"Their motivation is stopping software theft, and I don?t deny that's a legitimate concern, but if they're grabbing personal information at the same time, that should be questioned and resisted."
The operator asked for his first name, Peter declined asking for the confirmation code - the operator said 'I have to get your name to complete the registration'. Since this is a direct contradiction of Microsoft's repeated assurances that personal information is optional and that all operators obeyed that rule without exception, Peter refused. There was a pause after which the operator said the registration servers were responding slowly and there would be a delay before the confirmation code could be given. After six minutes of classical music on hold he was finally given the confirmation code
It seems Microsoft has a policy against reselling old computers that still run their programs. They say selling a computer without it's original disks or certificate of authenticity constitutes software pirating.Carolyn Nobles, Idaho Youth Ranch: "Nobody wants an empty computer, and that's basically all they're doing is buying parts and pieces."
The software giant threatened Idaho Youth Ranch, a local non-profit charity, with fines up to 20-thousand dollars. So what do you do with 3 rooms full of dozens of donated IBM?s?
In fact, OS piracy might increase because users in need of a full-fledged CD will provide more demand for illegal copies. "I believe this will only encourage piracy," another reader wrote. "If I had just shelled out a thousand bucks for a PC and then I want to install a peripheral whose install program requires me to insert the Windows CD, do you think I'm more likely to obediently make a trip to my local computer superstore and pay extra for yet another Windows license so that I can have the CD or to call up my buddy ... and maybe [ask him to] burn me a copy to make it more convenient for me in the future?"
By a strange coincidence Microsoft's dire warnings against buying PCs without preinstalled operating systems (see MS: how PCs shipped without Windows will destroy your life) seem to have vanished from microsoft.com on the very day that Microsoft argued that it didn't have a monopoly of the OS market, and that "the market position of Windows was created by... consumer demand, not Microsoft's control of total output."
What? Software licensing confusing? Well, Microsoft's certainly is. Let me point out that Mr. Little received this letter shortly after Gartner issued a study estimating that 60 percent of Microsoft's bigger customers were in violation of a new Microsoft policy which essentially required customers to pay twice per workstation for the same OS. Microsoft later said it was changing that policy again, but it's still not clear where it stands. Microsoft's letter is like hearing from the IRS. To say only a software pirate would worry about getting such a letter is to say only tax cheats need to be concerned about an audit. In both cases, your judge and jury is an organization that exists to take money from you, and they are the only ones who can interpret their own impenetrable rules. Do any of us Mr. Littles stand a chance in that situation?
After checking with readers about their locale, I found that every reader who reported getting a letter like Mr. Little's was based in a metropolitan area where the BSA was conducting its "software truce" campaign at that time. (The BSA truce campaign offers recipients a deadline to acquire needed licenses and thereby gain immunity for past infringements.) Although Microsoft officials had said the campaign was targeted at small businesses in general, it was clear they were planning a combination punch with the BSA as their tag team partner.
But from the look of the FAQs, this is perfectly understandable. Microsoft - as it pitched to The Register a couple of weeks back - is going to great lengths to stress that Product Activation is easy, takes hardly any time, and doesn't violate your privacy. But from the hardware freak's standpoint, this isn't anywhere near the point. They are concerned about needing to get a new activation key every time they change their hardware, about not being able to run dual boot systems with more than one copy of the OS, and about not being able to have several installations going at the same time.
The company has put strong anti-piracy protection into its next generation of software that requires registering the software and reduces the number of times it can be installed. But securing the software could cause belated headaches for customers if the software becomes unusable.Microsoft has added "Product Activation" to its forthcoming Windows XP operating system, and Office XP productivity suite, which requires users to send product keys via the Internet or telephone to keep the software functional.
Several readers who said they'd been the target of a BSA investigation felt that they were selected more for PR reasons than anything else. "I honestly think everything they fined us for was software we had purchased properly ... we just couldn't document that we had all the licenses," wrote one reader of his previous company's experience. "They didn't care, because they knew we were too small to fight. I think all they really wanted was to reach a settlement so they could get a story about us in the local newspapers."
