Thread: Lesson learned: don't tell the truth!

I've looked into copies of windows on the net when my hard drive crashed which had an oem installation on it and I did not have a copy of windows on a cd or something. A lot of times the copy you do get has files in it that would show up as viruses or parts of a virus but they are needed in order for the program to run. Maybe that's what happened to yours? Was that the first scan you did on it? Do you use the computer to get on the internet? I've heard that microsoft will shut you down over the net if you are running pirated software.

Originally Posted by Rajagra

Good old Micro$oft. Making life difficult for legitimate users while the real pirates laugh their socks off.

Imagine if MS made a hammer. You would only be licenced to use it on certain types of nails. You couldn't lend it to a friend. If the handle came loose and you repaired it you would have to revalidate your licence before continuing to use it.

Not to be an apologist, but there are tools like that.
There are some specialty machine tools that you have to license, and one of the terms in the license is that you cannot use the tool to make a replica of itself.

What MS is doing is no diferent from what most other companies do. The only difference is that in this case, it's you personally who is inconvenienced.
Apple does much the same, and sometimes even worse.
IBM, autocad, sun, ... they all play the same game.

If I look at the licensing terms of our process control system, it makes Microsoft look like naive choirboys who flunked 'license extortion 101'.
Again, not to be an apologist, but they are really no different from others, or even very good at it.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Sorry, but no. He was not waiting for you to post what you did, and I am pretty sure he would't have known from your logfile.
What he probably wanted to know was whether you were using XP Home or professional, or whatever. That fact that you found your copy of XP on the internet was irrelevant, and he'd never have known.

Since you publicly posted that you used a pirated copy, the moderator really had no choice but to close the thread.

They really can't afford the image of them condoning piracy. Helping you with your pirated copy (or providing the means for others to help you) could land them in serious trouble. They really had no choice once you mentioned it.

+1, exactly.

I know you think you didn't do anything wrong, and therefore you should be able to just tell the truth, and in some people's opinions, maybe you really didn't do anything wrong, but the fact is, by law, the software you are using is considered stolen, and they just can't condone that.

Also imo it is better that a license is tied to a user rather than a specific piece of hardware.

Originally Posted by jockeys

if you buy a used computer and there is a copy of windows on it, it is NOT a legal copy.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION (RETAIL) END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE

The initial user of the Software may make a one-time permanent transfer of this EULA and Software to another end user

Of course that's no help if you weren't given the activation code.

Having gotten used to Linux I would be really bummed out if I had to use windows. I have a dual boot at home so I can go into XP for certain things but K-Ubuntu at home and Mint at work are just so much better IME.

Originally Posted by Rajagra

MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION (RETAIL) END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE


Of course that's no help if you weren't given the activation code.

never used the home edition, only the pro edition, which is nontransferable. thanks for the heads up.

i appreciate all the posts and the clarifications on what the moderator had to do. i can definitely appreciate the situation that he/she was in, i guess i was just really put off by being left hanging with a problem i couldn't fix.

so is there any way to buy a key code for XP to validate a copy? i can't find a place to buy XP pro anymore as everything seems to be vista, so could i just find a copy and get a valid key? it would make sense for them to do this but i know that they are much more likely to promote Vista then let people keep going on with XP.

i think i got myself fixed up though. i did a reinstall of windows without formatting. so i can now access the files i need still but i have a working copy of windows. the only problem is that my receipt printer won't work now.

this pirate has some figuring to do

Well the correct way would be buying a copy of Vista and get a downgrade permit from Microsoft (Since your company has a network that runs on XP only ).
The more practical way is to leave everything as it is.

Actually they are very lenient on letting you use it again and again. At least I've had no problems getting my licenses unlocked from its hardware.