Value
Cable Modem