The Active Network
ActiveMac Anonymous | Create a User | Reviews | News | Forums | Advertise  
 

  *  

  Microsoft third-party licensing and activation server set to RTM
Time: 09:32 EST/14:32 GMT | News Source: ZDNet | Posted By: Robert Stein

In July, Microsoft announced its intentions to deliver a number of licensing technologies to third-party vendors interesting in deploying Microsoft-like activation and licensing in their products One of those components, the Software Licensing and Protection Server (SLP), is likely to be released to manufacturing (RTM) on August 31, according to a Microsoft blog entry by a member of the SLP team.

Write Comment
Return to News

  Displaying 1 through 25 of 322
Last | Next
  The time now is 10:39:22 AM ET.
Any comment problems? E-mail us
#1 By 2960 (68.100.112.199) at 8/31/2007 12:11:16 PM
Great. Just great.

Now everyone can harass their paying customers with WGA like bullshit.

Folks, we gotta start voting with our wallets or the leash will just keep getting shorter and shorter and shorter.

MS can get away with it as they are a Monopoly, and while people like to SAY there are choices, in reality there are none when it comes to the OS and Office suite. MS owns the world, period. You play, or you don't fit in with the rest of the world.

Other software companies, for the most part, do not have this power. Personally, I'll not (knowingly) buy ANY software package controlled by this crap. There ARE other choices in most cases with third-party apps.

You can't always escape it, but dammit we need to start looking out for US. Screw the mfr. WE are the customer.

TL

#2 By 37047 (216.191.227.68) at 8/31/2007 1:20:35 PM
This is a product that should definitely be RTM. By RTM, I mean "Returned to Microsoft".

#3 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at 8/31/2007 2:15:35 PM
#1 "Now everyone can harass their paying customers with WGA like bullshit."


"Although SLP won’t provide the kind of anti-piracy checks that Microsoft’s own Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) system does ..."

#4 By 2960 (68.100.112.199) at 8/31/2007 2:21:45 PM
"third-party vendors interesting in deploying Microsoft-like activation and licensing"

Potatoe, Potato.

TL

#5 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at 8/31/2007 3:05:35 PM
#4 Right. No one else forces you to activate your software.

HAH!

#6 By 1896 (68.153.171.248) at 8/31/2007 3:55:05 PM
#5 Please do not insult your IQ as well as ours; the issue is not "activating", it is the continous monitoring MS wish to exercise.
This morning I needed a fax cover page for my Word 2007; I went to the MS site and I was required to validate again my installation; even better a note specified that whenever I might need a template I would have to re-validate.
The outcome is I am so outraged about all this bull#@$" that tomorrow morning I will buy an Apple and give up with MS.
Period
Superior, inferior I do not care! I am outraged by the way I am treated by MS.
These shortsighted bean counters that are running/sinking the company after B.G departures have been able to obtain only these results: alienate honest and paying customers and killing real innovative products.
And why they did it? To gain the favor of big corporations forgetting that are the single users that create the momentum for big shift and not the other way around.
Either way they are affected by short memory or they were too young when IBM was the hero aamong big corporations, all businesses were using Wordstar etc.
Well as GiovamBattista Vico wrote several hundres years ago "History repeats itself", so let us see, and hopefully be able to buy some shares, of the company that will become the next MS.

#7 By 32132 (66.183.202.89) at 8/31/2007 9:35:54 PM
#6 "tomorrow morning I will buy an Apple and give up with MS"

You say that every few weeks. Ho hum.

"it is the continous monitoring MS wish to exercise."

Yeah. Like no one else forces you to login to download updates.

#8 By 37 (68.190.114.234) at 9/1/2007 7:59:15 AM
"The outcome is I am so outraged about all this bull#@$" that tomorrow morning I will buy an Apple and give up with MS. "

I did that a couple months ago. Couldn't be happier.

#9 By 1896 (68.153.171.248) at 9/1/2007 8:41:32 AM
#7:
"#6 "tomorrow morning I will buy an Apple and give up with MS"
You say that every few weeks. Ho hum"

Lack of better arguments make you degrade to vicious and poorly organized attempts to discredit people with different opinions. While personally I am not interested you should consider Wasington D.C.; plenty of opportunities there. As Cicero stated "Similis cum similibus".

"Yeah. Like no one else forces you to login to download updates"
Again you are insulting our intelligence: "Login" and "Validation" are two completely different things. Said that I have to sadly admit that you are unable or unwilling to have a constructive and useful debate so hereinafter you will be ignored.
Have a nice week-end.

#10 By 32132 (66.183.202.89) at 9/1/2007 9:36:43 AM
""Login" and "Validation" are two completely different things."

One involves remembering a login/password. One doesn't.

"Lack of better arguments ...'

Threatening to buy an Apple is an "argument"? Very funny.

