Win. Registration - Was - What's a good lock box ??

[Jim Cornette]

Robin Laing wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-11-28 at 19:56 -0500, Jim Cornette wrote:
>> Timothy Murphy wrote:
>>> Jim Cornette wrote:
>>>
>>>> I only had cell phones and no land line when my wife bought her a
>>>> laptop. We could not register at home even though we had high speed. We
>>>> had to wait and register when we brought the laptop over to a person who
>>>> had a land line to register. Some people say that they never had to
>>>> register, but authentication of the license had to be performed in some
>>>> manner.
>>> You (or maybe someone else) keeps saying this,
>>> but does one _have to_ "authenticate" Windows?
>>> I've installed several versions of Windows on virgin machines,
>>> and I don't recall having to be on the internet before Windows worked.
>>> I had to put in the secret 20-cipher code, and then Windows ran.
>>>
>>> As it happened, last time I installed I could not get onto the internet
>>> until I downloaded a driver for my WiFi device (on a different machine).
>>>
>> I've heard references that non-networked versions of XP are alright and 
>> will function until it connects to the Internet. This might have saved 
>> you from the hassle until you got the wifi connected. I do not delve too 
>> deeply into the innards of M$ policies. I did however have to curse M$ 
>> on the phone when getting re-activation numbers over the telephone for 
>> re-installed systems.
>>
>> Jim
>>
> 
> New box had to be registered.  Was over 30 days after it was put
> together by the assembler (custom design).  I had to do it by phone as
> the box wasn't connected to the net (no network card) and it was a pain.

No doubt, I had to do this twice over the phone. Both times were a pain. 
  Also, the fact that Dell supplied an upgrade disc with the computer 
instead of an installation or repair disc didn't help matters out much. 
Of course that is a different issue. SP2 installed and Dell system 
installation discs do not work well.

> 
> What I have been reading is Vista is going to take everything that MS
> learned with WGA and expand on it.  Commercial operations are going to
> have to run a registration server for their machines.  These machines
> will have to phone home on a regular basis to make sure they are
> authorized to work.

Green cards for computers! This should be a real pleasant system.

> 
> I also understand that this will be modified for Vista for the home
> user.  WGA checks and authrorizations when updates are made/checked.

This sounds invasive. But of course it is.

> 
> Of course the proof will be when Vista is actually used.
> 

I'll probably not see it in other than the stores. We have fairly new 
computer hardware at work which is not Graphically capable of the eyecandy.
For home, we will not see it until Rip Van Winkle wakes up, 20 years or so.

Thanks,
Jim

-- 
If we all work together, we can totally disrupt the system.