[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Windows XP User: I'm No Thief here

[whacked]

I definitely feel for the guy, but I'm thinking he purchased his copy of Win XP from a less than reputable site. Maybe it was cheaper than other stores. I would think he would be able to go back to the site that sold him the copy and get a new copy/money back?

[Havoc]

If Microsoft's own Genuine Advantage tools says it was a legit copy then it is, Microsoft is the one that checked the legitimacy of this!
If there own tool doesnt work, how can they expect people to stay legit?
I say MS owes this man a full version XP legit for No cost, as he already paid for it, got it verified by MS and then was told later "Oh we are sorry it isnt legal".
Horsehockey MICROSLOP, fix your crappy customer service!
I say if they dont give you a copy find a crack, to hell with them! you already bought and paid for a full licensed and checked (BY MS)!
Damn pocket diggin, customer ripoff, clowns!

[GHynson]

You can google Windows XP WGA cracks that make ANY copy of XP legal.
I've been running free copies of XP since it first shipped, so there's no need in dealing with MS's BS.

[WinTard]

What is different when you get passed a fake dollar bill (or $100)?

Whoever passed you the fake, you are now conned, and responsible for it. Try to pass it to another while knowing it is a fake, and you are a thief in principle.

So the bank will refuse it. The businesses will refuse it. Your only recourse is to pass it to another poor soul, with the justification, that you didn't do it. If It happened to another. Perhaps its fair?

The point is if a buyer gets conned by purchasing from unreputable fly-by-nite dealers on the Internet, they ultimately only have themselves to blame, or more appropriately, the seller who conned them in the first place. Not Microsoft!

Credit where credit is due.

Take some responsibility for what happens in YOUR life.

The blame squarely lies with :
1) The unscrupulous reseller of XP
2) The too cheap and greedy user, who bought something 'too good to be true.'

If large reputable authorized dealers such as BestBuy, NewEgg, TigerDirect, Wal-Mart sell something at a certain price, there must be a reason...

Try to buy a Rolex Oyster for $100, or from a parking lot, and you KNOW you are doing something wrong.

That is taking responsibility for YOUR OWN actions and decisions.

PS: I never accept cash from anybody. Unless it is from a reputable establishment. Someone asks me to change a $100, I would laugh at them in their faces! I'd say go to any bank, or business... Fair is fair.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Caveat emptor {Buyer beware}
{Latin Proverb}

Follow the three R?s:
Respect for self
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.
~ Dalai Lama

[Havoc]

Tard,
try reading the article!
"In April of 2007," he writes. "I bought a copy of Windows XP Pro from an online company. Always suspicious, I checked it out with Microsoft Genuine Advantage Tools, which pronounced it legal and legitimate.
It WAS CHECKED BY MICROSOFT!
So it IS THERE responsibility~!

[lohertz]

Go Linux/Ubuntu

[Mactivo]

Microsoft is ripping this guy off, as usual. The genuine advantage check is presumptive proof of authenticity. Two years later MS is saying their own checker is wrong? Obviously MS is not immune to their own crappy OS bugs. Next time get a Mac. No such problems with Apple - it just works. And no BS "genuine advantage" which, as it turned out for this guy, is neither.

[phillypa800]

wow WinTard! you really stretched that one out and the amusing part of your comment is that, it holds water to a certain degree.

the guy did validate through m$ validation tool and it came back as legal. so naturally one would assume that all is good, and now placed in the back burner.

i think some slack is due, and it appears you are being one sided and not neutral. to me it seems all three parties are at fault regardless of who assumes to be right.

[spaul40]

It sounds like he checked its validity shortly after he purchased it. He probably paid for it by credit card which means that if Microsoft had said it was an illegal copy, he could have refused payment through his credit card company which means he would not have spent $149. Since MS took a year to declare it was illegal, it was too late for him to do a charge back on his credit card. MS should give him a free legal activation code.

[WinTard]

The problem is counterfeit copies will pass the Genuine test, until the next week or so...

