Windows XP - Black Edition
So I was talking to a buddy earlier this evening and he asked me if I'd heard of Windows XP - Black Edition... After saying "Black Edition??" (needless to say, I hadn't heard of it), he directed me to a forum post on the subject. In essence, Windows XP - Black Edition is XP on DVD with plenty of other pirated software included... Software that covers every aspect of day to day computing and even some outside of it...
I made the comment about how I distrust items such as this (and not only because they're pirated and illegal)... but because I question the individual that created the DVD... the so called "Black Edition". These are people who are so unscrupulous that they're willing to pirate a plethora of software... who's to say they haven't also setup malware on the DVD... their own custom malware, undetected by any AV signatures, that makes the PC a part of a botnet... or opens a listening port... or creates a key logger that records keystrokes and then only transmits them (over HTTPS) when it sees that HTTP traffic is occuring....especially if these actions take place as they do in my last example... only during times of heavy network traffic..
This got me thinking about piracy in general... There's tons of software out there being pirated... So why don't the vendors get involved... Take your product, create a modified version of the software and place a small piece of malware, tucked away that transmits (via HTTPS or something else popular but not plaintext) the details of the users and their computer... Gathering email addresses, contact info, etc... Then use that information to go after the pirate... I realize that it isn't necessarily cost effective for the larger companies to battle piracy on an individual basis, but if some sort of relationship was setup between these vendors and law enforcement I'm sure it could be done easily... maybe information could be submitted directly to law enforcement officials...
Now I commented on this to my buddy, and he brought up Sony... He said the same thing would happen to any vendor that attempted this... I said it wouldn't... In this case it would only be affecting those willing to make use of pirated software... not individuals who are abiding the law... It's effectively an electronic string... It's like marking bills or putting a transponder on a car... He said that in North America, the public opinion would still be an outcry... that this wasn't fair and that it was wrong of the vendor to do it... I don't know that I agree... I for one would fully support any vendor that wanted to do this...
How about the rest of you??? Are we for or against?
I’m against this. It raises privacy concerns in “what else could they be doing?” and also it smells like entrapment to me. Nothing irritates me more than police dressing up as prostitutes and getting some old guy excited only to be arrested later. We can argue you’re not being forced into downloading the software, but should it be legal at all, for a company to hack into your computer and use to their own benefit?
Piracy is a (big or small) risk companies need to accept. I think Adobe is right on their stance of people pirating Photoshop. They say most people who are pirating are students and people who cannot afford the product. Later when these students go to work, they will demand to use Photoshop, since that is what they know. The guys they’re after are the ones who sell pirated copies, not the kids who are looking to play with their software.
You raise some good points Marcin… I actually had a professor once who said that he didn’t consider it piracy if you were a student… he considered the prices they charged students for software to be the piracy… The fact that students will demand what they know when they enter the workforce is a prime reason why Microsoft has so many University agreements and why they have the MSDNAA…
However, I don’t see this as a privacy issue, nor do I see it as entrapment… You don’t have to ask “What else could they being doing” if they are applying this only to special placed “pirated” copies of the software… If you are that concerned about it, then you should be asking yourself the same question now… There’s nothing stopping them from doing it to every copy of the software… and they don’t now.. The only difference is they would be targeting the pirates. As for entrapment… They are saying here you go, you’re allowed to download and install this… Like I said.. it’s no different than the authorities marking bills and then giving them to undercover agents to purchase drugs with… They would be marking their operating system…
I also don’t think that Piracy is something companies “need to accept”… Do stores “need to accept” a certain amount of shop lifting?? It happens, but they don’t accept it… It’s also a good example… stores place anti-theft strips on products… These strips cause an alarm to go off when an attempt is made to illegally remove the merchandise from the store… The software concept would be similar but the alarm would be remote…
Tell a small software shop that they need to accept piracy… You’re basically telling them that they have to accept that they’ll be nickeled and dimed to death… The problem with big companies like Adobe and Microsoft turning a blind eye is that they are, in a way, legitimizing piracy.. This legitimization makes it increasingly difficult for the smaller software shops to deal with piracy and attempt to control it.. something they need to do to stay alive.
I was about to say the same thing Marcin did, “what else could they be doing?” The next step would be to take a competitor’s product and put some malware into it on the pirate sites…and so on. Basically, I think back to the old Google motto/question, “Is this evil?” I think if a company got caught doing this, they’d be morally and legally in hot water with consumers and the government.
On piracy, though, it HAS been accepted in the past. Bootlegging was a problem in the past, even down to my copying a cassette tape to my friends and distributing it that way, or perhaps diskettes with Doom on them (yes, the original, I’m old) or Windows 98. This was part of the cost of doing such business, and they did a little bit of cracking down on the biggest bootleggers, but you couldn’t necessarily stop the friend-exchange problem. Only in the last 6-8 years has the digital distribution of such media become so efficient that the industries are starting to really feel the pain. Where before I could make copies for 3 friends, today I can serve it up to many thousands every day.
I think piracy, in some cases, helps a program become more used. Take photoshop, for instance. How many designers bought photoshop at home? I bet very few. A heck of a lot of people grew up tinkering with photoshop and later on may have taken those skills with them to design jobs where their companies then bought legit copies to stay legal.
More on topic, I am with you. I distrust pirated programs, and I typically only get what I want, but otherwise would in no way purchase for the asking price. For instance, I may want to edit some fraps videos of my WoW character, but I’m not about to buy Vegas Studio for my little fun projects. They can still get their licensing from legit corporate purchases and people with more money than I have.
