a perfect opportunity for a free bitch about ms: i agree, what is microsoft software without a crack? even if there was a "hardware link" that was used to keep pirated copies away, don't you think there would be someone, somewhere that would crack it... like 3DSMAX? I personally belive that microsoft is putting more money into protecting their data, and exploiting the information of others by implementing these so-called anti-piracy schemes than they would if they just followed the open-source movement. as a note about the information that the operator asked for i definately can see that happening. understanding the export laws and everything, microsoft had attempted to do a dns lookup on my network. well, i have hidden my dns name so people like that couldn't get more information out of me than that, so now i can't download 128-bit encrypted sp6a for winnt server 4.0. unfortunately my company requires the use of some nt, and now i can't update it. is there an end to this insanity? i think not. not only will microsoft request information about you, they will also send you a lot of junk mail and offers to the address and name that was specified. example, i used my address, and created a phoney name: bob zmiderfuld from the "I Hate Microsoft Corporation". This was to download some of their data. well, sure enough about a month and a half later i have received about 15 different brochures for different magazines and other computer devices to this phony character! The funny thing is that somewhere in the documentation of the microsoft privacy statements it says that your name will never be sold or given to any other company, and that your name will be held confidential. i am living proof of this falsehood. i say, forget the whole microsoft anti-piracy act by not purchasing or installing any software or hardware created by them so we could stay anonymous like we have planned. (or unless you want to be spammed by a bunch of mail, be my guest.) ryan --buy linux--

-----Original Message----- From: Fent, Lee [mailto:lfent@esker.com] Sent: Monday, March 13, 2000 3:56 PM To: suse-linux-e@suse.com Subject: RE: [SLE] [OT] WARNING: LONG POST!!! - Microsofts NEW Registration Wizard, OR why Linux will ....

Man, I'd love to jump on the wagon with this and hate it early, but I found a couple of other flaws in the logic. They can't be using a hardware confirmation, first off, too many customers require office products for MS to expose themselves to the inevitable class action lawsuit that could be filed by anyone have hardware failure and loosing money due to MS lack of a timely response to a need for new code, so that's an insane approach. My company actually does use a hw tied code, but we also sell custom hardware, so it makes sense. The other problem is that it can't be a HW dependant code since phone and fax are valid contact methods. Must be based on some algorythm that takes your information and logs it into a database. Just call once and you're gonna be able to register all the time with that same set of personal information, hypothetically. Ah what the heck, I'll hate it early since it's MS.

<MASSIVE SNIPPAGE BELOW>

...

-----Original Message----- From: Jerry L Kreps [mailto:JerryKreps@alltel.net] Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2000 8:48 PM To: suse-linux-e@suse.com; Stefan Raica Raica Subject: [SLE] WARNING: LONG POST!!! - Microsofts NEW Registration Wizard, OR why Linux will ....

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