[Rumour] Windows 9 revamped activation system (DRM)

[GoodBytes]

What the heck are you doing microsoft! The pirates are going to get past the DRM anyway, and you are just punishing people who actually buy the copy! x(

It won't do anything to pirates. Licenses in OEMs won't be affected, nor Enterprise edition of Windows as they sync with the company server for activation, so pirates can use, and I believe already uses those edition to pirate Windows.

[GoodBytes]

Language much?

I would suggest to not quote, so that when the mod passes with the ban hammer, his post is gone from existence.

[mr.skyrim_pc]

I would suggest to not quote, so that when the mod passes with the ban hammer, his post is gone from existence.

Wait, will I get banned for quoting him? Im confused.....

[GoodBytes]

Wait, will I get banned for quoting him? Im confused.....

No. I am saying when the mod will come and delete his post and ban him. You won't carry his post in your post. What he or she said will be gone from the face of the Internet.

[Techhog]

The fact that so many people will switch to Linux and OS X scares me more than the system itself. It's not that I dislike them (well, I dislike Apple but not most of their products other than things like the iPhone 6) but more that 80% of my college education will have gone to waste. I'm honestly considering just dropping out due to this, since I'll end up having to learn Linux and OS X independently much sooner than expected anyway. I was hoping to learn the ins and outs on my own time, but now it looks like I'm going to have to learn it completely within 3-5 years, or change careers. I also don't have the money to buy a Mac (and I really don't like the idea of giving money to Apple if I don't have a lot to spare) or hackintosh system parts... Think I could sue Microsoft for being stupid?

 

Personally, I think this system is fine because I don't buy new computers much, but, again, that's largely due to a lack of money.

[GeTecknics]

it doesnt seem like that big a deal

[mr.skyrim_pc]

No. I am saying when the mod will come and delete his post and ban him. You won't carry his post in your post. What he or she said will be gone from the face of the Internet.

So it will just look like I quoted no one.

[GoodBytes]

So it will just look like I quoted no one. Hello!

The quote is not linked to the post. Look I added a "Hello!" on what you said.

[patrickjp93]

I actually kinda like this. Makes it easy for me. Though the entire tying it to the mobo seems confusing? What exactly do you have to do to get the motherboard tied to the software so that it'll activate? Do you need to install Windows first, and then it gets the details for your mobo and OK's it with your account before activating?

MAC address. Unique to every motherboard in the world.

[Samfisher]

MAC address. Unique to every motherboard in the world.

 

Except NICs can die, and with some ASUS motherboards, the BIOS can even corrupt your MAC address, making it 88-88-88-88-87

[patrickjp93]

Except NICs can die, and with some ASUS motherboards, the BIOS can even corrupt your MAC address, making it 88-88-88-88-87

It's not reliant on NICs those have their own virtual masks. MAC addresses should never be accessible for overwrite by the BIOS. When did ASUS start doing that?! It's the biggest security threat in a network I've ever heard.

[Builder]

OS X revamped its DRM activation system radically too...

 

Mainly by getting rid of it.

[GoodBytes]

The fact that so many people will switch to Linux and OS X scares me more than the system itself. It's not that I dislike them (well, I dislike Apple but not most of their products other than things like the iPhone 6) but more that 80% of my college education will have gone to waste. I'm honestly considering just dropping out due to this, since I'll end up having to learn Linux and OS X independently much sooner than expected anyway. I was hoping to learn the ins and outs on my own time, but now it looks like I'm going to have to learn it completely within 3-5 years, or change careers. I also don't have the money to buy a Mac (and I really don't like the idea of giving money to Apple if I don't have a lot to spare) or hackintosh system parts... Think I could sue Microsoft for being stupid?

 

Personally, I think this system is fine because I don't buy new computers much, but, again, that's largely due to a lack of money.

I don't know your field of education, but I have been hearing "I'll switch to Linux" since Windows XP, and I recall about how Linux would end Microsoft in magazines and computer TV shows since I was a kid. It never happened.

Even with Vista days, where you had netbooks running Linux based OS. The Linux communities were very happy because it showed Linux based OSs to people... people switch back to Windows.

What people don't understand is that Linux based OS is not great at the consumer level. At least not yet. From my personal experience with Linux (Ubuntu and Arch Linux) form an end-user point of view, I found Linux based OSs, to be difficult to get started with your system. It's not the plug and play of Windows. It feel like you are using an OS of ages, where you need to seek every little drivers, while Windows, in most cases, you are up and running once you install it. We just choose to upgrade drivers, and even then, most only do the GPU, and let Windows update do the rest. It is also uninviting, the lack of any attention of details, and amateurish look of KDE, or Gnome or even xfce, is just not welcoming.

It is also difficult to use, and despite claims of not being the case, you need the terminal for command line processing to do things with the OS. Even under Ubuntu which did a fantastic job at eliminating such need. When it comes to troubleshooting, you'll be using it. And what I hate the most, is that all you do, is hunt for command online, and most of the time, it just "oh enter this, and that, and hit Enter", but you have no idea what you are doing, let alone the arguments being entered. Maybe, the person that helps you, isn't understanding your problem correctly and what he suggests to do breaks things more. Also, different distros complicate things. Some commands don't work, as it is for a different distro. So also, helping people is a a bit of a pain. Beside that, the folder structure organization isn't as, again, everything I am mentioning is based on my personal opinion, not as organized as under Windows. And folder names don't use full names. Because Linux based OS started as command line, folders uses a shorten version of what they mean, for fast typing. Imagine Windows does this.

