Dont Buy Vista

[AshenSugar]

Vista licence.pdf

http://www.winbeta.org/comments.php?id=5138&catid=1

Forbidding Vistas: Windows licensing disserves the user
Posted by Arneh on Thursday, Oct 19, 2006, 5:07 pm - Edit This Post In Admin CP



"Wendy Seltzer, who is tech lawyer (she works for the EFF, which hasn’t exactly been friendly with Microsoft over the years, just so you know her own biases), tears apart the Windows Vista licensing doc."

Reading the Windows Vista license is a bit like preparing for breakfast with Lewis Carroll's Red Queen: You should be ready to believe at least six impossible things about what users want from software.

It is unlikely that a home user looking for a computer operating system has any of these "features" of the Vista EULA in mind:

1. Self-limiting software
2. Vanishing functionality through invalidation
3. Removal of media capabilities
4. Problem-solving prohibited
5. Limited mobility
6. One transfer only
and a bonus,
7. Restrictions on your rights to use MPEG-4 video

While Microsoft should be commended for putting its license into plain English, that doesn't help to make the license restrictions any more palatable. Quoted italicized language comes from the Vista license.

Read more for details...

1. Self-limiting software, or Mandatory Activation. "Your right to use the software after the time specified in the installation process is limited unless it is activated. … You will not be able to continue using the software after that time if you do not activate it." Moreover, "[s]ome changes to your computer components or the software may require you to reactivate the software." In order to use Microsoft Vista, you must consent to communication to Microsoft of information about the software and the device on which you have installed it. If you don't do so in time, your software will begin to degrade in function.

2. Vanishing functionality through invalidation. "The software will from time to time validate the software, update or require download of the validation feature of the software. … [if validation fails] you may not be able to use or continue to use some of the features of the software." Again, your computer must make periodic (period unspecified) contact with the Microsoft mothership if you want to continue to enjoy what you thought you paid for. Microsoft, of course, disclaims any liability for the consequences if their servers fail or mistakenly deny you validation.

3. Removal of media capabilities. "When you download licenses for protected content, you agree that Microsoft may include a revocation list with the licenses." "[C]ontent owners may ask Microsoft to revoke the software's ability to use WMDRM [Windows Media digital rights management] to play or copy protected content." In other words, one movie or music file may take away your ability to play another, if the content owner (not the computer owner) chooses to cut back the Windows Media Player's features. Don't like the reports that Creative is removing radio recording functions from its MP3 players, under music industry pressure? Prepare for that kind of feature flux to be routine in Vista -- you've agreed to it in the license.

4. Problem-solving prohibited. "You may not work around any technical limitations in the software." Microsoft might be referring to anticircumvention of technical protection measures here, but since it's often hard to tell the difference, from the user's perspective, between a TPM and a bug, this reads as a prohibition on user debugging and problem-solving. After all, down-rezzing HD content or refusing to allow users to copy quotes from an e-book don't strike most people as wanted features. Can you work around a document's failure to save properly?

5. Limited mobility. "The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time." If you upgrade your machines more frequently than you care to change operating systems, you'll just have to pay again. Don't worry about this applying too frequently, though, because most OEMs will probably keep bundling Windows with their hardware, thanks to Microsoft's pricing encouragement, and Microsoft won't offer refunds if you don't like the terms on those OEM bundles.

6. One transfer only. "The first user of the software may make a one time transfer of the software, and this agreement, directly to a third party…. [T]he other party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software." You can give your old computer to Dad, but if he wants to give his older computer to the neighborhood community center, they'll have to find their own operating system (may I recommend Ubuntu?).

Bonus. MPEG-4 Visual Standard

NOTICE ABOUT THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD. This software includes MPEG-4 visual decoding technology. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:
USE OF THIS PRODUCT IN ANY MANNER THAT COMPLIES WITH THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD IS PROHIBITED, EXCEPT FOR USE DIRECTLY RELATED TO (A) DATA OR INFORMATION (i) GENERATED BY AND OBTAINED WITHOUT CHARGE FROM A CONSUMER NOT THEREBY ENGAGED IN A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE, AND (ii) FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY; AND (B ) OTHER USES SPECIFICALLY AND SEPARATELY LICENSED BY MPEG LA, L.L.C.

Users never asked for these impossible limitations. Microsoft decided unilaterally to add them, claiming it could abrogate personal ownership, fair use, and first sale rights because "The software is licensed, not sold." If Microsoft faced real market competition on the home desktop, users could vote with their wallets, but anticompetitive practices and network effects make Microsoft a like-it-or-not proposition for most users.

