You have no rights, so buy Windows 7

Professur

Well-Known Member
WARNING:OPINION PIECE


You have no rights, so buy Windows 7
Rant Forced updates and reboots, then shutdown
By Charlie Demerjian
Monday, 11 May 2009, 21:31

MICROSOFT IS DOING its level best to make Windows 7 seem more palatable than the Broken OS, but it is all just show. As usual, once you look beyond the hype and spin, you will see it is once again a cynical scam.

This time, Microsoft is dipping its toes in the water around its latest WGA / WAT control freakery. It will forcibly shut down Windows 7 RC machines every two hours. It will start to do this three months before the RC programme ends in June 2010, but Microsoft will kindly give you two weeks notice before it starts shutting you down. This kindness can be thought of like two 'just out of prison types' showing up at your door saying, "Youze wanna pay for dat softwarez? If youze don't, youze kneez just might break on dere own, ya know? Mista Balma don'tz likez peoplez like youze."

Microsoft has every right to do whatever the heck it wants with the RC, and it also has every right to get paid for its software that you are using. But then again, is it insane? No, don't answer that, it is not. It is cold, calculating, and doesn't give a rat's *ss about your rights. All Microsoft cares about is forcing money out of you, repeatedly and as often as possible. If you buy Windows 7 or even use it, you are an idiot. Consider this about your 17th warning, as if everything Microsoft has put people through over the years wasn't enough. Maybe someday you will get a clue.

The real problem with this customer abuse is that, once again, the IT press is abdicating its responsibilities. Some are simply stupid, others are paid off, but either way, Microsoft is cynically using them. How? Remember a few days ago when Microsoft said that the RC would be good 'til June 2010? The IT press outlets fell all over themselves praising how you could get Windows 7 free for a year, and how great and kind Microsoft was to do that.

That is Microsoft's strategy. It did the same for the XP Mode (XPM) scam. Neither thing is what Microsoft at first touted it to be. It puts out a part of the story that sounds good, and the press doesn't think, doesn't question, just reposts how 'awesome' it is. Microsoft gets good press coverage, and then a week or two later, the truth comes out. But by then, no one is paying attention anymore. The public is too stupid to actually read a second article on a topic, and no one in the trade press updates their old stories or puts up a story about how they were used. If they even get it.

So Microsoft wins, and once again the customers lose. Journalists that play ball are rewarded, financially or otherwise, and those that tell the public the truth are cut out. Isn't our new world order wonderful. But the Vole has been doing this, and mostly getting away with it, for over 20 years.

And that brings us back to the abuses Microsoft is heaping on customers with this latest WGA / WAT thing. It just announced that it would push out "test" fake updates to Windows 7 RC users. People are rightly annoyed at this, but the RC is a test for Microsoft to get data with, so no problem there. What is a problem is that it is changing how things are done. If you ignore the test the first time, it will just do it without your permission the second time. That is a problem.

Once again, but not for the test version, what you are seeing is an aggressive WGA scheme in action. In Windows XP, Microsoft stole your rights after purchase with WGA, but you could simply chose not to install it. I don't. Ever. With the Broken OS, it is a little less clear because that malware is built in, but you could mostly still chose not to do the updates. Mostly.

Evidently, user rights are not a concern at Microsoft, because now it is has begun forcing the updates on people whether they want them or not. If you don't want to load the 'patch' that breaks your PC, you don't have a choice any longer. Microsoft is testing a way to cram whatever it wants down your throat. You 'signed' the EULA contract of adhesion, almost assuredly without reading it, so Microsoft will abuse you with it and you are up a creek without a paddle. Suckers.

In a few months, all those people who thought they were getting a 'free' copy of Windows 7 will have their PCs shut down. I can't wait to hear about the lawsuits over this, but that will have to wait a while. In the meantime, if you are dumb enough to use Windows 7, or sad enough to have bought the hype, have fun rebooting every two hours. If you didn't, have fun laughing at your friends when these 'test' abuses become real abuses.

Microsoft has crossed the line twice this week, but no one is calling it on any of this. The legacy press is too tame and too afraid to be cut off from the Vole's stream of advertising revenue. People are too stupid to think about the consequences of their actions, and Microsoft is abusing the public with its monopoly power. But, sigh, it was ever thus. To quote Egan Orion, "The slaves love their chains." µ

source
 

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
It is cold, calculating, and doesn't give a rat's *ss about your rights.

What, pray tell, are "your rights"? Don't like it? Don't use it. Problem solved.
 

catocom

Well-Known Member
what's wrong is the strong arm tactics they use to squash the competition.
In gov, schools, and users.
Many techs Have to deal with them because because so many only know windows now.
 

2minkey

bootlicker
nah don't do it. macs are for assholes. self-righteous, meat and freedom-hating lefty sissy assholes.

but seriously, it's a free RC OS. by june 2010, the real thing will have long been released. buy the fucking thing or go back to your old OS. it's not hard to figure out. it's not like anyone who gets RC OSs doesn't understand what they are installing.

Charlie Demerjian you are a whining bitch. you think the world owes you free software? fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

typed in billy gates' home town, by a person who has paid for a license on every installed OS he has.
 

Luis G

<i><b>Problemator</b></i>
Staff member
Are they really that better at graphic design?
Perhaps is just an idea that every one has but no one seems to question.
 

