M$ Pasta Activation Cracked

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-08 03:40pm

Pirates Hack Vista's Registration Features

Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service Fri Dec 8, 9:00 AM ET

Hackers are distributing a file that they say lets users of the corporate version of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system get around the software's anti-piracy mechanisms.

Windows Vista must be "activated," or authorized by Microsoft, before it will work on a particular machine. To simplify the task of activating many copies of Vista, Microsoft offers corporate users special tools, among them Key Management Service (KMS), which allows a company to run a Microsoft-supplied authorization server on its own network and activate Vista without contacting Microsoft for each copy.

The software Microsoft.Windows.Vista.Local.Activation.Server-MelindaGates lets users spoof that KMS process, allowing them to activate copies of the enterprise editions of Vista, its creators say. The hacked download is available online on sites including The Pirate Bay and other file sharing sites.

MelindaGates Hack

Microsoft's official KMS offering is available to customers with 25 or more computers running Vista. The machines activate the software by connecting to the KMS server, and must reactivate every six months.

KMS is not the only option that enterprises have for volume activation of Vista: they can also call Microsoft by phone or connect over the Internet to activate the software.

The MelindaGates hack allows users to download a VMware image of a KMS server which activates Windows Vista Business/Enterprise edition, its creators claim.

Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment on the hack.

Aimed At Reduced Piracy

Vista is the first Windows operating system that requires volume users to activate each product. The new activation processes are aimed at reducing piracy.

While one security expert said he isn't surprised that KMS has been cracked, he said the MelindaGates hack offers some insight into piracy.

"This also shows how piracy is not just about kids swapping games," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of F-Secure. "The only parties that would need a KMS crack would be corporations with volume licensing."

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-12-08 03:43pm

And here I was thinking that someone cracked the actual vista discs and enabled you to install Ultimate with any CD key.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » 2006-12-08 03:54pm

Hopefully they'll spend all their time sticking the copyright protection on the goddamn OS instead of everything else. Like they said, it's not just kids swapping music and games!

I don't know why it's so bad just to pay for the OS anyway, I always do and it removes the bugs and hassles everyone else with a hacked version has. I swear, half the people I know who have problems with windows could probably trace it to their illegal copy.

Plus, it's not like you gotta update often anyway.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-12-08 03:56pm

Covenant wrote:Hopefully they'll spend all their time sticking the copyright protection on the goddamn OS instead of everything else. Like they said, it's not just kids swapping music and games!

I don't know why it's so bad just to pay for the OS anyway, I always do and it removes the bugs and hassles everyone else with a hacked version has. I swear, half the people I know who have problems with windows could probably trace it to their illegal copy.

Plus, it's not like you gotta update often anyway.

It would be far more palatable if you were actually paying for the OS, and not just a license to use the OS, which has all of these stupid activation code hurdles to worry about. It's the main reason I won't be upgrading from XP any time soon.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » 2006-12-08 04:13pm

That's certainly true. Vista's got a long way to go before it's worth upgrading to.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-08 07:52pm

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-12-08 08:02pm

I've never heard of anyone having problems with cracked OS's. Wierd.

Anyway, has MS learnt? Is Vista shipping with useful software, or just a big list of 'awesome features' that require more purchases to use? I'm down with buying OSX - because I'll never need to buy another piece of software for my needs - but I seriously doubt I'll upgrade to Vista unless forced by DX10.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-08 08:23pm

Man I miss funny Penny Arcade.

There would be no "M$" if there was none of this behaviour:

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-08 09:28pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:Man I miss funny Penny Arcade.

There would be no "M$" if there was none of this behaviour:

Did you just try to defend "M$"?

Go back to Slashdork.

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2006-12-08 09:36pm

Uraniun235 wrote:Did you just try to defend "M$"?

Go back to Slashdork.

I believe that by "behaviour" Xisiqomelir was referring to the pseudo-Microsoft in the comic being assholes, not the customer.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-08 09:43pm

I meant the use of the dollar-sign. It's not funny, it never will be funny, and if it ever was funny it stopped being funny a long time ago.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-09 01:06pm

Uraniun, it is not meant to be funny. If you find it unbearably offensive, skip my G&C posts.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-12-09 01:29pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:Uraniun, it is not meant to be funny. If you find it unbearably offensive, skip my G&C posts.