I don’t think companies would be able to tie into law enforcement that way either. Even they don’t have the time or money to go after small time piraters. There is absolutely nothing in going after single users at home with a few pirated pieces of software that they’re not in turn profiting off of by distributing it.
Companies do some interesting things to protect licensing. Some will force online registration or call-backs by the program to ensure that the license is still legit. Others will actively check the local LAN for rogue instances. Others will require that the cd be available either at start-up or at various times in the middle. I think most of this is fairly good enough to stop many instances of pirating that would otherwise have resulted in a sale.
Would I try out Windows XP Black? Hehe, sounds fun, and yes I would. But I would do so on a spare machine, isolated on my network with a sniffer grabbing all outgoing traffic, and I’d definitely never, ever trust it with sensitive data or more open access to the Internet than what I absolutely needed.
Holy crap this was a long comment…apologies!
The long comment is great… I’m enjoying the discussion…
Like I said to Marcin… I understand where you’re coming from… and to some extent agree with it… There are interesting steps in place by some companies already.. and yes… the practice I’m suggesting does open the door to many possible legal implications… As I said this came out of a late night chat with a friend and I found it interesting, so I wanted to share the concept.
I’d love a lawyer or someone else with a legal background to chime in on this…
Looking at it a different way: if a company consciously places a version of their software on a public site with the expectation that people will download and use it, and no extra legal documents specific to that version to say they should NOT do it … haven’t they actually just shot themselves in the foot, and lost all legal rights to pursue anyone who does download and use it? How can you say you reserve the right to prosecute anyone who downloads the software, when your corporation has explicitly aided & abetted the act of them doing it?
The prostitution entrapment issue is very different than this. That is a law enformecemtn agency doing it, as a representative of the government. A corporation is more like an individual. You as an individual, YOU can’t dress up as a hooker and go out to entice a john, then call up the cops to haul him away — they’ll have to take you too!
for or against is a moot question… check section 342.1 of the canadian criminal code (http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/security/position/19960620/)… i’m fairly certain installing malware on people’s machines is illegal, regardless of the reasons…
THERE IS NO MALWARE IN OUR PROGRAM…..NONE…..by the way, hello, i helped make this beautiful program with……FREE FREE FREE FREE apps.
TELL ME, HTRegz, Never in your life have you stole something that was not yours? WELL…. you SIR are a lier! MicroSoft Steales money from people like you everyday. LOOK AT LINUX! What do they have to steale. there source is open and free for downloading. microsoft changes anywere from 159 - 250 dollars for there programs YET linux is better. SO, we made a program for everyone to enjoy and you are the only ones crying about it. do you work for microsoft? Because We Did. We know what goes on there. YOUR ALL BEING SCREWED. thats what goes on there. don’t bad mouth it till you have seen it first. be it on your computer or someone elses. try it
I SWARE there is NO malware in any of it
Thank You For Your Comments
Black Editon Team
P.S.
Email Account Is Real
I Own This XP Black Edition And I Really Like It.Some Of My Friends Also Own It And They Can’t Find Anything Worng With It Virus Or Malware Wise.
I thought long and hard about approving the two above comments… I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to, but I decided that I might as well…
First, people should take note of these “Former Microsoft Employees” ability to spell… Just in case there were people reading this that couldn’t tell it was BS.
Also I should point out, since the rest of you can’t see the IP Address of the poster that “Black Edition” and “John” both posted from the same IP (and as you can see, within 10 minutes of each other).
@ Black Edition :
Having downloaded this to see what all the fuss is about I can categorically state there are at least 3 Trojan/Worms embedded in the iso on BitTorrent. That’s from two different torrents as well. Kinda confirms what most folk are saying here about being able to “trust” the installation. My grandppappy had a saying : “If you fly with the crows you will die with the crows”. take what you will fron it.
i would like to point out that, if software verdors or developers emebbed code to track your personal information in “modified” distros for catching pirates, then they themselves would be commiting an illegal act. Entrapment. Not saying that either party is right or wrong, but you really think that software manufacturers are going to risk legal endightments just to arrest a couple hunderd pirates? When word spread of such acts, the companys developing such intrusive and anti-trust full software would then notice a major loss in sales, profite and over all respectability. As a further note. from my own personal studies, i have found that 85% of the people that i know that have pirated software, purchase that peice of software with in 3-6 months after aquisition of a pirated copy. And the Other 15% within 6 months to a year, so either way, the developers get their money.
And before anyone points out that i can’t spell, yes i know i probably mispelled word in both the above posting and i will probably continue to mispell them.
on a further note, i also know that i have poor grammer and puncuation (
I’ve heard about this for a few weeks, and I got interested enough to hunt it down and take a peek for myself. This is what I have found about the “Black Edition”…
After updating my virus software/patterns (PCCillin 2006, for those who are interested, as I’m a little too cheap to upgrade to 2007 “just yet”) on all networked machines, making absolutely certain that AutoRun was disabled on all CD/DVD’s in the test machine, I extracted the archive to find a single .iso image weighing in at 4.02 gig, or 4,319,291,392 bytes.
Now it’s ready for testing…after pulling the network…just in case.
Rather than wasting a disc (as it’s merely a curiosity) I mounted it as a virtual disc via SlySoft’s VirtualCloneDisc and launched a full virus scan on the (virtual) disc as a whole.
2 incidents were reported. Both named “TROJ_Generic”. Since they haven’t given it a family name, or any specific notation of what type of “TROJ” it might be, it leads one to look a little further before dismissing it as a “certified virus.