2minkey

bootlicker
they're certainly not any better for music or video editing, at least at this point. i doubt they are much better for graphics, and they certainly are not better by price point. considering that they're using the same hardware as PCs now, one might suggest that all you get with a mac is the opportunity to pay way too much for a PC with a bloated OS that assumes you're a moron. (sorry, i've tried to make "changes" to macs, and they are almost as technologically opaque as my cell phone.)
 

Altron

Well-Known Member
I'm usually against my computer controlling me, but this guy has a stick up his ass.

If you're going to get pre-release version of Windows for free, then you need to anticipate some sort of microsoft controls on it. They're not stupid - they're a company, and their job is to make money for the stockholders. It's not to be a charity and provide free software for the world. They have almost 100,000 employees that need paychecks.

If you want a temporary, free version of Windows, then expect to deal with the issues. Don't bitch about what's happening 10 months down the line. If you didn't want to deal with Microsoft's requirements for it, then you shouldn't have downloaded it.

The point of the RC version is to find bugs and fix them. By the middle of 2010, they should have fixed enough to be able to launch the paid version.

I like free software, but I realize that it's a companies job to make money, not give a bunch of nerds free Windows for over a year.

If Microsoft is getting too controlling for your tastes, it's called Linux. It's not that hard to install. Less than an hour for one of the simpler ones like Ubuntu.

And what's the big deal about installing updates? They usually just patch holes that the developers forgot to patch during development. I haven't met a techie who didn't keep his machine updated, with the exception of maybe a little bit after the Service Pack comes out, when there's bugs and stuff in it. But the small updates, who cares?
 

Luis G

<i><b>Problemator</b></i>
Staff member
I haven't met a techie who didn't keep his machine updated, with the exception of maybe a little bit after the Service Pack comes out, when there's bugs and stuff in it. But the small updates, who cares?

Now you've met one.
I have automatic updates both in Windows and Linux disabled.

I only update system related files if they are needed for a new program or if there is a critical risk if I don't update. Mind you, most critical updates by microsoft are not critical at all (specially IE and Office since I don't use either), e.g. my machine is still vulnerable to conficker but the Server service is disabled and I'm safe.

Why I don't update? Because updates:
- Eat my bandwidth.
- Need an update manager that is running constantly eating my resources.
- Sometimes are a pain in the ass, solving problems I really don't have.
- Take up space (backup copies).


It all comes down to if it ain't broken why fix it.
 

pc_builder

New Member
If Microsoft is getting too controlling for your tastes, it's called Linux. It's not that hard to install. Less than an hour for one of the simpler ones like Ubuntu.

I have Ubuntu Studio installed on an older machine. I like it. Only problem I've had with it is that it's Debian based, which I did not learn until recently has run levels 2-5 configured exactly the same. So installing the drivers for my nvidia geforce fx 5200 was quite a pain, but worth it.

I've learned quite a bit about compiling kernels and applications in the past couple days.

What's really been fun is discovering that for every windows program I use to do something, I've been able to find a linux app the does the same, or mostly the same thing. :D

Edit: oh yeah. And I'm going to either install VirtualBox on my laptop, or set it up for dual booting, so I can try other linux flavors. I gotta say though, the VirtualBox way would be the easier choice.
 

catocom

Well-Known Member
Debian is the most likely to secede IMO amt, because it has the most packages.

I think it's great that it's been made more non-tech friendly.
 

POStech

New Member
I have Ubuntu Studio installed on an older machine. I like it. Only problem I've had with it is that it's Debian based, which I did not learn until recently has run levels 2-5 configured exactly the same. So installing the drivers for my nvidia geforce fx 5200 was quite a pain, but worth it.

I've learned quite a bit about compiling kernels and applications in the past couple days.

What's really been fun is discovering that for every windows program I use to do something, I've been able to find a linux app the does the same, or mostly the same thing. :D

Edit: oh yeah. And I'm going to either install VirtualBox on my laptop, or set it up for dual booting, so I can try other linux flavors. I gotta say though, the VirtualBox way would be the easier choice.


VirtualBox is awesome and no need to reboot if you want to use the other OS
 

valkyrie

Well-Known Member
Makes me want to go out and buy a MAC for my next new computer.
You don't have to go that route. PC does not equal Windows.

I'm still not sure which flavor of Linux I want on my laptop but I am getting away from MS Windows OS. I'm looking for something out of the box with little to configure and easy find for Acer laptop drivers. Might check their site to see if they already have a download for something.

Now... if I can just find the time....
 

catocom

Well-Known Member
I have setup several people with ubuntu, that are not comp savy at all,
and they really like it.

if the cd runs ok, setup will be a snap.
 

pc_builder

New Member
Why is that a problem???

...Debian based, which I did not learn until recently has run levels 2-5 configured exactly the same.

Meaning all running a gui environment. I had to do some more learnin' to figure out how to shut down X so I could compile and install my nvidia drivers. :D (I had to recompile my kernel, first. :rolleyes:)

Being Debian based wasn't the problem, per se. Just that finding out that Debian and derivatives are configured that way. Not really a problem, because I've learned how to do what I need to now.

I was thinking of installing Slackware on my laptop, alongside windows. But it's been running so well as is, I don't want to mess with it. But since I still want to give Slackware a try, I'm going to install it in VirtualBox.
 

pc_builder

New Member
The only time I've messed with KDE was when I was trying out the Slax livecd. It looked good, and ran just fine. When I get Slackware installed though, I want to try xfce. I tried the Damn Small Linux livecd before, too. And I think it was running xfce for it's desktop environment.
 
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