Maximum PC

My boss at the computer repair shop where I work is fond of calling Microsoft by several colorful names, this ^ one being the least of them. But this morning before work, I had to re-activate windows because "The hardware configuration has changed significantly". So I guess I can sympathize. Besides, I am well on my way to being Microsoft-FREE in my house, I just got tired of all the BSOD's and DRM.

What changed in my hardware configuration???
☼ New SATA DVD Burner.
☼ New ATi Radeon HD 4670.

Is that significant?
Microsoft thinks so.

What am I installing next?
☼ SATA Add-In card.
☼ 500gb Barracuda.

We'll see if I make the switch to Ubuntu completely this time. Microsoft pushes me further each day (literally).

I run a small shop. I have found that MS has been very good about letting the activation go after replacing OEM MBs. They lose more money from pirates then most small countries GNP.

Mark

Piracy is an abhorred thing, I'd be mad and frustrated too. But if I were a large corporation like Microsoft, I'd rather not make my customers frustrated along with me. Still, I agree that some DRM is needed. I have found that as long as the new hardware that is installed to replace old or defective hardware is an exact match or close to, then Windows usually remains happy. But even so, a SATA DVD burner??? maybe if I had installed my add-in SATA card, 500gb Barracuda, SATA Burner and the graphics card, then I'd understand the worry. Or if I was using Windows 7 - which is actually making them money.

Anyway... I got it activated now and so far, no troubles with my speedy new Barracuda.

Microsoft is not an OEM.
The activation is annoying but relatively painless.

I run Ubuntu on my netbook but my laptop runs Win7 because I need the productivity apps and my desktop runs Win7 for the same reason and gaming.

How far away do you think we are from being able to run modern games on Linux without obscene amounts of programming and Wine configurations?

Just curious.

We're getting further and further away.

DX10 and 11 are considerably more complex than DX9 and open standards like OpenGL have largely been abandoned by developers. We now have content delivery systems like Steam which would also need to be translated.

Finally, work has slowed down considerably on Wine and related projects because the devs know that a) it is a huge task with no reward and b) most linux users aren't interested in games.

I think the arrival of Win7 .. an OS that works and games very well .. doesn't help either. People aren't as frantic to escape MS as they were with XP and Vista because 7 is a really good OS.

I guess I can understand how daunting a task it is to write the code needed to make things like Wine work well with programs designed for non-Linux systems. (Not to mention doing it for free). The main reason I got into Linux myself is just for a substitute on the rigs that I don't need to do much else on but write letters, populate spreadsheets and surf the web, which Linux is very good for. But since it wont do games without considerable tweaking and code writing (where necessary), I will keep my Windows for now and if you are correct - which I agree that you are - probably for a long time.

It's a shame... sort of.
At least I can still experiment with any of the new Distros that come out.

Have there been lots of other posts and/or threads (entire forums?) created to rant along these lines? Sure. Which is why I'll leave this topic here.

It is my understanding that part of the activation process includes certain bits of information (digital serial numbers) from "key components" which are then rolled into an activation code stored on your system. This prevents would-be pirates from setting up a system, activating it, and then simply copying the disk image of the validated machine onto multiple others with similar components. MOBO and CPU were pieces I knew of for sure, but GPU does make some sense as well.

AFAIK, this information is not sent to microsoft during the activation, it is used "client-side" to generate some sort of key which is checked/verified when the OS starts up.

My guess is that your GPU replacement is what triggered the re-activation. You shouldn't have trouble with the SATA card or HDD, though it may be possible if you move the OS to that new HDD.

The part of it which I, personally, find annoying is that you only get so many automatic activations. After that you have to actually call MS.

The last time I called Microsoft, I got an Eastern Indian woman who I could hear in the background was talking to her boyfriend and when I said I needed to navigate to another window on my screen, I guess she did not have the patience for me because she hung up. At that point, I just let the 30-day re-activation warning run down to a week and then tried again. But yeah, I've never been a fan of having to call "Support" for any reason unless I am really in need of it or just do not have the skills to do something. It may be humbling on those rare occasions when a new tech or some proprietary nuisance comes along and reminds me how much I really do need to go back to college.

Oh well. I guess that if I want less hassles I should just build an OS myself, as many of my colleagues suggest.

Writing an OS is a common task in a good CS program. I took a third year 'Operating Systems' course which consisted of the prof explaining the basic components of an OS, making us develop them from scratch (in C). By the end of the year, we all had created our own, working, OS. Well, those of us who passed.

Therein lies the challenge, isn't it? Fortunately, I am in the process of getting back into college for programming and other noble pursuits. Will I have the patience to write my own OS? Maybe. Sounds really cool though, Jipstyle, And I must commend you on your code savvy if you've built your own OS!

I don't get the fuss over reactivation.

I've constantly upgraded my system over the years and have never been denied reactivation. And 99% of the time it's done over the internet so a couple of clicks later everything is fine.

So, er... I'm going to pull the foot out of my mouth long enough to say: I reactivated a customer's computer after moving her up from a 940-pin AMD machine to an LGA775. (New CPU, RAM).



*Places foot back in mouth and goes back to his folding*