Occurrance 1: V:\$OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Desktop\KEYGENS FOR PROGRAMS\UltraISO\KeyGen\keygen.exe
Occurrance 2: V:\$OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Desktop\KEYGENS FOR PROGRAMS\UltraISO\keygen.exe
OK, it’s the same file, in two locations within the same directory structure. The “outer” occurrance is 72.5k (74.240 bytes) and the “inner” is the same file. Since it immediately went into “quarantine mode” I thought it deserved a little more investigation. (That, and it’s 3AM and I can’t *@#in’ sleep, so what the hell’s another few minutes?!)
Checking the report at Trend Micro’s site revealed the following tidbits:
Malware type: Trojan Overall risk rating: LOW.
Aliases: No alias found. Reported infections: LOW.
In the wild: No. Damage potential: LOW.
Distribution potential: LOW.
followed by this: “This is the Trend Micro generic detection for low-threat Trojans.”
The description was created March 2, 2006, and has apparrently not been updated since, which breeds the thought that it’s PROBABLY not anything that needs any great deal of worry about infection.
On the other hand…they DO offer a “fixtool”…so is it a threat or not?!
The link to the report page (to see for yourself) is:
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_Generic
Fixtool download link (should work even if you’re not registered, but don’t quote me on that): ftp://download.trendmicro.com/products/pattern/spyware/fixtool/sysclean.zip
Long and short of my “can’t sleep curiosity” you ask? Simple.
1) UltraISO “keygen.exe” may very well be a trojan, and should not be used. Those who use this keygen.exe will likely suffer something on the scale of a “low-grade case of technoherpes” which will probably require a full virus scan, and a few minutes poking about system directories to remove new files that ain’t supposed to be there…maybe a few minutes plodding through the registry to make sure it’s REALLY gone…but likely nothing long-lasting, and given the lack of severity in the listing as noted above, it might very well be nothng to worry about at all.
2) If I get even more bored (is that possible?!) and I end up trying an install on the old ratbox spare computer (I’m using everything else
then I would not do any of the following:
a) Wouldn’t try the version of UltraISO on the disc.
b) Wouldn’t run EITHER instance of the “keygen.exe” file. OK, that was almost TOO obvious.
c) Wouldn’t have the connected to the net AT ALL.
d) Until it was reformatted and restored to it’s prior OS and repeatedly checked with virus software, Ad-Aware, SpyBot…and anything else that might be available for bug-swattin’…just to make myself feel better.
Since I’ve got legitimate OS’s on several machines, I have no “need” of the Black Edition, but logically speaking, if it’s installed on any system with an XP sticker applied to the case, it IS by default, legally installed on a system designed for that particular OS…so the line gets a little blurred, as far as the OS itself is concerned.
Since I haven’t really looked at what addon software was included on the disc, I’ve no real comment on that, as it’s simply not important to me, and what IS important to my thinking, is that no additional virus/trojan/worm/etc. reports came up from ANY other location on the disc.
At the very least, the OS component, while “illegitimately obtained” seems to be clear of nefarious code, by way of a 6-level-deep scan of ALL files on the disc. The OS itself MAY very well be perfectly safe to install and use. DO NOT USE THAT AS AN EXCUSE, OR AS A RECCOMMENDATION THAT YOU DO SO! IT IS NOT!!! Here’s why:
All archives on the disc were scanned to 6 levels in their archive structure. If a bug were to be embedded somewhere in there, all it needs to be is in a 7th level of an archive, and it’s entirely possible that during an “unattended installation” where you can walk away…you will! DUring this period, any script/batch file can extract any number of archives, with directory structures which may or mat not be deeper than the 6 scanned levels!
End result…looks “semi clean” at first perusal…might test it on an old box just for the hell of it, but I won’t be considering replacing any of the proper XP Pro or MCE’s installed on any recent machines around here…what YOU do is up to you, but if nothing else, the “rumor” about 3 viruses is false.
Aside: We all hate Bill(ionnaire) Gates, and the way he releases such incredibly buggy code for such exorbitant prices on an unsuspecting and unknowing population…and somehow makes them believe that fixing 3000 bugs in Win95 was a “good thing” for 98…for which XP fixed “over 9000 bugs”…Vista will surely fix 15000 bugs in XP, and we’ll all be expected to believe that we should be glad to have ot upgrade/replace all our computers to suit Mr. Gates’ tastes…but at least you can be “relatively sure” that the “Black Edition” is as safe as anything that MacroSloth puts out, as as the very least, it apprrently comes with a FUNCTIONAL FIREWALL!
Gate’s got so much money that he bragged about spending 9 BILLION on Vista development…if it was truly as elegantly designed as he publicly touts, it’d not only be SMALLER and MORE EFFICIENT than XP, but it’d be able to run on a 486 at a usable speed. (Remember the public beta crash video on the news?
Now, as to the other software included on the disc, well, I look at that differently. Just because Gates’ got the same bank account as god (or the vatican, since there really is no “omnipotent being”…let’s face the facts, people!
these are ALL smaller companies who depend on sales for the livelihood, and for that of their families. If you want to install the Black Edition, go right ahead, but at least take the time to vote with your pocketbook for the SUPPORT SOFTWARE/APPLICATION developers!
WIthout the applications, utilities, and entertainment titles out there, no matter what MegaSlop came out with, you’d still have nothing more than box that displayed pretty pictures…but didn’t do anything that YOU wanted it to do!
Screw MS/Gates if you must, but don’t screw the third-party developers. THEY actually take the time to release cleaner code, if nothing else…
PS: I think I just beat LonerVamp’s “Holy Crap” by a word or two.
