Microsoft agrees to remove XP activation, slashes price to bone

Dom

WE DIDN'T HAVE time yesterday to write up an interesting little report in the Wall Street Journal, but it's definitely worth noting.

In order to compete with the Thai government's plan to sell a million cheapo Linux PCs, which we covered earlier, Microsoft did some fancy footwork on pricing. And on activation.

According to the Journal, Microsoft said it would sell WIndows XP and Office at a piffling $36 a PC.

And Microsoft also agreed to make specific Thai versions of Windows XP, IE and the Media Player.

But here's the real stunner, aside from the price. The Vole also removed the need for product activation for Windows XP in Thailand, at the government's request.

So what gives?

If it can do all these marvellous things in Thailand, why not anywhere else on our planet? As Windows XP forms a particularly large item in a PC's bill of materials, resellers everywhere would certainly welcome this one.

_______________________
Source: TheInquirer

brc64

If I hadn't already bought Windows XP for $10 (gotta love student discounts!), I'd totally buy it for $36. That's very reasonable.

- Me

craig588

If this can be used in english, on US systems and supports all patches I might conceive of upgrading to it. I'm constantly swapping around hardware between my various computers just to get performance comparisons of high end stuff in low end machines and vice versa. I also upgrade semi-frequently.

BWX

Product activation not working after component upgrades is stupid. Bad M$.

Rayder

I could see them dumping product activation for WinXP once it's at the end of it's product cycle. At that point, it would be too much of a hassle to keep it going.

MIG-31

just a little bit too late by then,what would the next style for when xp begins to be replaiced.

brc64

Actually, activations works fine after most upgrades. I just changed my motherboard, cpu, and RAM, and I had no trouble reactivating Windows. It's the network card you have to watch out for.. its "unique" MAC address is the largest part of the hardware ID Windows generates for activation. As long as you keep your network card, you shouldn't have too much trouble. I haven't.

- Me

ToshiroOC

I'd buy Windows XP for all of my computers, not just my main one, if I knew I could get it for $36 and not need to activate.

BWX

Good info- I haven't heard that before, and it makes sense too. Thanks.

PoopyTheJ

MAC address on NIC is important, however, even without changing that out, you get a certain limited number of activations then kaput. You have to call in sit on the phone for an hour so somebody can tell you yeah, you can run the program on the macdhine you bought it for. Activation is ok, except when you upgrade, reinstall, mod as much as I do. I went the dark side on this and just cracked the activation so I don't have to bother with it anymore. real pain in the ass spending an hour on the phone just to activate windows. I bought the damn OS, so now I'm running a version I got online so I don;t have to activate the stoopid garbage. I know make it a real pain in the ass to do it right so we all go out and pirate software cause it's easier! Thats all I can think of actually, if they notice large scale piracy they have excuse to crop down on the citizenry and impose yet more restrictions, snooping et al. Get rid of the fockin thing for christ sake. Make everyones life easier huh?

BWX

I installed WinXP Home on my mom's machine a couple years ago- haven't reinstalled it yet- but if I run into a bunch of hassles trying to activate it when I build here a new PC- I'm sure as hell not going to go spend ANOTHER hundred dollars to install software I already paid for! That's for DAMN sure- I guess then I'll "do what I have to do."

I paid for the POS OS- I'll put it on whatever PC I want- That's not breaking any laws... If MS doesn't like that, the to Hell w/ them.

Matth

I did have a list, but I can't find it, and at one time, a possible way of making a "universal" authebtication was mooted.

The Network card, if fitted WHEN you activate, ends up being effectively a key - the SAME network card, will allow you a couple of extra changes, but a different one will COST you one of your changes - so do NOT have it fitted at that point if you expect to change it.

You can also get an extra change or 2 by declarng the system to be dockable (when activating).

The volume serial numbr can be set with suitable software, so that can be used to remove one possible change when upgrading a hard disk.

In general, before activating, the more activation-sensitive hardware you can leave out (eg. scsi card), the better, as you can always ADD hardware without upsetting the activation, AND have a free hand to change the added hardware as well.

Dyre Straits

When Windows 95 was launched, I was among the thousands and thousands who camped out at the local CompUSA to get my copy at midnight when it could be officially purchased.

When Windows 98 was released, both my son and I were camped out at the -- now defunct -- Computer City and I even got my mug broadcast around the world on CNN holding up a copy and saying, "I got my copy of Windows 98!"

BUT, when XP was being hyped, due to the new activation scheme, I decided against getting it. I waited nearly a year and half after its release to finally get my hands on it -- and only then because it was on sale at price I felt was reasonable.

So far, I've had no trouble getting the activation to work. But, my only major hardware change has been my main HD. I went from a 40 GB to 80 GB.

Now, my question is this: If activation DOES fail, I know you have to call to get 'special' permission, but, how does the failure to activate affect your current functionality? In other words, do you still have the amount of days left that the system keeps prompting you about when you reboot? I had to reinstall XP this week after problems resulting from the Blaster Worm. I still have 26 days left to activate. AND, I've already re-activated about 4 or 5 times this year following reinstallations.

