Microsoft: No licence, no Windows updates
No more downloads from Microsoft unless you validate your copy of Windows.
I guess we all knew this was coming, Microsoft have been trailing this for a while; for example the Anti-Spyware download was for validated users only.
The majority of the Windows out there are not bought versions, they are copies from friends, work or they are downloaded.
What this means is soon the majority of Windows PCs will be unpatched and on the Internet. Although validation is not yet required for security patches, my guess is that’s a matter of time only. A Longhorn requirement perhaps. If they do go that route the numbers of SPAM and Zombie PCs will increase and everyones Internet experience will be worse.
Microsoft is within its rights to do this, of course, but it isn’t sensible. This is another mistake by Microsoft, who seem hellbent on shooting themselves in the foot recently.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Dave M. // Jan 31, 2005 at 6:21 PM
How many people who have illegal versions of Windows update anyway?
2 JD // Jan 31, 2005 at 7:04 PM
All the geek ones, remember that XP does not call home with a unique identifier when using windows update. Microsoft is stuck between a rock and a hard place, prevent illegal XPs from having full access while keeping the OS that has 90% of the market updated - the majority of which is illegal.