xp sp1 rumor not true

[denolth2]

taken from wininformat.com

July 25, 2002 | Paul Thurrott
Rumors About XP SP1 Product Activation Changes Not True



A bizarre rumor about Microsoft making sweeping changing to its Product Activation technology in Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) is completely untrue, the company told me today. The rumor, which was started by a small technology enthusiast Web site, had Microsoft changing the product keys for all of its customers using volume licensing. This rumors has since spread across the Internet and been embellished in various ways, including a version I came across Thursday morning claiming that Microsoft was making the change so it could charge licensees yet again for SP1. Not so, says Microsoft.

"There is no truth in this rumor," Allen Nieman, the Lead Technical Product Manager for Licensing Technologies at Microsoft told me Thursday. "We are not changing the way volume licensing customers install or deploy Windows XP. We are not issuing volume licensing customers new product keys. Volume licensing customers are not impacted by any of the changes we are making to activation in SP1. The only folks impacted by the changes we are making in SP1 are people with illegal copies of Windows."

As I first reported back in May, the Windows Product Activation feature in XP SP1 will get two minor modifications, neither of which will affect any legitimate users. First, Microsoft discovered that the majority of pirated XP copies out there are tied to single volume license product key. So Microsoft alerted the company about the problem, changed their key, and disabled it for use after SP1. So anyone using this pirated key will be unable to upgrade to SP1 or any future updates via Windows Update. Also, Microsoft is adding a three-day grace period for people that use the same product key to install XP on two different systems; in the past, there was no grace period and the user had to immediately activation via phone in order to use XP on the second system. This will give users some breathing room if disaster strikes and you have to install XP on a new system.

[Norm]

MS is wasting thier time again trying to thwart pirates. You'd think that with all thier resources they'd know better than to spend so much on this without doing the research needed to make it work.
Sure, those people who have that ONE particular key will suffer, but for how long?

There are already XP key generators available that can generate as many XP keys as the user wants in his/her collection. And there are ways around the activation as well.

MS, wake up !!

[Docsta]

no kiddin...no company will even thwart pirates..give it up

--Docsta :2cool:

[ColdFusion]

lol this makes me laugh everytime ...

lets say hackers / people with illegal copies are the terrorists

microsoft is the counter-terrorist

Terrorists are always thinking of ways to exploit the counter-terrorists. The counter-terrorists have to keep up with the terrorists. So if someone makes a new cdkey or a cdkey gen ... MS has to come up with the fix for it later ... but the terrorists are always going to be in the lead, and are going to exploit the counter-terrorists with their new ideas the the counter-terrorists have no idea about because the terrorists are finding the counter-terrorists errors!

[RoundEye]

It may not stop the average person, but it will stop companies from installing it on multiple PC's. I can't tell you how many companies will hand me one copy of Microsoft Office and want it installed on every computer in the building. Then they get pissed because I can't or won't do it, they feel like thier getting ripped off. Nevermind the fact they are trying to steal software from Microsoft.

Anyway, if you want to read more about it and see the rest of the keys on Microsoft's hit list, read this (http://www.labmice.net/WindowsXP/articles/changeID.htm).

I also have the "blue list" key generator, and it does make valid keys. It takes hours to do and only about 1 in 40 keys will work. Even if you do get a valid key, you still have to activate it.