Wherein Microsoft shoots itself in the foot -- again. I hope they keep it up.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

Now they unleashed the lawyers on the makers of an utility whose only purpose was to automate the updating of many PCs running Windows, instead of having to run Windows Update repeatedly on each:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=584427

http://www.autopatcher.com/

Meanwhile, I export /var/cache/yum via NFS and am happy. M$ can go suck a caprine's nether regions.

[Omphaloskepsis]

1. Funny timing after the WGA fiasco this weekend..

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Whoa. I'm uninformed about that. Link?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. Never mind -- I looked it up. Their servers were down, and people's OSs were invalidated.

Truly, DRM is the spawnn of Satan.

Use Linux.
Use Linux.
Use Linux.
Use Linux.
Use Linux.
Use Linux.
Use Linux.

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. The software should be smart enough to degrade gracefully if the servers fail....

What happened was inexcusable. And fuck DRM. The pirated versions continued working well. The only people that were hurt were people that paid for Windows.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. I am curious about pirated copies of Windows.

Do people go along with no updates at all or are they able to fool the MS servers into giving the updates?

[Omphaloskepsis]

6. Most people pirate the corporate versions.

Microsoft has certain serial numbers reserved for companies.. Imagine entering 2 thousand serial numbers when you upgrade the office. If you download the corporate version you don't have to deal with WGA. You still have to enter a serial number but that is about it.

edit :: And yeah It works like normal. The pirated versions are actually easier than legit one.

[B3Nut]

9. Oh, they fixed that with Vista.

Now you need to deploy a Volume License Key *server*. It doles out the keys to the new installs. They still need to activate and validate.

I've dinked with Linux but don't care for it, and it's just not ready for prime time for what I want a computer to do. There's still WAY too much cobbling crap together. Linux makes my head hurt. Mac OS X is better, I've used it quite a bit and administer an Xserve at work, but I still find XP and Vista the easiest to work with, except for Vista's User Account Control, which is tethered to more actions than it needs to be. (Give admin permissions to view all processes in the Task Mangler? WTF?!?!)

I wish Macs were more navigable with the keyboard, I hate reaching for the damned mouse every time I want to select a different option in a dialog box.

But this DRM shit needs to go byebye...I don't like companies who treat users like criminals. Apple is much better in this regard. Though I miss OS9...but that's another thread...

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. Hence my curiosity. But to be honest, the pirate peddlers on the street aren't peddling Vista much.

They seem to be sticking with XP.

[mainegreen]

7. Microsoft is so weird. They fight patent laws, work with the EFF and then go do this.

A seriously schizoid company.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. As all excessively lage companies are. -nt

[DarkTirade]

8. And they were starting to do so well the last few years...

ah well. I guess it couldn't last.

[Madrone]

12. Are you kidding me?

Autopatcher has saved my ass more than once. I found it when I was in a different regional office upgrading computers to XP from 98. I only had 8 computers to do, it took 2 weeks! Most of the software (computers came with XP years ago and were downgraded to 98 - I was using the orig oem software to upgrade) left me starting with Service Pack ONE! I think downloading and installing updates took something like 4 hours per machine, and I could only work on one at a time to minimize down time for the users. While I was WAITING for the installs I went looking for options - there HAD to be a better way. I found Autopatcher. LOVE IT.

Microsoft can kiss my ass.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. You can do nothing without first asking "Mommy, can I?"

My first thought they got their pants in a wad because the utility allows one to update machines without them being "blessed" by WGA. From the links, M$ denies it, but still.

[DS1]

13. I had a server start freaking out on me this week saying it wasn't licensed

and it was refusing more than one connection. Turns out it was a memory leak in the winlogon process which took up so much memory the WGA engine couldn't verify itself.

Fuck you M$

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. If you bash something and praise something else at your work, how respected is your voice?

That could be an opportunity for some advocacy. *coughlinuxcough*

[Redstone]

16. A little slow in the uptake, PR-wise, aren't they? You'd think they'd have

learned by now, and just BOUGHT the software developer...it's not like they can't afford to do so.

Redstone

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. That's assuming they want the functionality to exist at all.

The current philosophy seems to be: the rabble isn't allowed to be smart with their computers.