The only way to ensure Genuine, is to purchase from reputable authorized dealers with satisfaction or money back guarantee. When anyone purchases Adobe CS4 for 90% off, come on, you know something is fishy...

Would they have purchased from any of the guys I mention, and it happened to be counterfeit, for SURE they could have got a REFUND and / or compensation. Nothing to do with Microsoft at all. (BestBuy, Costco, Dell, Wal-Mart, TigerDirect, NewEgg, anyone bearing the Authorized Reseller logo)...

Thus I reiterate, Caveat Emptor! And steadfastly stand by my first post. The RESPONSIBILITY LIES WITH WHOEVER PURCHASES A BARGAIN TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Because they are gullible, and too cheap in the first place.

As an act of kindness, I even prioritized the responsibility with #1 to the seller of such counterfeit software. But if a buyer has no recourse against the original vendor THEY choose to purchase from, why should they bitch at anybody else but themselves?

Oh yeah, right, it's everybody else's fault, but your own... Right.

People shoud grow up, and take responsibility for what happen in their lives. PERIOD.

[bbvammy]

Maybe its time to switch?

My Ubuntu pass WGA every single time.

[WinTard]

And it appears all your feedback to me is also less than neutral. So I shall take whatever you say with a grain of salt. I suggest you do the same.

Have a great day.

[smax013]

WinTard said:

What is different when you get passed a fake dollar bill (or $100)?

Whoever passed you the fake, you are now conned, and responsible for it. Try to pass it to another while knowing it is a fake, and you are a thief in principle.

So the bank will refuse it. The businesses will refuse it. Your only recourse is to pass it to another poor soul, with the justification, that you didn't do it. If It happened to another. Perhaps its fair?

The point is if a buyer gets conned by purchasing from unreputable fly-by-nite dealers on the Internet, they ultimately only have themselves to blame, or more appropriately, the seller who conned them in the first place. Not Microsoft!

One slight little problem with your analogy...you forgot the part where the person with the $100 bill goes to the Federal Government because he/she is suspicious that it might be counterfeit and asks the Federal Government if it is real...and they declare it real...only to then declare it fake when he tries to go spend it some time later.

I agree that one should only buy from reputable stores and if you buy a counterfeit copy (or get a counterfeit bill) it is typically your own fault. But, there was an intervening act that inserted Microsoft into the equation...since Microsoft "declared" it legal back when he checked (and likely could have either returned it or at least disputed the charge on his credit card) only to later "declare" it illegal, they do bear some responsibility as well. The fact that you seem to believe that Microsoft can do no wrong does not change that. If Microsoft had not originally declared it a "legal" copy, then your position and analogy would be dead on...but Microsoft inserted themselves into the situation and thus deserve some of the responsibility.

[dk3d]

Come on. How hard is it to backup you stuff, wipe the drive, reinstall a legit version of windows and reinstall all your apps? take you maybe what? 3 hours?
Probably another week sorting out and moving around icons on the desktop and generally getting things back to "normal" but really, you should be up and running, if you started now, by dinner.
Give me a break.

[Dabreax]

Why are you barking at the guy? Are you aware of his level of expertise with PC's? I dont think blaming him fro purchasing a product from the internet is the way to go here. That would be like blaming everyone that invested in the Madoff scheme, or anyone that worked for Enron. The truth of it is that unfortunately we live in a world where there will always be people out there trying to cheat you. I think that Microsoft really dropped the ball, since they need all the good press they can get right now, they could have spun this very positively. I feel for the guy. and if youre listening guy, Go get Linux, its free, doesnt need validation like some weepy other OS's out there and it just works.

[lohertz]

Bump

[WinTard]

smax013 said:

I agree that one should only buy from reputable stores and if you buy a counterfeit copy (or get a counterfeit bill) it is typically your own fault. But, there was an intervening act that inserted Microsoft into the equation...since Microsoft "declared" it legal back when he checked (and likely could have either returned it or at least disputed the charge on his credit card) only to later "declare" it illegal, they do bear some responsibility as well. The fact that you seem to believe that Microsoft can do no wrong does not change that. If Microsoft had not originally declared it a "legal" copy, then your position and analogy would be dead on...but Microsoft inserted themselves into the situation and thus deserve some of the responsibility.

