richard said:
If they can do that, then that opens up a whole new gambit of legal
questions.
yeah ok, they have the legal right to verify the license key.
but then they want to know everything about your machine too?
hey, why stop there? we'll just find all of your personal information, like
bank accounts, SSN's, credit cards and other good stuff.
Just because I bought their product, that does not give them carte blanche
rights to go snooping anywhere they damn well please.
I don't want to use my machine online. So why should I have to go online?
Can't I call an automated phoney system, enter the key and they verify it
that way?
Like a secure facility owned by the US government is gonna let MS snoop
around as they damn well please? I don't think so.
Isn't there a federal law about "unauthorized access"?
Actually, the rules differ by license type. Corporations
use things like VLK, and apparently run their own KMS.
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/existing-customers/product-activation.aspx
The activation scheme on the Aumha site, is to stop "Wally The End User In His Basement"
from stealing copies.
OEM copies (you buy a Dell and boot it, with no activation) relies on
SLIC (agreement between BIOS information and some special files in the OS).
So again, no friction involved. If you didn't attempt to move that
OS to a non-Dell machine, it's self activating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS#SLIC
That leaves "unbranded OEM" and "retail" installer CDs, as the ones
that use an activation scheme.
Wally (license key, hardware hash) -----> Activation Server
<---- (Token to complete activation and stop timer)
There are several responses your OS can give.
1) New install, disconnected from Internet, Perhaps 30 days grace before OS "limps"
2) Old install HDD, moved to new PC. Perhaps 3 days (72 hours) grace before OS "limps"
3) In some cases, I've heard of people being unable to get the OS to do anything,
so it's pretty close to "freeze" when you bust the activation. Note that, there
are a couple services considered key to OS security, and if you kill them
or offend them, the OS will shut down in under a minute "to protect itself".
The scheme was only ever intended to stop honest people.
Boris The Hacker, has no trouble activating his copy, and you can download
WinXP Black for example, if you want an activated copy. New hacks are
required over time, to keep pirate copies like that "afloat". There
are some "security patches", deemed essential before you can install
a service pack, that plug holes that Boris has discovered. And then
Boris has to dream up new solutions.
In terms of "chasing you down like a dog", Microsoft tends to respond,
when you steal $500,000 or more of product from them. It's not worth
sending the "legal bus" to your house, for stealing one copy. Having
the OS "limp" is enough to keep Wally honest.
Paul