Comments on: Is Windows 7 DRM infested?

By: James Pound

James Pound — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:56:24 +0000

I’m a windows fanboy and will be until there is support for games on linux. I don’t mean FOSS, I mean real market games. I don’t think that will happen with over 1000 distros of linux. I consider linux the defacto OS for server or anything serious and the perfect appliance OS. I know of the hacks to get games to work but they are just that, hacks. I am running windows XP and will continue to do so long after it is ever supported. I have 3 copies of the same CD and the service packs so if Microsoft were to go away tomorrow I would still run XP (might have to get an activation crack though). Which brings me to my point. It seems like Microsoft isn’t happy with an OS that is both stable and doesn’t treat their paying customers like criminals (with DRM activation, etc). I will not purchase another OS including windows 7 until this is remedied in an acceptable manner. I am fine with keys or the like, but having to call or activate something over Internet (and with Vista periodically) is maddening. I spent 289 dollars on XP Professional full install 5 years ago. I have sent over 60 hours in that on the phone with Microsoft fighting to fix activation related issues (I change hardware a LOT). If you count the cost in time (lets assume 10 bucks an hour here for me and their reps just for a mental exorcise) that is over 1,200 dollars in wasted time screwing with their activation system and talking to Bob Freds and Joe’s over in India (Yes they give false American names because most Americans can’t deal with names like Gabagunabarachanuka Paraislkalkavar) Micr$oft has the possibility of a good product, but until they start listening to their customers and stop listening to the likes of the MPAA and RIAA I forcast Windows 7, and on will sell at a significantly reduced rate. (This is not intended to be flame bait, and is all my opinion,)

By: Виталий

Виталий — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:43:28 +0000

Зачет!:) Но есть и минус ! У меня скорость интернета 56 кбит/сек. Пага грузилась около 15 секунд.

By: DRM Koolaid

DRM Koolaid — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:35:14 +0000

“Many windoze fanboys are swooning over the BETA (yes I purposely capitalised it for emphasis) version., completely oblivious to the fact that it’s vista with a new coat of paint.”

Or a pig with lipstick? lol

By: Trilateral_Commission

Trilateral_Commission — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:32:56 +0000

Many windoze fanboys are swooning over the BETA (yes I purposely capitalised it for emphasis) version., completely oblivious to the fact that it’s vista with a new coat of paint. I guess ignorance is bliss for some eh? Lets wait for the official release before making a conclusion shall we? And until then i’ll stick with xp for games and ubuntu for real work.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:35:29 +0000

Yeah, a lot of /.’ers seemed to believe this as well, until someone pointed out
it was just more FUD from one of their members.

By: DRM Koolaid

DRM Koolaid — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:24:46 +0000

Hmmm, maybe I missed something then. Whatever.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:57:08 +0000

Um, Koolaid, I don’t think that is meant to be somerthing you should be thanking Jon for

By: DRM Koolaid

DRM Koolaid — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:38:46 +0000

Thankyou Jon, much appreciated.

Oh FFS, I can’t get this tin foil hat off. Someone give me a hand here!!

But on topic, I seriously can’t believe Microsoft would try this on. The draco DRM was one of the big reasons that Vista was so disliked and they’ve been really burned by it with low sales, so what the hell are they playing at?

Yeah, drink the koolaid…

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:08:11 +0000

^^ I had several emails and I also saw the /. post myself. I usually try to credit people when they send in links, but when there’s more than just a couple …

Cheers!

By: DRM Koolaid

DRM Koolaid — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:57:19 +0000

Ok Jon. I guess I’ll have to try harder next time. lol

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:44:12 +0000

^^ Actually, DRM, the first mention came in email from Jazz over in the UK yesterday.

Cheers!

By: DRM Koolaid

DRM Koolaid — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:07:07 +0000

This scoop as first brought to you on p2pnet by yours truly, right here:

www p2pnet net/story/18506#comment-967614

(sorry, have to strip out the dots or Wordpress won’t let the post through.)

By: Devil's Advocate

Devil's Advocate — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:31:14 +0000

If it’s caused by W7, we’ll hear more about this as others do their own “dry runs” with W7 and cracked software. If you think about it, though, the guys at TechForensics would more than likely be using a CS4 they’ve already successfully run on other Windows. Why would they be trying it with an unproven crack? That wouldn’t make any sense.

The bottom line is, Windows shouldn’t care about modifying a non-Windows application DLL, unless it’s designed to shutdown (what it perceives to be) an illegitimate copy of that application. In a case like that, the only part of the software that would be reverse-engineered would be where the registration/activation/etc interacts with the software itself. If the crack successfully bridges the activation process (and many do this quite well), the software should continue to run.

I’ve seen very few popular cracks that actually “break” the application, as some at CNet are trying to say. Not that it can’t happen (it sure can), but it would seem to be the least likely possibility of the two.

By: Sukasa

Sukasa — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:47:03 +0000

“A legitimate copy of Photoshop CS4 stopped functioning after we clobbered a nagging registration screen by replacing a DLL with a hacked version.”
Yes, because it’s entirely windows’ fault that you broke CS4. Did these guys not consider that perhaps the hacked DLL might have been detected by CS4 or even been a corrupt DLL anyways? How would W7 know the difference between a hacked DLL and a legitimate hotfix/update/whatever?

“The inputs of your sound card are severely degraded in software if the card is also playing an audio program (tested here with Grooveshark).”
I get this in Vista (heck, I can’t even play back the microphone.) I’m still pretty sure that’s a driver issue, not a windows one.