C:\win, C:\ad, C:\pd, C:\l, C:\rom, sure you can guess what they are... first one might be obvious, but the rest? I guess you can remember, but you have that all over the place. You'll remember all folders? even if it's been a while? In addition, while people expect to only play games, on it. Does it have their software to stress test their system? How about memory diagnostic? How about supporting latest technologies like UEFI, most distro still doesn't fully support it! How about overclocking? And so far, all linux version of software are significantly inferior to Windows in terms of quality. Firefox is really not great under Linux. Same for Chrome. Sure it works, and does the job, but is it as good as Windows? Not really. Sure you can go "It will get better!" Sure.. but I have been hearing that since 1998, and I think doing race between Linux and a can of tomato, I think the can of tomatoes will win, as it is moving faster by the planet natural vibrations. Then comes re-installing the OS. Linux requires a very long and time consuming process in re-installation, especially if you customize a lot of things and don't use the default distro.

Again, this is all my personal opinion, and again, that is from a "end-user" perspective. I am not talking about using Linux on your embed system, developer perspective, and all that.

Just as a desktop or mobile system, running a Linux based OS, for every day tasks that we do. However, I do encourage people to try a Linux distro. My recommendation is Ubuntu for a starting point. However, if you want to learn Linux, like really, start with Arch Linux, if you don't mind getting your hands a bit dirty: Arch Linux. This is what I was recommended, and did.

[Samfisher]

It's not reliant on NICs those have their own virtual masks. MAC addresses should never be accessible for overwrite by the BIOS. When did ASUS start doing that?! It's the biggest security threat in a network I've ever heard.

 

It's a bug with some motherboards and BIOS's.  The only way to fix it is to download a new BIOS from Asus, use a 3rd party tool to edit the file and input all your serials and model numbers etc etc which can be found on stickers around the motherboard.  I don't have the time to rip my mobo out to check for those numbers so I bought a Gigabit-to-USB3 piece instead.

[martinrox1568]

lmao I love how 3 months ago the same post was made, except the op and the first couple of comments were positive. Then the rest of the post was positive. And I bet theres someone that commented positively on that one and negatively on this one. Can people not think for themselves these days?? This is what drives me crazy about this forum. Sheep that just follow the first comment

[EChondo]

What people don't understand is that Linux based OS is not great at the consumer level. At least not yet.

It has been coming along nicely though. My dad played around with Ubuntu in the early days and didn't like it because, as you said, you needed to use the command line for a lot of things and there were huge driver issues back then as well.

 

When I got into Linux a couple years ago he wanted to see how Ubuntu was doing and he was amazed at how much it changed, especially on the ease for use side of things.

 

Of course after both us were done playing around with Ubuntu, we both knew it just wasn't ready for the consumer side of things. We are both pretty good at using the command line since we use CentOS for our servers and SSH into it.

 

Hopefully one day it gets to the point that anyone can install it and be able to have everything available to them without issue...on another sidenote, have you tried Linux Mint recently? It has a Windows 7 feel to it and is pretty simple in itself, couple of my IT buddies opted for it on their laptops and are loving its ease of use, but it isn't perfect.

[ViruZ_HUN]

Might dual (triple?) boot Windows 7 with SteamOS. Windows 10 is rumored to be more "cloud" based then previous versions.

Win10????

[Solkia]

Apparently I missed something. What are people angry about?

[Ruostunut kokis]

It has been coming along nicely though. My dad played around with Ubuntu in the early days and didn't like it because, as you said, you needed to use the command line for a lot of things and there were huge driver issues back then as well.

 

When I got into Linux a couple years ago he wanted to see how Ubuntu was doing and he was amazed at how much it changed, especially on the ease for use side of things.

 

Of course after both us were done playing around with Ubuntu, we both knew it just wasn't ready for the consumer side of things. We are both pretty good at using the command line since we use CentOS for our servers and SSH into it.

 

Hopefully one day it gets to the point that anyone can install it and be able to have everything available to them without issue...on another sidenote, have you tried Linux Mint recently? It has a Windows 7 feel to it and is pretty simple in itself, couple of my IT buddies opted for it on their laptops and are loving its ease of use, but it isn't perfect.

Isn't Zorin OS more 'Windows 7 like' than Linux Mint is?

[Opcode]

MAC address. Unique to every motherboard in the world.

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.

[mr moose]

As the resident old fart, I'm going to re-iterate somethings that have been said and somethings I have said before:

 

People have been touting Linux as the next big OS that is going to make windows redundant since windows 95.  There is nothing new under the sun, just like every generation thinks they are the first to discover sex, every new generation of tech fanatic thinks they can predict the future.  Ain't going to happen, who ends up on top of the OS mountain is as much luck and good business decisions as it is good software. It is entirely possible that without a corporate drive for big $$$, Linux will forever be that <2% OS that works like Viagra on lonely teenaged geeks.  

[Lynx]

yep this is the push that linux need, cause many people, especially in the developing nations never think that you must buy an OS, and many or most laptop here sold without an OS, and usually the store will install it free for you, and yes, it's a pirate version of windows. and i'm sure people would choose linux rather than purchase an OS. it's just a matter choosing a linux distro that looks like a windows,lol.

[deviant88]

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.

[Valentyn]

This is the problem, these things get bought anyway, it is a captured market as if you want to use windows, you have to buy windows.

 

If microsoft kill of windows 7 and 8, then there is no option but to buy 9 and do as they say. This means they can basically do whatever they want

 

At first I didn't really think it was a big deal, then you dropped that comment and common sense came back.

I "just" got 8.1 with start 8, and it might be the last Windows version I ever buy if this is going to be happening. OS X, and Linux in the  future for me so, even if I miss out on some games.

[ShadowCaptain]

At first I didn't really think it was a big deal, then you dropped that comment and common sense came back.

I "just" got 8.1 with start 8, and it might be the last Windows version I ever buy if this is going to be happening. OS X, and Linux in the  future for me so, even if I miss out on some games.

 

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