Microsoft Releases XP Patch

[honkwomp]

One thing the patch does not address is being forced to register as a passport user before you can register a Microsoft product

I got a sidewinder joystick a few months ago, and I could not register my product until I created a hotmail/passport account.

[jad1097]

more info
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/25423.html


And one last thing readers who're no better than they should be should bear in mind about SP1. Microsoft is going to engineer it so that it won't work on a widely-warezed activation key, which as we recall escaped form a large friend of Microsoft beginning with D. It would appear that Microsoft does not intend application of SP1 to vape systems installed using that key, but simply to freeze them where they are, and to block their ability to use Windows Update. Microsoft has used service packs to disable installations it deemed pirated in the past, and we'd guess it's decided not to do this because it might hit legit systems by mistake, or generate adverse publicity from innocent victims.

Disabling Windows Update access does however up the ante, as it'll at least make it more difficult for readers who're no better than they should be to get hold of updates and patches. Long term it is also logical for Microsoft to try to make this impossible, not just difficult, so it's an area worth watching. And lastly, Microsoft is no doubt aware of considerably more compromised keys for XP than just the one, so we'd actually be surprised if it was just the D one that got nuked in SP1. You have been warned. (Well no, not you but this guy you know, OK?





And I doubt that MS will ever release it's source code.

MS Cites National Security to Justify Closed Source (http://neowin.net/comments.php?id=4518&category=main)


A senior Microsoft Corp. executive told a federal court last week that sharing information with competitors could damage national security and even threaten the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. He later acknowledged that some Microsoft code was so flawed it could not be safely disclosed.

[wallie_x]

I can only state with disgust, how "Big Brother '$Bill Gates$' & Co." attempt to perpetrate their farce of not being a monopoly upon us. What's worse is that any critical thinker here in the US knows. Our Congress has become a slave of big business. Who grease's the wheels of big politics here in the US? And who gets more deference? Its all about money honey, so much so that Democracy pales when it comes to the clout of the almighty dollar.