So, does anyone know the general rule of thumb about this?

Thanks

generalstupid

WHERE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

brc64

I had to call Microsoft once after reinstalling Windows several times. It was a toll-free number and I wasn't on the line for more than 5 minutes. They gave me a big long key to type in, and that was that. Since then, I've reinstalled Windows so many times (at least 6 times just this past week trying to get things to work right) and I haven't had any problems activating online.

I know it's a minor inconvenience, but in my opinion, it's nothing worth griping about. If I knew that millions of people were using my software without paying me for it, I'd try to do something about it, too.

- Me

HawK

I have pay'd fl 1200,00 guilders for my copy of Win 2000,
if i read this kind of stuff it really pisses me of, that suddenly when MS is faced with the tread of millions going to use Linux, XP suddenly can be sold cheaply,
it is not fair to their paying customers,
for yrs, MS has shut their eyes for piracy, and now noone can touch them anymore,
you should go to all this trouble just to get your copy of your MS product running.
I can assure you that when the day comes that Win2000 is no longer supported by MS,
I wil not buy any product from them again.
whatever the cost!!

WildChild

Greed ...that sums it up in one word...thats why it wont be done here ..lol

Dyre Straits

Just to update....and answer my own question....I was able to reactivate this install of XP without any hassle at all.

PoopyTheJ

I knoiw no rulke of thnumb however that sounds aboput like the road to windows hold hell I got stuck on. I uograded reinstalled, reinstalled from crash, reinstalled from saomething else and reinstalled for another upgrade.that last one booted me to eugina so she and I could talk about how I need to activate. Also this happened after windows surreptitiously installed SP1 behind my back, told me my activation was foobared and would need redone, So I had to call nice Eugine Phone center worker and ghet the run around about are you using a legal version blah blah. Real mess. Apparently at the time they were rolling out sp1 they were getting random deactivations of windows boxes the calls were swamped when I called in about it. Overall a completer and uttr waste of my time. I coulda been doing much more productive things like getting my cock pushups going. Or my pushups naked over a rat trap. jj. Woulda been more fun that the musak hell and the smarmy microshaft help desk arrgh. Good product I must say, customer care, customer respect worst I've ever seen. good luck!

Esaz666

Too true,
It can be sold cheaply because it's not worth buying. Stupid activation rubbish, Ive got a legit version
of XP it took me all of 5 min. to get the activation crack.yawn
dont give bill your money

' When I drop, say $50 dollar bill, in the time it takes me to bother to pick it up i would make more money just leaving it on the floor ' quote from bill Gate$.

he's allready got enough.
booo M$

Hey , M$ will choke linux like a boa constrictor or anything else which might compete. But what can you do , I use microsoft OS's because thats all there is. I wish someone would produce a really cut down OS which is compatable with windows but without all the shit. Im not bothed about security etc. I keep my main system unconnected to the net. I just want speed, my problem with lindows etc. is that they all seem to be a bit buggy or slower. What I need is a sleek cut down OS for optimum performance, It takes ages tweaking Xp, 98lite etc to get good performance. Anyway nothing last's forever , Microsoft's monopoly will eventually collapse.

peterosesbookie

find corp, slipstream with sp1, find key. No activation at all

BWX

Holy freaking old thread batman!

PoopyTheJ

find corp, slipstream with sp1, find key. No activation at all

That was my route, I didn't even remember posting on this thread. hehe.

Rayder

From what I remember reading somewhere about Windows Activation, if you don't change your system for 4 months , it wipes the "change list" clean. So, essentially, you should be able to re-activate WinXP WITHOUT calling MS if you haven't changed anything in that time the next time you reformat.

Let me see if I can dig up that info........

OK, found it...it's long winded, but it may clear up alot of confusion about Windows activation:

CHANGES IN WINDOWS PRODUCT ACTIVATION
in Windows XP Service Pack 1
Service Pack 1 for Windows XP (SP1), released on September 9, 2002, introduces some changes in the way WPA works. These are not large, and attention is drawn to them at relevant points in this page. For more detailed discussion of the changes and their implications, see Microsofts article Service Pack 1 Changes to Product Activation.




One new feature in Windows XP that has caused great concern is Windows Product Activation (WPA). There are a great many rumors, and much misinformation, from which you might be led to think that WPA is going to call Microsoft every day and say just what you are doing with your computer; that, if you make any changes at all to your computer hardware, the machine will be instantly disabled; and that WPA is a sneaky way for Microsoft to store personal information about you or your computer, or to begin charging you a monthly fee for your continued use of Windows XP. In fact, all of these rumors are false. WPA is a fairly easy-going check when Windows boots, confirming that it is still installed on the same computer as last time it checked. Thats all. But the rampant misinformation is understandable, becaus