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sethpa

Well, we all knew this was coming. I'll stick with Win2k thanks.

According to an article on the register, a german company has broken down the activation key. It says that WinXP generates its key code from the following hardware:

The hardware checked is as follows: Serial number of system volume; NIC MAC address; CDROM; graphics adapter; CPU; hard drive; SCSI adapter; IDE controller; processor model; RAM size. There's also a check to see if the hardware is dockable or not. The company reckons that there's likely to be duplication in the components (i.e. different products might produce the same ID), and that the system is pretty forgiving.

If this is true, I don't see how changing the drivers for his TV tuner would make a difference since it's not one of the hardware pieces used to activate. Also, according to the same article:

You're only likely to have to repeat the activation process and get a new unlock key if you change more than three of these components, and if you're using a portable in conjunction with a docking station, it's effectively a lot more flexible than that.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how well it works in the final version.

XP SUXORS... Boycott it.

Well, we all knew this was coming. I'll stick with Win2k thanks.

AGREED! It took Microsoft a YEAR to get Win2K stable and compatible.

Win2K is a ROCK - so why should I upgrade to something that, by Microsoft's own admission, is essentially Win2K with an overhauled GUI? I think we've been this route before with WinME.

I don't need pretty skins, thank you, and visual effects and animations don't impress me (most of these are disabled on my desktop). My ONLY concession to visual decoration in Windows is running a wallpaper.

I really think Microsoft screwed the pooch here. The IT community is only just now SLOWLY adopting Win2K Pro - they refuse for the most part to migrate to Win2K Server. IT people move VERY slowly and definately don't upgrade servers to an unproven OS lightly. It's no fun telling the president of the company your server took a cr@p because you upgraded it to Win2K but your company's primary accounting software doesn't run stable under it. Do you realize how many IT departments are still running NT SP 3 because they're software isn't certified for new versions?

Hell, you don't need PnP and a pretty GUI for a SERVER. You want stability, and NT provides that in spades.

So now, while Win2K is only JUST beginning to be accepted by the IT community and has finally achieved the rock solid stability of NT, they want to hit us with ANOTHER OS? That's going to go over like a lead balloon.

And the REAL irony is that XP is REALLY what Win2K was supposed to be in the first place (sans the goofy looking GUI) - we were SUPPOSED to finally break from DOS with Win2K and get a home version of it.

Sorry, but XP is looking more and more like a BLOATED version of Win2K (in the same way that WinME is a bloated version of Win98SE).

It just seems absurd that we have a new home and professional OS coming so soon on the heels of WinME and Win2K.

Now add this activation code cr@p into the mix (which is POINTLESS since it's already been hacked) and all Microsoft is going to accomplish is to CONFUSE and FRUSTRATE they're loyal customer base.

Well said FlyingPenguin. Look at it from Microsoft's point of view. They want to continue the incredible growth pattern that they've enjoyed for the last few years. But since they already OWN most of the desktop OS market share and browser space they need to keep their current customers coming back for more. How do they do this? They keep pumping out new OS's, or fixing the old ones and calling it something new. They add minor features like web enhancements, skinnable GUI's, and new file management tools. Then they slowly phase out hardware and software support for their older OS's thereby requiring users to upgrade their OS.

Here's the snaffoo. Microsoft just recently deployed Win2k. They initially marketed it as a "business" OS and warned home users and gamers that their would be compatiblity problems. However many home users accepted the initial problems for the added stability. Hardware and software vendors started developing for Win2k or made their existing products more compatible. It even became a viable gaming platform. I don't think Microsoft anticipated the widespread acceptance of Win2k on the home PC. And now that most users are content with their choice of OS they have no reason to upgrade to Windows XP. How then will Microsoft make money on this product? By targetting the thousands of people who steal their software via piracy or illegal copies. Hence, the activation scheme. They can't attract new customers (they have them all) so they will instead make sure their current customers actually pay for it, even if it means alienating them with activation woes.

That's where the "software-as-a-service" scheme factors in. Microsoft is realizing that they've already gobbled up the market and quarter to quarter revenue is flattening. Today they posted a $2.6 billion dollar loss despite higher earnings. They need to keep the cash flowing in so instead of selling you software, they will start selling you a service. For every minute you spend using Windows or Office or whatever "service" they are currently offering, you will be charged. I seem to remember someone else trying this very same approach. Do you remember DivX? I'm trying to forget.

Then they slowly phase out hardware and software support for their older OS's thereby requiring users to upgrade their OS.

EXACTLY. I'd still be running Win NT Workstation on my system if it wasn't for the fact that MS ABANDONED the NT customer base (and pissed off a lot of IT people in the process) by dropping plans to add USB support in an NT service pack.

As I understand it the USB add-on for NT was effectively COMPLETED when MS released Win2K and realized if they gave NT USB support it would seriously hurt Win2K Pro sales.

I will agree that the activation scheme sux in XP but I like XP so far. There are a lot of little things in XP that make my life that little bit easier. THe key ring is one of them, task bar grouping(If you have a lot of windows open you'll love that feature). The remote desktop feature are pretty cool too, but I don't think I will ever use them. Yes the GUI is slightly changed but so what, it's not a big deal but this is also the version that will kill of the 9X kernel for good. This OS will not be a big hit with businesses but it will be big enough to do it's job, but I think the major push will be the consumer side as this is a substantial improvement over ME(which was designed from the outset to fail cause MS didn't want to make it in the first place!).

Just my opinion

At this point having a few extra "bells and whistles" is not enough to justify the tradeoff in performance when running XP.

http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1501