While Carroll's Humpty Dumpty might have been able to choose the meanings of his words at will, on this side of the looking glass, software vendors shouldn't be able to redefine the meaning of "buying software" by the simple attachment of a click-wrap license.

so basickly DONT BUY VISTA PERIOD, if you buy prebuild system, tell them you dont want vista, ship it back if its forced on you and make them give you $ back(leigaly they have to if you dont use the preinstalled software)

vista is so bs that it wont even let you work around bugs you find, or play mpeg4 videos.

not to mention that it has to "call home" regularly or you cant use it, so if your without net for a while you may endup with a system thats totaly un-useable due to not being able to call home to mommy.
this isnt a joke, what if theres a storm and the phone lines/cable lines/exct are taken out for a week or more, or power is taken out then comes back but phone/cable is stil out and windows needs to call home, your SOL, your computer will just stop working, eather till you can get it back online OR you buy a new one.

sorry i know this isnt hardware, but its a good reasion for people not to rush and drool over dx10 cards and such, because to use dx10 you are FORCED to use vista, this isnt good, it isnt healthy, and the only way ms will change it is if people dont buy vista, stick with xp or 2k for gaming, refuse to buy dx10 games tell the publishers your not gonna buy anything that supports vista, tell ms that your not buy anything that supports vista.

[GLD]

So if we are not to play DX10 games then we are supposed to be board out of our minds replaying and replaying our old games over and over? Not me. I want the new and improved, cutting edge games.

Have you seen some DX10/DX9 comparison screens?

People are going to buy VISTA. I am. People will be buying it like they buy bottled water. It's a fact that can not be changed.

[Agility]

GLD if you have the money go ahead. Anyway ashensugar, 101% support.

[AshenSugar]

gdl, games for the next 2years minimum will support dx9 and dx10, game makers dont want to loose the gamers they have now, hell look at games like halflife2 it has dx7,8,9 support built in.

and GLD is now official part of the problem, i hope after he gets vista his net goes out for a week and his windows stops working till it comes back up, or he upgrades his hdd and has ms inform him he has to rebuy windows vista because hes over his install limit(no more unlocking of acctovation, if you go over your limit, you buy it again)

me im gonna stick with windows 2003 server and if that means not getting new games in 3 years fine, i will play good old games and be glad im not supporting this new ms licence model.

[Munkul]

i personally am only not gonna buy vista because it COSTS FAR TOO MUCH. its a waste of money, and although there are far too many rumours about how shit it will be, they usually have some foundation.
if people like it say a year after it comes out, then i will consider.

[GLD]

The fact is, people are going to buy Vista. You go to your local box store and all the new comps. say Vista ready somewhere on them or in there specs. People read that and they know they want it to keep up with the in thing. I have tried out beta 2, and RC1. I want it because I like it. Not because I need to keep up with the crowd.

Yes I plan to buy it, prob. even on it's release date. So good for me.

AssSugar, to wish someone bad things, thats tarded. You would be crying foul if those ill effects happened to your rig.

[AshenSugar]

try it now, its got a free RC trial now Munkul, but i hope you got 1.5-2gb ram MINIMUM and a good dx9 card if you wana even run its desktop.

oh and dx10 games dont excist, if your refering to say ut2k7 then your seeing what dx9 can do, not dx10.

dx9 hasnt even been pushed to its limmits yet, and opengl2.3 is far more powerfull and vercitile then dx10 will be, i dont see game companys forcing us to upgrade other then MS and who cares about halo2 on pc? halo1 pc ver sucked so bad i wouldnt touch halo2 pc if it was free.

[AshenSugar]

Originally Posted by GLD

The fact is, people are going to buy Vista. You go to your local box store and all the new comps. say Vista ready somewhere on them or in there specs. People read that and they know they want it to keep up with the in thing. I have tried out beta 2, and RC1. I want it because I like it. Not because I need to keep up with the crowd.

Yes I plan to buy it, prob. even on it's release date. So good for me.

AssSugar, to wish someone bad things, thats tarded. You would be crying foul if those ill effects happened to your rig.

thats really mature lol.


and i wouldnt put myself in a possition where those things WILL happen, read the vista licence the links there, your buying the right to have ms ram you in the bum without lube

all the things i listed can happen due to the way ms is licencing vista, if you change out your hdd due to failuar, and reinstall you use up your acctovation allocation, you then have to re-buy vista if you need to reinstall again, this is the plan, its ment to keep people from using the same os on more then 1 system more then a couple times, they want you to buy windows over and over and over.

say your mobo dies, you replace it, oops you gotta re acctovate windows, ooops your past your acctovation limit, you transfer it to your new hardware, it acctovates, then your hdd dies or windows dies, you reinstall you try and acctovate, it dosnt work telling you that your past your limmit, you call ms for help, they inform you that you have used up your install quota for that copy of vista and that you must now buy it again because after all, you need vista.
so you buy it again, then your net goes out for whatever reasion, a week later you go to use your system and it wont let you do anything, tellingyou that it needs to call home to make sure its a valid install, you dont got net so your sol till you get net to let it call home(sol=shit out of luck)

truth is that vista is gonna make ms a bundle, but it will also loose them alot of users every time somebody trys to reinstall windows and isnt able to and calls ms just to find out that they need to buy a new copy because they installed that copy to many times.

vista is stupid, people who rushout and grab vista are stupid and askiing for the pain i wish apon you, yes i hope this happens to every person who rushes out and grabs vista, i hope they loose alot of important data, i hope they cant play there home movies they put into mpeg4 format because ms says they cant, i hope every singel thing ms has put into vista to control what people can do with there computers backfires and causes ms and the users nothing but pain and headakes.

im a windows user, but ms needs to learn a lession about pushing the user to far, people need to learn to read the licence agreement b4 they ellect to use software, anybody who buys this is asking for trouble, and i wish them nothing but said trouble.