The problem with this cat&mouse game is hackers always break the WGA, and the WGA gets updated on a more or less frequent (unpredictable) period...

So the only sensible solution is to purchase at reasonable prices from a reputable reseller, somebody to go back to, even two years after the fact... People like BestBuy, Costco, Wal-Mart. At least you can hope they will be there after the 24Hr sale...

-----
To paraphrase Wikipedia:

Excerpt from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyundaiGenesisCoupe
According to AutoSpies.com review, "My advice to all the AutoSpies.com faithful... If I was looking at the Mustang, Camaro and Challenger, I'd buy the Genesis Coupe. The Camaro and Challenger are better looking but as I said earlier, I like the driving position of the GC (Genesis Coupe), Z, G and 3 better, so I feel more comfortable driving that style of car and the GC is the better daily driver. Plus it has a 10 year warranty and they will probably be in business then."[32][33]

[WinTard]

Dabreax said:

Why are you barking at the guy? Are you aware of his level of expertise with PC's? I dont think blaming him fro purchasing a product from the internet is the way to go here. That would be like blaming everyone that invested in the Madoff scheme, or anyone that worked for Enron. The truth of it is that unfortunately we live in a world where there will always be people out there trying to cheat you. I think that Microsoft really dropped the ball, since they need all the good press they can get right now, they could have spun this very positively. I feel for the guy. and if youre listening guy, Go get Linux, its free, doesnt need validation like some weepy other OS's out there and it just works.

I'm not barking at anyone. I am saying criticism levelled at Microsoft for counterfeit products is LAME!

And I use Linux BTW. Except I pay

https://www.redhat.c...s/store/server/
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform
(Unlimited sockets) for servers 32/64-bit x86, Itanium2 IBM POWER
Standard Subscription
12x5 phone support, web support, unlimited incidents
1 Year $1,499
Premium Subscription
24x7 phone support, web support, unlimited incidents
1 Year $2,499

Per node (server) per year, year after year, and have to deal with these silly subscriptions/validations and the like. Much more expensive than a license to Microsoft 2008 Server Enterprise Edition, with FREE SUPPORT until 5 years after official discontinuation of the product, which brings us to at least 2011+five years = 2016.

Check it out if you don't believe me!

Facts; Only facts. No Bias. No Bull.

[smax013]

WinTard said:

The problem with this cat&mouse game is hackers always break the WGA, and the WGA gets updated on a more or less frequent (unpredictable) period...

So, I guess that your advise of "take some responsibilty in your life" does not apply do Microsoft, eh? Microsoft is the one that puts out WGA. Microsoft is the one it controls it. Should they not take responsibility for it giving out the correct answers to people and deal with the consequences if it gets hacked as does not do what it should be doing.

But, hey, since Microsoft can do no wrong and is "special", I guess they do not need to be responsible for their "life".

Quote

So the only sensible solution is to purchase at reasonable prices from a reputable reseller, somebody to go back to, even two years after the fact... People like BestBuy, Costco, Wal-Mart. At least you can hope they will be there after the 24Hr sale...

Do you honestly believe ANY of those stores are going to allow an exchange or a return two years after the fact? Ever read their return or exchange policies? Yes, they might be there two years later...but they will likely only be there to tell you "tough luck...piss off".

Quote

-----
To paraphrase Wikipedia:

Excerpt from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyundaiGenesisCoupe
According to AutoSpies.com review, "My advice to all the AutoSpies.com faithful... If I was looking at the Mustang, Camaro and Challenger, I'd buy the Genesis Coupe. The Camaro and Challenger are better looking but as I said earlier, I like the driving position of the GC (Genesis Coupe), Z, G and 3 better, so I feel more comfortable driving that style of car and the GC is the better daily driver. Plus it has a 10 year warranty and they will probably be in business then."[32][33]

And what in the world does any of this have to do with the discussion at hand?