Microsoft France is plotting to manipulate "public authorities and large institutional players" to make piracy enforcement, implementing copy protection and product activation technology, and the fight against hacking a "national cause" in France, according to a leaked internal memo obtained by The Register.
March 19 - Microsoft Corp. revealed the grand scheme for its .NET corporate strategy Monday, as the software giant unveiled its new "Hailstorm" platform. In a briefing for developers and Web site operators, Chairman Bill Gates outlined a far-reaching plan that he hopes will put Microsoft software at the heart of each consumers' "personal network" of Internet-enabled appliances. More important, Gates says he thinks people will pay for the ability to access their data any time, anywhere.
"These days, the only thing that Microsoft is interested in discussing with its customers is licensing issues," said John Luludis, CIO of Danzas AEI, an international shipping company with about 10,000 Windows desktops. "We spend a lot of time and resources constantly proving license compliance, while we try to plan an optimum configuration to deal with the rising cost of ownership related to Microsoft's products."Customers and analysts say Microsoft's licensing terms are overly complex and becoming outdated as more enterprise users access Windows applications on a part-time basis over the Web.
A licensing disagreement with Microsoft forced Alaska Airlines to scrap a plan to give pilots browser access to a mainframe work-scheduling application, said CIO Robert Reeder. The initial plan was to run terminal emulation software on Windows NT, letting pilots access the app from their home PCs and airport kiosks
InterTrust, one of several companies that provides technology to protect songs and videos from being illegally copied, sued Microsoft on Thursday, saying the giant's music and video software infringes its patent rights.
In its continuing jihad against software piracy, Microsoft's legal department has sent letters to corporate customers demanding they conduct internal audits of their software licenses and submit their findings within 30 days to the software giant.The letter, using language no less intimidating than the Internal Revenue Service might use, also includes a form that spells out the audit process. Customers must report the number of installs, documented licenses, license upgrades and unlicensed software. Covered in the process are operating systems, Office suites, individual applications, BackOffice products and the Visio product line.
The audits are not only costing IT shops time and money (some well into five figures), but several customers contacted this week who received the letters without warning said they bordered on harassment.
One of the latest examples that's causing a stir: Microsoft is pushing content providers to its MSN network of consumer Web sites to adopt Microsoft services such as Passport, a "single sign-in" Web-registration service that stores credit-card information and passwords. It also is pushing content companies to adopt Windows Media, the Microsoft format for playing digital music and video. Some partners say they now have such terms written into their MSN contracts.
PC EXPO, NEW YORK--A funny thing happened on the way to PC Expo: Microsoft killed my copy of Office XP. Or at least that's what the error message said, threatening me with something called "Reduced Functionality Mode" if I didn't immediately insert my original Office disc and have my software reactivated."If you don't perform the reactivation steps, Microsoft Office will go into Reduced Functionality Mode. In that mode you will not be able to save modifications to documents, or create a new document, and additional functionality may be reduced" said the "help" screen attached to the error message. (The error itself could not be copied and pasted so I didn't save the exact language; I must say I was a little stunned).
Many corporate users have bristled at the volume license and upgrade changes, and their uneasiness could have consequences for Microsoft. Several IT managers warned that they may upgrade less often or consider looking more seriously at competitors' products rather than pony up for potentially costly licenses or upgrades."If Microsoft continues to make my choices narrower and life tougher for me, they'll see exactly how little monopoly they really do have over this market, and we'll exercise our choices to go somewhere else," said Jim Prevo, CIO at Green Mountain Coffee Inc. in Waterbury, Vt. Prevo added that he had never even thought about considering alternatives until he was confronted with Microsoft's licensing changes.
Rob Enderle, an analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based Giga Information Group Inc., said one of his firm's clients, a $2 billion insurance company, is yanking everything but Microsoft's desktop products in response to the changes. Enderle said that among the clients who have contacted Giga, about 30% are "really upset" and only one is happy.