#11 By 15406 (74.104.251.89) at 9/1/2007 1:43:52 PM
#9: Give it up. He's a lost cause. He doesn't just drink the Kool-Aid, he sweats it.

Now THIS is funny...

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070901&mode=classic

#12 By 1896 (68.153.171.248) at 9/1/2007 2:01:32 PM
#11: LOL
Very much, indeed.

#13 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 9/1/2007 2:50:07 PM
#9, Hi, Fritzly, be sure to blog where we can keep up with how your move and experience unfolds. I would be very interested in seeing how it goes and especially so if you don't run Windows of some kind in a VM, or Bootcamp. As Vista moved into and out of BETA 2, I was motivated to switch [to a commercial Unices], but ended up divorced from that experience, because I found myself spending more time trying to figure out how to work with others who were on Windows, or hunting for solutions that were not available to me. Not that solutions could not be found... it was just the time it was taking and constantly having to work portions of the system that were already baked in Windows. Many years ago the process would have been fun and tolerated, but it seemed to me that others were not willing to wait for that process to play out.

Fritzly, Let us know how it goes for you. I hope you succeed fully and don't end up as I did, continually having to come back to a platform for practical reasons.

### Latch, I'm not interested in any lectures about standards and or being open - the perspective here is personal use and the practical - the realities faced by people.

Fritzly is a stand up guy - his posts sure reflect that. He's been burned and he's sick of it - why question the man's sincerity [much less his integrity]. He's making a choice - we ought to support that.

#14 By 11888 (69.156.76.253) at 9/1/2007 3:21:35 PM
Moving to OS X is so much easier these days. There seems to be a lot more developer support for the platform. Thanks to the Intel machines though I'm running Windows occasionally to play games. I was using Office 2004 for Mac until recently. I'm evaluating Pages to see if it will provide what I need in word processing. My needs there are pretty simple. I need to test how well it exports to Word for sharing documents. It feels a lot less complicated to move between the platforms nowadays. Add a virtual machine to the mix and the move is even easier.

I made the switch over 7 years ago now. It was rough going for a while in the pre-OS X days and the first few years of OS X. During that time I always had access to a Windows machine. I sympathize with Fritzly. I've had to activate XP over the phone so many times recently. There's something wrong when I'm a legitimate user operating within the terms of the license that I agreed to and I'm inconvenienced for it. Meanwhile people I know with bootleg copies of software lifted from work never go through that experience.

This post was edited by MrRoper on Sunday, September 02, 2007 at 13:07.

#15 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 9/1/2007 3:54:37 PM
#14, Good info and point.

The worst cases are when small business owners have disc loaded bootlegs and they just don't give a flip [as you're trying to sell into them and get them legit with a good network, solid systems and support and of course, legal software]. They sit there - can't run updates of any kind and they just don't care. I've seen it too many times - and all the while, large percentages of their systems are infested with mal-ware adding to the crap the rest of us have to deal with. I wish it were really rare, but it isn't.

One one hand that speaks to Microsoft's argument and how WGA is a benefit, but the reality, as #14 points out, is that the people playing by the rules are the people getting hammered by them.

As I said, the better solution is to incent the channle with real money and partners will be motivated to really push legit software - and to dump WGA, or at least, as TechLarry offers, make it a one-time, WPA-like deal - WGA a system and leave us alone. If that were the case, then WPA would be enough - do both validations at the same time. The trouble with that is that WGA/WPA are always attacked - so new versions are always needed and the constant over the shoulder/in-your-face WGA'ing chip away at legit users unendingly. I can see why Fritzly is hitting the door - it's a relationship that just stinks from this perspective.

Imagine how fast we'd hit the door if a friend, or spouse treated us like this.... we'd be gone in two-shakes no matter what it cost us. I tell you, if anything drives me away from the Platform that is Windows, it will be WGA, but the sad truth is that, and I suspect, it is a model we will see time and again from all types of vendors and sites - so moving to services in the cloud are not going to help. It's like getting service from a cable or sat company.... one calls in and the first words heard are, "Let me check your account status...." - assuming that the most likely cause of any outage is due to non-payment! It's all just insulting.

We don't do that in my company - we take care of the customer first and even when we know they are "late" - even seriously so, we still take care of the issue first and keep score second.

#16 By 3653 (65.80.181.153) at 9/1/2007 4:41:44 PM
hey apple users...

how does 'office for mac' work? does it require validation to download new templates, etc?

seriously, i don't know. tell me.

#17 By 32132 (66.183.202.89) at 9/1/2007 5:13:46 PM
I'll repeat since I never recieved a civil answer (not that I was expecting one) : Threatening to buy an Apple is an "argument"? Very funny.

By the way, there are now more Vista installs than OS X.

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=2&qptimeframe=M&qpsp=103

#18 By 11888 (69.156.76.253) at 9/1/2007 6:04:35 PM
#17, C'mon, the grown-ups are trying to have a conversation.

