Hi everyone,
I'm interested in your opinoins

--begin hypothetical-- :D

If you had an illegit copy of Windows XP Pro with SP1 installed would you have any concerns around using it, on-line and/or off-line, and if so how concerned are you?

--end hypothetical--

And what of this?

Originally posted in thread by backup2k1 here http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=187072

running a pirate copy of windows they can see who you are
and simply contact your isp
its happen to someone at work and they only install 2 copies of window me
and with in a couple of days there was a guy from microsoft asking if they
own the real thing
when he said he did not they gave him 24hrs to buy a licence or else he
would be fine
so it cost him a lot of money

Even if microsoft knew who your isp was (which is not hard) wouldn't it be illegal for the isp to reveal your details?
Thats enough to make me want to switch Linux fulltime.

Would adding microsoft.com and associated addresses to the hosts file used for blocking ad-servers help at all in staying out of microsoft's way?
And finally, I have noticed when downloading, post SP1, that there is a warning about malicious downloads every time, is this an added feature with SP1?

Please don't degenirate this topic into how to obtain illegal stuff:mad:, my intrest is in peoples concerns in relation to the above questions and whether microsoft has any new abilities integrated into SP1 that anyone knows of.

Thanks for your thoughts

I think you are begining to find out (re:download warnings) why I have asked other members why they are in such a rush to install XP SP1. :eek:

Microsoft we are told will have the capability to check fully your Windows PID when WPA V5 goes live in October. This will affect all users of Windows XP and the chances are W2K too. Until V5 is launched nobody knows if M$ are bluffing or not, they may start checking straight away or it may take time to be implimented, the only way to find out is by going to Windows Update.

As regards the Windows Me issue, I doubt that very much indeed. I'm not saying it's not true, but I've heard so many fairy stories in the past about knocks on the door from Microsoft etc.

I'm closing this thread now because we have discussed this a number of times recently and also because some twit always ends up asking for something ilegal in the thread more often than not. Check out all the Win XP SP1 threads for more info. ;)