As much as there will be advances in technology, there will be piracy. Whenever a new software comes in the market, it has a high price. Be it games or MS windows. I personally don’t think technology should be content to the rich. If you have $400 to spend, you can use windows vista (ultimate) otherwise you can’t. Further, if you think of it on a global basis…some countries have average per capita income of less than $1000. How can these people ever use such expensive softwares. The only way piracy will stop would be to make all these softwares free for users but charge money for it on yearly basis; constant charge not depending upon number of softwares, hours of usage or anything. Now the way the developers will earn money would be on the basis of usage of their software. A company would get more money if their software is used more (or downloaded more). But these software usage should be limited to home users. A company should have to pay money to use it (also universities, offices etc.).
This is the only solution I see where both software developers and consumers can be in peace.
I know someone who sells ’softwares’. He’s rich and i mean RICH and he always complain about ‘piracy’. He himself use unpaid softwares in his office. Once he said to me that 1400 ppl downloaded a cracked version of his best seller. He can be very rich if this stops. he can buy this and that etc etc.
My question: Is there THAT MUCH PROFIT for few ? And WHY should there be?
With this discussion, I was wondering if what Softplan does can in some way slow down the mass piracy of some software. Softplan comes with a usb key that has to be connected to the computer for the software to work. I know that there is probably a way around this but it seems like it would be more complicated than a keygenerator or simple crack. What do you guys think?
I have downloaded xp black edition I am a student. I have many operating systems and consider it necessary to work with all of them. server 2003 goes for over a thousand bucks, my school gave me a copy so that I could familiarize?.. myself with it it is a very complicated os but if you want to administrate over a network it is a very important os. personnally i have enjoyed a pirated version of xp media on my pc, with many add-ons slipstreamed into it I have bought a few but it’s rediculous to replace your os every few years, and way out of range for your average student.
J. Doe
Hello…i have downloaded xp black edition and now im having a problem… SORRY ABOUT MY ENGLISH, but i will try explain… i have 3 PCS connected in a LAN.. before de XP black editio, everything works well… but, when i installed xp black edition in 1 PC, others cant connect to my PC… i connect to the other 2, but they cant connect on my pc with black edition… show an error with “passwords” but i dont have any password… so, i putted a password on my PC and other machines CAN connect to my pc… i dont understand WHY other machine only connect when a password is set…
plz, if anyone have any tips, help me!!!
hugz
black ice i been tried to get your xp but it is hard to get when no one shares it
u get better place to get it
I feel that large companies like Microsoft are charging extortionate prices for their software If the software was more affordable then there would be no need for ‘piracy’ as a majority will purchase.
I personally am on a limited income and use pirated softwares as I am unable to afford the real thing.
I also feel that software should be made more affordable (discounted) for people like myself who have a disability. Not being about to work is bad enough, having a limited income becomes a struggle and what do we do with that extra time? Myself, I like to be creative on my computer and without pirated (expensive) software, I would not be able to be creative on my computer.
i have read a part of what was written, and i think that in microsoft’s student licenses aren’t that great, at least here in my country you can’t get a license for free, or at a low price that easy, pirated software is all that we have and it will be the most easy way for us. even my teacher from the university use pirated software, i understand that it is illegal … there is no other way. i study computer electronics and i use a lot of software in developing circuits an boards and i do work a lot with my computer, and i just dont have the money to pay for a license, not for windows not for office not for any of my 500 gb hdd that is full of pirated software that i use frequently. when i work for different firms i do request to have license for my software and i think it is wrong to sell or buy pirated software…
Companies like Microsoft etc. charged outrages amounts for software. They can sell it for much less but why would they, if they can make millions and users are basicly forced to run their software. look at the new vista, at a stage microsoft is going stop supporting XP and force user to buy vista at outrages amounts and in other country’s like ZA it is even more expensive. You run linux, unix but compability is at major problem. Of yes and what about student editions, what a bloddy joke, wattered down versions that cost more than half of the full one, and I think they make more money from that than the full one. (in ZA, that is)
Either companys drop prices of software, or piracy is going to increase. It is as simple as that. Unfortunately i am forced to support piracy ( when you need food cannot buy it what do you do, steal it, it is as simple as that. The electronic age just makes the stealing easier).
Downloading it
I would love that microsoft die and rot in hell.
In my country the windows xp cd is like half of a month working check (1 dolar is about 3$ in here), screw them, I won’t EVER pay for a software while I can download it and use it for free.
I don’t care if they go to bankruptcy, a software is something to vane for me to spend money on it, without saying that with most of them, in convination, you fuck up the o-so-great windows.
It’s unfair that a company that steals from us, violates our privacy and has so many fucking problems with his products still has people that defend them, and my god, they even can make/bend laws to protect themselfs… the power of money…
Windows:”Hey don’t move, I’m anal raping you”…
Users:”Thanks, can you do it again please?”
now i find this conversation interesting
if companies were to put virises into there products they would be actting just like the pirates and they do charge outragous ammounts for software further more pirated copys are not wrong they still help the economy the same thing applys to pirated dvds eventually all the profits go to help the economy.
srry for the bad spelling
That’s true, It took me an hour this morning trying to find some live Rapidshare links, finally got some, 42 parts.. sheesh, it’s been 3 hours and I’m on part 16 with an IP hack [AOL users - log off and on =p] However I did read all these comments which inspired me to download it. I guess the 3 Trojans in the keygens are from when the makers downloaded the software, damn some people, I believe they didn’t put them in deliberately; luckily though, I have all the software & keygens I’ll ever need on my external hard drive [3 gig's worth] so I won’t be needing most of the packaged stuff.
