[Rumour] Windows 9 revamped activation system (DRM)

[Valentyn]

yeah I really love OSX, support is getting better too, there is a very big steam library native to OSX now!

 

Oh certainly, not just on steam though. There are so many places for OS X games. The biggest issue is still Publishers. All Bioshocks, and the like are on Mac, but only Infinite is on steam. Same for id Software games and many others.

 

Kudos for Feral Interactive, and Aspyr for making the big "AAA" folks see the light, they ports to OS X, and now Linux.

 

I only recently installed Win 8.1 to play Wolfenstein, as since Carmack left id OS X ports might become scarce.

 

There's also the fact that AMD recently game the Khronos group full access to Mantel. NVIDA, Intel, and AMD are working together to drastically reduce driver calls/overhead in OpenGL, and the major graphics engines are either on OpenGL now, or being Ported as well.

Things are only looking up for the *nix family. One of the mad reason I had for making a Mac Gaming YouTube channel

 

Plus; you know things are bad for current consoles when OS X and Linux get more games monthly than those combined sometimes.

[LAwLz]

First of all its their choice to protect their shit however they want.

But let me tell you this,the sales will be SO MUCH LOWER than win8,trust me  metro interface was one thing,DRM is on a whole different level.

I wont even bother with windows 9 DRM even tho i planned buying it i guess no,depends how retarded that DRM is,if its like you say i need an account and i have to use window store bullshit just no,no.

 

And linux doesnt need any push,linux is crap,get over it,linux fanboys come at me.Until linux has proper drivers support and an .xyz file system(.exe and such) and most games release on linux too it wont be anything else than a small fry.And with upcoming directx12, most games wont release on linux anymore or not full featured i guess.

I kind of doubt it. The vast majority of sales comes from prebuilt systems and the people who buy those don't care. If they are prompted to create an account they will do so without really thinking about it. They don't understand or care about the DRM.

 

If the rumors are true then you will need a Microsoft account, and you will only have to use the Microsoft store for metro apps, not regular programs. Last time I checked the metro apps store was pretty terrible, and the programs there are usually just watered down versions of "desktop programs" so it's not like you will miss a whole lot by not using the store.

 

GNU/Linux has pretty decent driver support these days. Out of the box I'd even go as far as to say it's better than Windows. By ".exe file system" do you mean you want installers? In GNU/Linux you install files either from the repo, or from files such as .deb.

If you mean you want .exe files to run then GNU/Linux don't need that since all files can be executed.

[Valentyn]

GNU/Linux has pretty decent driver support these days. Out of the box I'd even go as far as to say it's better than Windows.

 

 

Last I checked OpenGL performance in the likes on Unigine was faster in Linux, and OS X than Windows. 3D drivers have come a long way, even the likes of AMD's.

[patrickjp93]

Relying on just a MAC address is extremely ineffective, I could break that kind of protection in a few minutes. The generated hardware ID would have to be unique to more than just a MAC address. Microprocessors, internal storage, among other pieces of hardware have unique serials that are also different than any other in the world. It's much more effective to build your own algorithm based on a combination of hardware. Trust me I know I have done this a time or two to protect my own software. I actually have one piece of software still in use by my customers that is tied to the CPU in the system. Of course it's a bit more complex than that (bunch of random math thrown in to make it even more unique) but it also makes it so OS re-installs don't effect my licensing system. As long as the machine has the same microprocessor at the heart of it, you can run my software. Everyone's heard of spoofing MAC addresses and drive/volume serials, tho I have never heard of someone spoofing a CPU serial. Tho a combination of it all is still the most effective.

Breaking MAC Address protection in a couple minutes? BS. If anyone actually could it would mean the end of network protection. The moment you know the MAC address of someone's computer, all hell breaks loose.

[patrickjp93]

First of all its their choice to protect their shit however they want.

But let me tell you this,the sales will be SO MUCH LOWER than win8,trust me metro interface was one thing,DRM is on a whole different level.

I wont even bother with windows 9 DRM even tho i planned buying it i guess no,depends how retarded that DRM is,if its like you say i need an account and i have to use window store bullshit just no,no.

And linux doesnt need any push,linux is crap,get over it,linux fanboys come at me.Until linux has proper drivers support and an .xyz file system(.exe and such) and most games release on linux too it wont be anything else than a small fry.And with upcoming directx12, most games wont release on linux anymore or not full featured i guess.

Intel pushed 2 million lines of GPU driver code up to Linux specifically for its Skylake processors which are supposed to have a 40-60% improvement over Broadwell in graphics. You're way overconfident.

Also, it does have a .xyz file system. You're too stupid to use it apparently. The blank suffix is always an executable. ALWAYS. If you break this convention that's on you.

[GoodBytes]

Also, it does have a .xyz file system. You're too stupid to use it apparently. The blank suffix is always an executable. ALWAYS. If you break this convention that's on you.