[GLD]

Life is to short to be scared.

Oops, guess I misspelt your name as you did mine.

My dogs never s**t where they eat.

[AshenSugar]

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1375/
little insite into things from somebody whos a little crazy


im not scared, im smart enough to know that i wont be willing to let ms rule my life or the life and functionability of my pc, vista is just that, they can close down your pc if they for some reasion deside your keys not valid (say a pirat group gets your key somehow) if that happens guess what? you get to BUY A NEW COPY OF VISTA AT FULL PRICE!!!!!!

no thanks im not going there.

[GLD]

Im not worried. I have more then one comp. My important data is always backed up on a ext. hdd. If one pc gives up the ghost, I guess I learn from my mistake. But again, im not scared. Bill Gates is my hero.

[Frick]

Sadly, that's how things are turning. I mean, look at the music industry or Apple and all that. DRM is teh future, it seems, wheter we like it or not.

[pt]

5 words only:
FU..CK VISTA, and F..CK DX10
i will use xp and linux

[AshenSugar]

http://slashdot.org/articles/06/09/08/1732204.shtml

boycott vista period, somebody needs to make a site and potition for this, i would but i got no webspace


http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase..._rc1_worst.asp

http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/07/tech...ex.htm?cnn=yes

[Agility]

Oh man GLD will you just shut up? Damn if you're so rich then go buy vista in every new comptuer you have. If not just ignore this thread since you're so vista positive. Oh you could install it into your 2002 computers too. Go find bill gates and beg him for money. Irritating people.

/me moons Bill Gates


TAKE THAT!


Fuck Vista....

Oh yeah you can always just shadow your HDD with GHOST once you first install it so you don't have to keep reinstalling it if it fails..... but you didn't hear that from me

[pentastar111]

Originally Posted by Slater

/me moons Bill Gates


TAKE THAT!


Fuck Vista....

Oh yeah you can always just shadow your HDD with GHOST once you first install it so you don't have to keep reinstalling it if it fails..... but you didn't hear that from me

Heh,heh,heh....hear what? I'm not planning on "switching" over until and "IF" they get all of the bugs out of that crazy overpriced resource hog. The "monitoring" of my PC by a "Microsoft mothership"?, is kind of spooky in a "Big Brother" sort of way. can anyone say "keylogging". the potential for some extremely bothersome "hacking" and internet theft situations simply can't be ignored on that note! Doesn't sound like there will just be a few "patches" to fix the potential security problems that are going to arise.

[Ketxxx]

i wont be buying vista because im smart, and if need be, ill contact some of my "codie" buddies to rip DX10 apart and make it work on XP, there is, after all, no technical reason why XP cant support DX10.

[Solaris17]

Oh man GLD will you just shut up? Damn if you're so rich then go buy vista in every new comptuer you have. If not just ignore this thread since you're so vista positive. Oh you could install it into your 2002 computers too. Go find bill gates and beg him for money. Irritating people.

ya thats enough of that this will not become a flamming thread feel free to discuss why not to buy vista or to discuss who is but i will not tolerate people flaming each other period.

[Agility]

Pros
1. Vista looks nice.
2. Probably better stability when its released.
3. Nice friendly interface

Cons
1. Direct X 10 works only on vista
2. Able to use it on a system once only
3. Shitty hell to buy a brand new vista which costs $700+ (SGD) just to install it on a new computer

[Ketxxx]

under pros you have to take 1 and 3 out, google mr. windows x and you will see why so i make that one pro, which will only come true about 2 years down the road...

[PuMA]

funny, how they keep adding stuff and updating with new vista version, when the only thing i really use in windows is file explorer

[mrbudgie]

xp users will get some of the dx10 goodies with dx9L (direct X longhorn i think)

so i wouldnt rush either

[Ketxxx]

its all or nothing imo, why give xp a cut down dx10 when it can fully support all of dx10? it reeks of M$ trying to bully everybody into vista. nobody will stand for it though, especially the games software houses and graphics manufacturers.

[Seany1212]

lol GLD when did you last look at who was running Microsuck, last i recalled Bill (godsend) stepped down and someone else (buttfucker) stepped up, oh and sucked at it.

EDIT: soz will step down in 2008 , hes stepped down from software engineer or something like that