As for piracy, I believe the companies over-charge their customers; and it can be the smaller ones who charge more take Adobe for example, huge company, their Premier video editor is what… £300? UK, then you have Avid which charge you almost £2000 for everything Adobe offers for £300.
OK, bad comparison since they’re both reletively big but whatever, I’m bad with these things.
And a quick question about Black Edition… Does anyone know if the Windows Vista ‘Aero’ or whatever it’s called skin is available in it? Surely there would be some screen shots of it being used since they have it in the description?
I really hope it runs fast and well. I thought Service Pack 2 was a piece of ****, completely pointless. I tried it 3 times [I was demanded] and ended up going back to SP1 every time.
Would you pirate software if it were not so expensive? Can you afford the going rate for Office 2007 Enterprise? What if it was $35 bucks? Almost guarentee piracy would stop as a huge problem if prices were realistic.
I shouldn’t be able to put together a decent computer for $500 bucks, and just Office and the OS costs more then the whole of all the hardware required to run it. Software only costs so much because it’s a product of piracy and development/man hours. Lower the costs, piracy goes down.
There are probably 500 million or more people that would today buy a PS3 for $99 and about 10 games if they were $20. The demand is there, it’s just diluted by piracy. Raise the volume, the vendors continue to turn a profit (mostly hand over fist) and everyone goes home at the day with software they bought at an affordable price.
I agree with many of the comments on this post. I don’t care for piracy, but I am an advocate of making the computing experience personal and customizeable. So, I love how this person customized the XP installation routine, added programs (some free, some pirated), and tricked out the GUI. The interface is beautiful, and so much better than the original XP GUI. This “customized” version of XP shows how ingenious and passionate people can be, even about a Microsoft product. If I found something like this with open source software, a guarantee of no malware or viruses, and that would accept my Pro key I would use it in place of a standard Pro installation at home. I would still want to be legal, but I enjoy tweaking things on my OS.
At some point we should be speaking less of the piracy and more about how industrious this person was to create something new out of something old. How did he do it? What applications were involved in creating the customization? Did he just hack an XP CD? There’s a lot more to it than the piracy angle. It’s innovative and brilliant in it’s creation, and Microsoft should be inspiring and rewarding this type of creativity. After all, it’s the same type of pioneering attitude that continues to advance Linux and other open source applications.
I was so impressed that I went on a quest to see if anyone else had a customized XP install routine. I found Crystal Edition, Gold Edition Reloaded and Special Edition, all of which install like any official XP install, but present totally customized interfaces and applications. Crystal is particularly impressive, and looks very similar to Vista. These folks have mastered the unattended install and OS tweaks, but have done it from a pre-installation state. It’s quite impressive, and should inspire other people to do similar things in legal ways.
If Microsoft wants to continue advancing the state of their operating system they should look at what these people have acheived, and consider open source alternatives to their totalitarian practices. We know they never will, but we have to keep voicing our opinions out in the open or we will never be taken seriously.
I Just Downloaded And Installed Black Edition Yesterday Morning. One Of The Included Apps Is Windowblinds Which Has Many Different Skins Available (Vista’s Aero Is One). The Black Edition Also Includes Vista’s Sidebar Program, Has Service Pack 2 (And Most Other XP Updates) Integrated. After Installation, I Only Needed Something Like 25 Updates To Make It Current.
Black Edition Also Includes Office 2007 Enterprise Edition. I Strongly Recommend Using These Just To Stick It To Billy Just A Little Bit.
The suspicions on theoretically malware on pirated software shook me up.
I was about to make a life changing decision of never using pirated software.
Then, I thought of instances of piracy and how they come to be.
YES, Some pirated software have malware. We live in a world that’s not perfect and things happen, but should we fear?
NO (But we should at least be cautious through security programs and analyzing the calculated risk versus benefit of downloaded software.)
People are scared of “FREE.”
Suspicions arise when questioned “Why is this ‘free’?”
Here are a couple but not all reasons:
1) Because they can. A person or group of people have skills and do so because they simply can. Sometimes to challenge themselves and other times to boost reputation. Aside from software, why else would people share copyrighted music and videos? I would like to say world destruction is not on their mind.
2) Crackers get paid. Now who would go through all this trouble to wire money to guy from Pakistan (hypothetically, of course)? Photoshop, MS Programs, and more cost “a lot” but are generally less than US $1000. Some software are double locked and require security dongles physically attached to the computer to run. Now these programs are THOUSANDS of US Dollars. Skilled Reverse-Engineers do it for money which may be worth a lot (to them). Since they are skilled in cracking state of the art programs, they do entry level programs with significantly less effort.
3) Exposure. Bootlegging and Piracy is factored in when a product is released. Traveling to Asia and seeing bootlegged DVDs for less than US$2 surprised me. Since they were nicely labeled with DVD Case and all. I merely SPECULATE that this is one way the government tends to its people by allowing people to gain entertainment or tools at a subsidized price through illegal methods. They don’t promote it but they let it happen. Perhaps, a person moves to a country like the United States where these DVDs aren’t as widespread,then people tend to buy legitimate copies with movies or programs that they are exposed to prior.
Personally I use a legitimate version of Windows XP. (yay, genuine check OK! ^_^) I tell you that I paid very little for it. How?