That is not true at all. I have seen hundred of file with no extension under Linux based OS. And it is configuring in trying to figure out the executable. You have to go with the program icon. Most programs on Linux don't have icons so it is easy to identify the executable. But if it has, then you have the icon file that looks like the executable one..

[patrickjp93]

That is not true at all. I have seen hundred of file with no extension under Linux based OS. And it is configuring in trying to figure out the executable. You have to go with the program icon. Most programs on Linux don't have icons so it is easy to identify the executable. But if it has, then you have the icon file that looks like the executable one..

Then you're buying from shitty developers. Executables are ALWAYS supposed to have no extension. This is true of compiled C code, of the standard app set that comes with most Linux distorts, and most of the ones rolled by others.

What apps have you found which use extensions in their executable file names?

[FakezZ]

Well, then the people that usually pirated windows (spoiler: they're a whole lot) will just switch to linux. So I don't see this as a bad thing

[OlekKing]

Cracked under 7 days, maybe even earlier if they get hands on it quickly.

[GoodBytes]

Cracked under 7 days, maybe even earlier if they get hands on it quickly.

As mentioned, pirated versions usually use the Enterprise or OEM licenses, and you can bet it won't have a subscription model or this system.

So it will be like always like before. It won't stop piracy. I think it is great that they do this, as it allows you easilly transfer your licenmse, and re-install as much as you want without phone activation complications, or buy a new license of Windows, and allow Windows 2 Go at the consumer level.

[Electrostatik]

Not outraged.  Seems fine, unless it malfunctions of course.  

[Opcode]

Breaking MAC Address protection in a couple minutes? BS. If anyone actually could it would mean the end of network protection. The moment you know the MAC address of someone's computer, all hell breaks loose.

Spoofing a specific MAC address to get a piece of software to work isn't that difficult. I don't tie my software to just MAC addresses for that very reason, it's not safe.

[Catta]

How can someone download OS (or anything else) if he has no OS on his brand new, just built PC and has no other machine to download it from?! Does Microsoft have a solution for the situation like this?

[ionbasa]

Breaking MAC Address protection in a couple minutes? BS. If anyone actually could it would mean the end of network protection. The moment you know the MAC address of someone's computer, all hell breaks loose.

On Linux, it actually is quite easy to spoof MAC addresses. 

Here is an example:

ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:00:00:00:00:02

After bringing the interface back up, all network devices will see this new MAC address instead of the hardware address, I've tried this a few times,  my router and other computers see the spoofed address instead of the hardware MAC.

[ofr057]

holy necro batman, I wondering if there's any more news on this yet?

[Fetzie]

Well looks like I won't be upgrading to Windows 9 then.

I am against machine specific discs and mandatory online accounts. It just makes reinstalling and managing multiple computers far more complicated.

 

Maybe I'll get it if someone manages to crack it so that I don't have to deal with Microsoft's bullshit.

 

 

In before "derp you just want to pirate it!".

I got a DreamSpark Premium account...

 

Reads to me like it will make installing the OS on a new machine less annoying, because you no longer have to get on the phone to Microsoft and request a new authentication key if your motherboard breaks or you re-install Windows more than three times.

[spartaman64]

wtf i thought windows 9 is going to be free or 20 dollars if they are spending this much on DRM that means windows 9 is going to be 900 dollars

[Vaub]

I don't see how it's that bad if it works like their cloud-office...

Will make it so easier if you like to reformat every time you do a hardware upgrade, just go online and un-tie the license and no more problems.

 

Maybe Linux distros (yay!) will catch some steam or Windows 7 will just stay as king if it's still a 100$ OS though (that would be almost stupid). A 20$ Windows would make sense with that type of DRM.

[GoodBytes]

wtf i thought windows 9 is going to be free or 20 dollars if they are spending this much on DRM that means windows 9 is going to be 900 dollars

It's actually not expensive. Microsoft has the entire infrastructure, and technology (Office 2013 and Windows 8 (Win8 has everything, including account sync between systems, beside license management)).

[LOLZpersonok]

Woot! Woot! Woot! Woot! That is a great idea, makes sense, and at the moment I can't think of ways for people to bypass it.

 

Nice Job Microsoft, get the money that you deserve.

 

I still don't know if it's possible to bypass even the Windows XP activation thing. (I'm sure it's possible, it just seems difficult)

 

Whatever, this isn't going to be a problem for me. I'm not one to pirate Windows.

[Sharp_3yE]

OH NO! IT'S A NEW SYSTEM! LETS FREAK OUT!

 

Over reaction from a lot of people here. Just cause something is going to be different it doesn't mean it will be bad. Anytime you have a new machine or mobo, you just simply go online, sign into your account, and change what computers can be activated. It's not a big deal AT ALL! It will be interesting to see how it will be cracked though.

 

There really isn't a problem with tying to an account. We use accounts all the time. You are using an account to access LTT right now. We have tons of accounts and this seems to be a good way to impliment this kind of stuff.