New Strategy from Microsoft.

[Albion]

So I was reading this (

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-26-microsoft_x.htm)

article today at USA Today and it made me laugh. So I figured I'd like to get everyone elses opinion on it.

But...

1) Microsoft will be hurting their ligitimate users by forcing open security threats on the Internet.
2) The people who pirate the software, usually corporate users anyway, will just start distributing what they get on their SUS servers over the same channels that they're distributing the pirated copies of the software.

Another blunderful example of Microsoft's superior business tactics. Screw your ligitimate users so you can stuff your pockets with more money. Reminds me of their wonderful licensing structure. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to start touting that piracy doesn't hurt people, I just think Microsoft's way of going about it is wrong.

Let me know what you all think.

-Al

 

[dkediger]

I'm not seeing it as that extreme...

I think that forcing new threats onto the net from this policy would be minimal opposed to those machines that are already sitting out there unpatched. That's where the real threats live and play, and if they're not patched by now, they're not likely to ever be patched.

As far as the "conscientious" pirates seeking to keep their machines patched:

...But users who have pirated copies of Windows will be able to continue to get security fixes if they sign up to automatically receive security updates.
...
Customers who visit the manual Windows Update site will be asked to prove that their copies of Windows are legitimate by allowing Microsoft's system to automatically run a check, or by providing a product identification number. Users who have lost that number will be asked to answer three basic questions, and if they are deemed to be acting in good faith they will be given a free replacement key.