I am an authorized Microsoft Authorized Reseller. As a reseller, I suscribe to Microsoft Action Pack. For less than US$500 (Much Less) I get software worth US$1000s (as in thousands i mean a lot more than 1000) MSRP. Which include Windows XP with multiple CD Keys that can be used multiple times, Beta Versions of software, Server all with CD Keys that can be used multiple times legitimately.
The purpose of the Action Pack is…
Your Action Pack Subscription entitles you to internal-use software. You will be licensed to use this software for internal business purposes, application development, and testing.
This is a form of controlled exposure.
As much as sellers push their software, they are happy to know that a computer in Oompa-Loompa land has a bootlegged Microsoft product, because it is not a bootlegged competitors.
In conclusion, thank you htregz on your thought provoking post on the “what ifs” in life. Being educated and learning more is essential to live secure and keep yourself grounded. Just keep in mind the other “what ifs” that counteract it.
Boy I hope the men in black don’t knock on my door for saying too much.
Cheers.
i once heard a story that if Bill Gates dropped a $50 bill on the floor, it would cost him more to pick it up than to leave it where it fell.
by my reasoning, if Bill is earning that much money, he can afford to look the other way when someone downloads a pirated version of his software!
the 5000 or so people that will download and use the Black Edition shouldnt give him sleepless nights especially when he can afford to drop
$22billion into his “bill and melinda gates foundation” charity.
(source-Forbes.com)
I would gladly pay $20 for a legit copy of Vista, i wont pay $400….once microsoft realize they’re overcharging (profit of $13billion 2006) they might sell more software at a fairer price….but i doubt that will ever happen..
the only decision you need to make when considering blag software is:-
are YOU willing to take the risk??? after all….there is no right or wrong! there is only opinion…..and in my opinion microsoft have had our pants down for long enough..its time they assumed the position, and took the shafting they deserve….the software they sell is unstable insecure and needs constant attention, if it were a woman i’d have dumped it long ago.
so is the Black Edition a bad thing??? it depends on your opinion….
im here because i bought windows xp home a year ago for $125 new. ive had to install it multi times due to the errors and other things windows tend to give me. either way it wont let me activate it now saying i installed it to many times.im feed up with spending money on windows and money for programs to protect windows.it is insane to own a pc now a days. it cost more than my damn car. so im going to the xp black eddition. it most likely will still be windows with the bad .dll errors and bad file placements but this time it will be free so i wont mind fixing it. bill gates sucks yes but he like everyone else is only tring to be better than everyone else. isnt that what money does to or for people? what ever tho. it was nice to share my comment. even tho it really doesnt matter. thanks to the site maker for giveing me a chance to type something on my mind!! thank you to all who gave me something to read and think about. and most of all much love to my lady saara!!
Youre an idiot man. I happen to know the person that makes Black and over 30 other ditros. There is NOTHING in them to harm your PC at all. The problem is that people like you dont know where or how to get this shit and wouldnt begin to know how to make them either. Because of this, you want to come up with these inane stories about malware and shit. You people are fucking pathetic to say the very least. Grow some balls, learn something and then type about it. Until then, youre doing nothing but wasting bandwidth.
After earning serval degrees in everything related to computer science, and far too many certifications, and having nearly 30 years experience it was time to place my skill up against this “Black Edition.” The team (me and six others) attacked Black and ripped it to pieces…surprisingly…Black Edition has less malware then the original XP (Yes, XP does contain malware, most of which are services that force “their power” over others…if this makes any sense to anyone…more accurate to say, “unintentional malware”). Anyhow, Black Edition has less loop holes in the system that will compremise your personal data, not much can be said for the original XP. Right now it’s being used and tested as a server will good results at MIT…had to pull a lot of strings to allow this one to go through…all in all…good system…it’s just a moral issue of copyrights.
I think that private companies should be able to see everything that we do at all times on the PC. It doesn’t matter if it’s illegal or not. It could be used for marketing purposes. If they notice you watch a lot of gay porn, then next week a telemarketer could get a notification and call you up to offer the latest selection of movies.
Citizens should always be suspect because they are up to no good. While we are at it we should eliminate all corporate taxes so that the shareholders can do the first thing that is on their minds… they can slash prices and raise wages. That’s probably the first play any company would make if it didn’t have to pay taxes… it would hand it over to the labourer.
In addition to private citizens being suspect, I think open source software developers should be imprisoned at gitmo. They completely undermine the economy with this Unix, Linux and Solaris garbage. The internet should be run on Windows and Mac OS servers. Everybody knows that open-source = communal. People should not share things. Everything should remain fenced in. Wealth is not the propagation and sharing of knowledge and information that can be copied for free… it’s all about the patenting and controlling of information.
Publishers should no longer allow students to share textbooks. The software for our childrens brains (reading material) should be put out of reach of those who cannot afford it. We could put biometric scans on books so that a buckle on the cover only unlocks when the owner wants to read it. Libraries are screwing authors. Libraries are the brick and mortar pirates from the days before computers.
In particular, not just software development; but I think that human knowledge on medicine and agriculture should all be well kept secrets. I say kick people when they’re down and let the bored stew and the hungry starve.
I was thinking that maybe without any privacy intrusion in the sense of a trojan, perhaps software companies benefit in a small way from piracy. Only a small percentage of knowledgable, technical, elite computer users confidently make repeated downloads. These are the same people who might make recommendations in a technical position in a business setting where they are likely to make a legitimate, large volume corporate purchase.
