We recently referenced an article that says Microsoft has a plan with the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 1 to not allow machines with invalid or hacked corporate keys to be upgraded and who knows what-else.
I want to preface-face the article with a comment. In the initial reference article on LockerGnome a writer made the valid point that sometimes when we are re-installing software we may not have the original key and substitute another key. I remember having a NT server that was being hosted in a rack at a ISP go down hard several years ago and I had to re-load the server in the middle of the night and the license key was 40 miles away. Well the ISP tech support guy had racks full of servers and he mentioned he had installed so many installations of NT that he had used the same key for a number of years. He then proceeded to rattle of the key from memory I then proceeded to get the server was back on-line. I had a valid license sitting at home key may have been different but Microsoft had already gotten their money.
The ISP owner followed this up with the comment that they had license’s for each machine but it took just to much time to dig the paperwork out and match the number each time. Well I took his word for it. Anyone that has worked tech support or re-built machines have probably run into that situation. I have always had legal copies of software for all of my computers with most of the machines I own running websites It is not worth running rouge keys.
But the irony and the reason Microsoft went to authentication was to make all of us be diligent and have the correct key matched to the system the license was purchased for. I will probably get slammed for this but as much as we hate paying the ridiculous prices for operating systems the software is worth it or we would all be on Linux (I do have Linux machines also :) )
But because some people have never had the funds to upgrade or have just blatantly stuck there middle finger at Microsoft they are starting to play hardball and want to paid for each and every license and not want a 100 machines running on that key unless it is a corporate key with x number of seats allowed per key. I visit Thailand and understand why piracy is such a problem. The people barely can afford computers let alone software.
The hackers/pirates used those corporate keys to bypass the authentication and now MS is trying to shut the door. But what about the over worked tech support guy who has used those illegal keys when he was in a jam and did not have access to the database of key licenses.
A group has came out with a tool that will allow you to put in the valid key that you have a license for so that you can upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 1
[Source Lockergnome] [Tutorial LabMice.com]
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