#16, No. It requires an installation key like Microsoft installations worked before the activation stuff came along. I don't recall ever having to activate anything. I haven't heard about the next version of Office for the Mac. But since the core activation software is Windows-based I can't imagine it being ported over. You don't hear a lot about Office for the Mac but the MacBU at Microsoft does a really nice job of it.

#19 By 15406 (74.104.251.89) at 9/1/2007 8:09:01 PM
#13: Of course you don't want to be lectured on MS and the whole MSXML/ISO debacle since, as a consummate MS supporter, you don't have a leg to stand on no matter how you try and argue it. At first I was curious as to your silence in the whole 'MS buys its standard' story and how they're blatantly gaming the system, but it is in character for you.

#20 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 9/1/2007 11:25:21 PM
#19, WHAT?!?!?

We need a heavier rock, folks. Latch has managed to crawl out from under it again.

I never addressed the MSXML/ISO issue, because I have not studied it and I don't have enough of an understanding about it in order to contribute on the subject.

#21 By 32132 (66.183.202.89) at 9/2/2007 1:03:02 AM
#18 I do believe the anti-Microsoft crowd are childish beyond belief.

I'll repeat since I never recieved a civil answer (not that I was expecting one) : Threatening to buy an Apple is an "argument"?

#22 By 1896 (216.189.183.117) at 9/2/2007 10:45:26 AM
#13: Thanks very much for your words Iketchum; besides the kindness, you zeroed on the exact meaning of my post saying it was "a statement", nothing else.
Software like many other things are, at least for me, commodities not articles of Faith.
I am a curious mind, a lot of people, even here, praise Apple, so I am going to try it.
Maybe I will like it or maybe not; either way it is not a big issue, I am a customer shopping around not someone in a crusade. :-)

This post was edited by Fritzly on Sunday, September 02, 2007 at 10:46.

#23 By 15406 (74.104.251.89) at 9/2/2007 8:24:30 PM
#20: Funny, that. You seem to have an opinion on practically everything else, and MS stacking the deck has been all over the tech news for the past few weeks. Where have you been? Or is it selective ignorance?

#24 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 9/3/2007 12:16:52 AM
#23, As I said, I have been building the new Awin and a new initiative centering on enhancing human wellness by connecting premiere providers within a network, and we opened a new store on the coast - so it has been a busy few weeks.

Some of our talent in NYC have come up with some stunning new looks for the new site [so many layers and so subtle, but the depth is there and makes such things look incredible - I always funded that extra bit of effort and there are those on our creative side that respect my willingness to fund parts of software that are often left out - e.g., the back end has to look as sweet as the front end and in some cases, better - after all, most guys use RSS, so who is going to see the app more often???].

Any case, it's been busy, and yes, there is a measure of selective ignorance and I'll tell you why. Part of success is managing not just time, but one's energy and the energy of an organization. A few years ago the writing was on the wall and there is more writing that many do not yet see - I'll use the OOXML format [as an ISO or not... I really don't care] as an example - the reality is that secure web services and extensibility have been the drivers for a good while and the passing of code bits [in services] and data bits, via XML are and have been where it is all headed. WPF based Smart Clients are for sure, going to be there...

So it has all been and always will be, about what makes it possible to invoke remote code execution [Remote Methoding] and do it safely/securely and then pass the data bits one needs. That is all to be, as I said, via XML and web services - either within a browser [why] or a WPF Smart(er) Client [better and advised]. As networks increase is speed, the delivery of such clients and experiences, either directly, or initiated from the Browser [the spring board I offered that IE 7/8 would become], Click-Once comes to mind. Any case, and back to my point about success... it is often about sensing what to hunt and what not to hunt and chasing an argument about OOXML is frankly, IDIOTIC. It doesn't matter. Extensibility and secure web services just are and will be. COM is gone, as is Java RMI, and CORBA. So why waste my time on something that is inevitable - standard or no... who does it, or not.... it makes no sense. So long ago we did our own re-set and moved over to using extensible objects [code and data] to invoke code and pass data. It will be the norm, and I am as sure of it as I am that the sun will be up in a few hours. So it will all be there whether OOXML becomes an ISO, or not. I don't care and need the organizations energy and my own, focused on doing things rather than panting about that which is irrelevant. We'll parse any data and invoke any code we need to - no matter how it is generated. Oh... and we hate scripting and all its holes - we regard PHP as something that is vulgar.

#25 By 3653 (65.80.181.153) at 9/3/2007 1:20:26 AM
lketchum, some people (you) build hot new websites, and other people (latchie) simply seek to build a better cup o' joe.

cant we all just stop fashioning our coffee stirrers into prison shanks, and just get along?

Write Comment
Return to News
  Displaying 1 through 25 of 322
Last | Next
  The time now is 10:39:22 AM ET.
Any comment problems? E-mail us
User name and password:

 

  *  
  *   *