If it isn’t business application software; but instead is something geared towards home entertainment, then perhaps that person is regarded by the less technical friends as a reviewer/avant garde critic of high technology. In this case referrals for the truly effective or entertaining pieces of software could be made once again for legitimate licenses only after the product has been deemed worthy, compatible and containing the features required or game playability.
My ideas for this ridiculous rant are starting to slow down; but I hope someone made sense of something in there.
Trade should not involve intellectual property…. because IP is the whole reason that individual people are submissive to larger organised entities. It is because these entities can strategically pool a large number of resources to acquire intellectual property and keep it from the people.
Patent and copywrite holders are the bourgeiousie. Everyone else is a labourer. Thats why record labels want to acquire and own “content” - the songs and albums… instead of merely being an agent and distributor for the artist.
I agree that it is a large risk to install something from an unknown online source; but the risk exists in all closed source software regardless of whether it was pirated or not. By installing some program that does not make the source publicly available for peer review, you are entrusting your privacy to strangers regardless of where the software was obtained from.
Also in response to the idea to build surveillance into programs: If someone can perform secret surveillance on illegal activity… who will watch the surveyors? I mean to say that if the intrusion is secret… then there is nothing holding anyone back from using the trojan/backdoor to obtain information on legitimate owners of the product. Also, how do you propose you protect the privacy of the innocent?
“Attention crackers and pirates, please download this pre-cracked version of our software that has surveillance in it… and pay no attention to the clean retail version and do not attempt to crack that one yourselves.”
So I downloaded this Black Edition, tweaked it to my advantage, installed my own programs and used it for 2 days. All I have to say is it’s almost as bad as Vista. This is worse than my official XP home edition for one; more errors, unreliable, suspicious things happening.
1. Once you set it up and select whatever tweaks you want to activate, the installer completely ignores your selection and does it all. I had to re-enable the windows login screen, having NOT checked ‘disable’, by hacking the REG. My system tray notifications/icons disappeared, re-enabled with Tune-Up and a few others I won’t go in to.
2. The sidebar was great at first, just like Vista with the applicable Microsoft gadgets BUT after a few restarts it stopped working and I started getting an error message like this:
“The instruction at “0×7c93426d” referenced memory at “0×006c006c”. The memory could not be “read”.
I installed fresh copies of Black Edition 3 times and every time it had the same faults but I tell ya, I was getting a kick out of it for the first few second, some things just don’t last
3.It’s slow. Yes, The software such as Norton Mechanics and TweakUI do f**k all to improve performance. It’s taken up 20gigs for the operating system and all my *lots of* programs leaving 40 gigs free, exactly the amount of my XP Home Edition but at least 5 times slower. Most of the visualizations come from windowsblinds, which I used on my old operating system with no performance flaws.
4. There was a shit load of spelling mistakes and judging by Black Edition Team’s comment above I’m not surprised. The team was obviously rushing while making this, some of it’s pretty careless,and VERY messy. You know, I really hope there is an advanced release to this OS with these problems sorted.
5. Apart from that, it’s not bad. Definitely better than Vista, much faster but if you already have XP professional, I suggest downloading the Vista Theme Pack *do a google search - 30meg* and installing that along with windows blinds then downloading/buying the applications you need separately [or you can burn Black Edition to a disk and use the post-installer without actually installing the system, most of the files can still be used] and you should have a much more reliable OS than this.
Against this.
What are you some kind of idiot?
You want to put half the population in jail for software piracy? I’m sorry, is windows xp the new crack? Are we stealing food from the poor here? Digital copying, it’s the new holocaust!
You sit here whining that people who pirate software are all ‘unscrupulous’ characters that only wish to load up super secret malware onto their cracked software. And then you say what a gee golly great idea it would be if all the legitimate companies went ahead and did that for their own purposes.
Oh, but they’ll always do the right thing and never take advantage of people for their own gain. You know, because they’re big companies. HUGE companies, as a matter of fact. And unlike individuals, huge companies never go bad. I mean, it’s not like Enron was that big.
Right?
/sarcasm
About pirated software… Although it is illegal I still like and support the idea fully. The only reason is that now when you go to a computer store or a place like Best Buys or Compuserv, if you buy software they will not allow you to return it. It doesn’t matter how legitiment you are… they claim they can’t do that because of piracy issues. Now you are stuck with a program or game that doesn’t work on your computer or you have purchased something that doesn’t get the job done but no matter your excuse you can’t return it. This has happened to me… I bought a game and my computer supported all the requirements if this game.. for some reason it still wouldn’t run.. I took it back and they said they couldn’t refund me but instead, they said that they could replace it for another copy. Why would you want the same damn game??? There has been other problems I’ve encountered… I’ve downloaded the trial versions of software that costed around 25 to 65 dollars to register it… some of these programs were not even worth the money… some of then didn’t really offer any support and others required you to buy the upgrades or the new version of the software that they realeased…. this has angered me to the point of download stuff and finding a serial or crack to register the program, I will never spend another penny on a game or program… I blame microsoft for most of the computer troubles I have… the updates are buggy at times… Look at IE7, what a piece of crap.. and it’s so hard to uninstall. There has been a number of stories about microsoft screwing up peoples computers and what makes me hotter than hell is that they are not willing to compensate for the end user’s lost!
Firstly, to ‘Unamed’ above… For all your pi-wielding intellectual banter about the results of YOUR install of ‘Black’ XP, you fail to realize that the error message you received is almost a guarantee that you have a BAD MEMORY CHIP! These errors can indeed be subtle; like the benefits of buying software or the presence of the ‘lame-brain’ gene, you may NEVER realize they exist until they express themselves most malfeasantly when you install new software that operates most prominently at the system level, including, of course, a new OS. Nuff shed about that (based on the light of experience, that is)!