It's not unbearably offensive but it is stupid. And thus, Uraniun235 is mocking it.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-09 01:42pm

phongn wrote:
Xisiqomelir wrote:Uraniun, it is not meant to be funny. If you find it unbearably offensive, skip my G&C posts.
It's not unbearably offensive but it is stupid. And thus, Uraniun235 is mocking it.

Is "Rethuglican" is stupid in N&P? What's wrong with mocking a widely-detested organization?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-12-09 01:54pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:
phongn wrote:
Xisiqomelir wrote:Uraniun, it is not meant to be funny. If you find it unbearably offensive, skip my G&C posts.
It's not unbearably offensive but it is stupid. And thus, Uraniun235 is mocking it.
Is "Rethuglican" is stupid in N&P? What's wrong with mocking a widely-detested organization?

People actually use the term rethuglican? That's a new one.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-12-09 02:03pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:Is "Rethuglican" is stupid in N&P? What's wrong with mocking a widely-detested organization?

To be honest, I find those relabelings rather silly and if I'm going to mock the organization there's more ways to do it than by changing the name.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-09 04:53pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:Is "Rethuglican" is stupid in N&P? What's wrong with mocking a widely-detested organization?

What's wrong is it's a stupid way of mocking it.

"Rethuglican" sounds pretty lame too, but at least it actually makes a little sense as a derogatory term. "Winblows" or "Internet Exploder" are ridiculously lame as well, but at least they give some indication that the target of derision is being derided.

"Micro$oft" or "M$" is just retarded because it doesn't make any goddamn sense. What the hell is "Micro$oft" supposed to mean? That they like making money? Oh god, what a horrible and despicable business model!

Do you honestly think you're being witty when you substitute a dollar-sign for an 's'?

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2006-12-09 04:59pm

Uraniun235 wrote:Do you honestly think you're being witty when you substitute a dollar-sign for an 's'?

I actually think there's a danger in all of that name substitution business, and not solely in 'Micro$oft'. I say that because, as you point out, substitution implies a disagreement, but doesn't address anything of substance. It tends to reduce complex issues down to the level of "RepublCAN'T" versus "DUMBocrat"; nothing is actually said beyond acknowledging that gee, the two speakers don't really like each other.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-09 05:19pm

Uraniun235 wrote:"Micro$oft" or "M$" is just retarded because it doesn't make any goddamn sense. What the hell is "Micro$oft" supposed to mean? That they like making money? Oh god, what a horrible and despicable business model!

Do you honestly think you're being witty when you substitute a dollar-sign for an 's'?

Again, it's not a witticism, it's a statement of fact.

"M$" doesn't represent that Microsoft Corp seeks to be a profitable business (the goal of every for-profit company). It represents that they will seek profit to the point of breaking the law, intimidating customers, lying outright where insinuation won't suffice, destroying standards and pushing out bloated, buggy shovelware.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-09 05:31pm

"M$" isn't a 'statement of fact', it's the product of some dumb 14-year-old who thinks he's clever because he found the dollar sign on his keyboard, and whenever you use it most people (at least, most people who don't frequent Slashdork - oop, see what I did there?

) will think that you're trying to be clever.

If you really hate Microsoft so much that you feel you have to resort to presenting the appearance of a high school freshman, I suggest either a line in your signature to that effect or a remark to that effect in any posts you make concerning Microsoft and their behavior. "M$" just looks stupid and childish.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-09 07:19pm

M$ certainly doesn't deserve any sig space. As I've said before, if it's so important for you, my posts vanish pretty easily.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2006-12-09 07:28pm

Uraniun235 wrote:I meant the use of the dollar-sign. It's not funny, it never will be funny, and if it ever was funny it stopped being funny a long time ago.

Once again Penny Arcade agrees:

Instant Sunrise · Post by **Instant Sunrise** » 2006-12-09 07:39pm

Hopefully, sentences like: "lolz guyz, I just hate €A and tehir sihtty gaymes." will never come to pass.

Maybe the best way to stop the M-dollar-sign idiocy is not make to dollar sign only accessable via Alt-code. Like how I used Alt+0128 to type the Euro sign up there.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-09 07:45pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:M$ certainly doesn't deserve any sig space. As I've said before, if it's so important for you, my posts vanish pretty easily.

But it's much more fun to berate you about it.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2006-12-09 11:08pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:my posts vanish pretty easily.

Naw, that's the coward's way out. Plus it's no fun!