Secondly, I scanned ‘Black’ XP with NOD32, the best antiviral solution available IMO, and found nothing wrong with it, including the keygen.exe file mentioned previously.
And finally, the fees charged by software vendors are exorbitant to the extent that they well exceed the costs for its development (R & D and programming) and certainly go beyond the cost of the materials. Most of the time the ‘market’ will determine an appropriate charge for a product or service. However, certain products, like the gas-powered automobile and the PC’s OS, are part of a monopolized, corporate profit-driven market, where the consumer is forced to use one of the available products as there are scant others to choose from that they may prefer, such as an electric car or a PC OS that’s independent of a failed hardware design. But as long as pro-corporate-protectionist fat-cat law makers continue to establish corporate-protectionist laws that lack a pro-consumer, real world usefulness that’s healthy for the industry and safe for the environment, the ‘blind’ law enforcement branches of these corporate-driven governments will continue to punish those who don’t ‘lock-step’ purchase their soulless products. We as consumers must realize that WE actually control these corporate forces through our productivity, patron-ism and democratically created voting power, not the other way around, and begin to make the hard choices necessary to protect ourselves, our progeny and the Earth, or our future will be as it is portrayed in the classic movie, ‘Soylent Green”, for we will truly end up ‘consuming’ ourselves.
to bt1980
“I think that private companies should be able to see everything that we do at all times on the PC.”
“I think open source software developers should be imprisoned at gitmo. They completely undermine the economy with this Unix, Linux and Solaris garbage.”
“Publishers should no longer allow students to share textbooks. The software for our childrens brains (reading material) should be put out of reach of those who cannot afford it.”
“but I think that human knowledge on medicine and agriculture should all be well kept secrets”
So you are basically suggesting we should all go live in a totalitarian, dictatorial fashist state witch elevates the “chosen” elite above all the rest continuously reinforcing themselves (cfr. hitler, the third reich)? Because only there would such things be made possible. I don’t know but people who state stuff like stated above make me wanna throw up, especially on the whole american republican party, and other people with not enought brains and too much cash obviously. Grow a brain and shut the f*ck up. This has nothing to do with xp or piracy anymore. They only thing you just achieved with your fantastic post is turning a few stomachs.
die
I support software piracy all the way, up to the point where pirates SELL someone else’s software for a profit, this I do not like. When Micro$oft and others software companies can start releasing their software, 100% bug free (I am not talking about security patches, but rather because a beta version is named “XTZ 2006”, and because it is almost 2007, they release it prematurely just so to satisfy shareholders )or it perform like they advertise, or offer a money back guarantee if not happy, then I will stop supporting, downloading hacked software. I have no problem paying a reasonable price for quality software. I do not like paying for software, that ran optimal in testing on some super computer, then I read about how great it is on the box, only to be let down, because I was not using a $20,000 computer. I cannot tell you how many times I bought M$ Flight Simulator, and it sucked, and because I broke the seal, I could not return it for my money back. I fully understand that this policy is in place to keep people from copying the disks, but the copies still get out there, and if someone is motivated to get a copy of some software, that they will buy it to copy and return it to the store, then I believe that person will get a copy one way or another. So, if these software companies think that their over priced software is worth some of these ridicules prices, that some charge, put their money where their mouth is and back it, with support, all the way up to your money back if not satisfied….
A great example is what Electronic Arts did, with Battlefield 2142 Demo, this game was so good, and fully working for free, you knew exactly what you where getting before buying it, and guess what, I ran right out and gave Electronic Arts my $50, and bought the game.
He may also think TV manufactures should put cameras in the screens of our TV’s, so they can see what’s going on in our houses..
For the guy that states the files keygen.exe is a virus or whatever… I don’t know what your expertise is but I can assure you that file is not a virus… I am not a developer of this Windows whatsoever…I just ran on some pages talking about this version and I felt like going for a try…I analyzed several files looking for virus or any kind of malware… The reason why the anti virus software programs accuse the keygen.exe of being a virus is simply because the language the keygen’s programs are written on are very similar to the language used in virus programs… Anyhow if you still feel just don’t execute the file and you’re ok…actually this XP version runs a lot faster without any useless of commands that just “eat” your memory… I have now 6 OS’s on my computer.. Black Edition, Ubuntu, Slackware, openSUSE, Windows Vista, and DSL
@ Black Edition
You helped create this Awesome XP Edition? TY TY TY! I just started using it yesterday and i love it!
@ all the others that complain about people pirating windows software…
you all can kiss my white A$$! .Biil Gates is a prick and i pray he goes bankrupt someday!.did you know there was a school house in a really small town in Russia that only had about 20-30 students and the teacher managed to get ahold of some computers really cheap that he didn’t know had pirated versions of Windows XP on them.Well Mr. A$$hole Gates finds out about it and makes the teacher get rid of ALL the computers that were helping his students learn with!,Instead of just letting the teacher keep the computers because they were helping the students.does that really sound like a guy you want to support?.i suggest everyone use pirated software or switch to a version of Linux =D .
…i say we all get pirate copies of xp.
sign up for msn, splice a power cord (120v),
splice a phone line about half way without cutting it,
connect the power cord where you spliced the phone line,
(don’t plug it in yet)
dial up to msn and when its connnected,
rip the phone line out the modem,
quickly connect that shit to the power cord,
and nuke their computers!!!!!!!!!
try at your own risk, I will not be held responsible, idiot! lol