.:Computer Defense:.

Ryan R…. Actually you are wrong… As it is generally called freedom of speech….. hehehe…. XP Black Rocks….even in Africa….

i like how people are trying to stick it to bill gates. i mean the man is worth something like 40 billion dollars, and your sticking it to him by downloading his software… i’m sure hes about 39.9 billion dollars past the point of actually caring. the funny part is, i bet half of you are on a computer you bought that came preloaded with his software… thats not really free with the computer, he still gets a percentage.

Judging by all these comments people are conserned about piracy, as I am too! However, I am downloading BLACK EDITION right now to test it!
I’m currently using XP ESSENTIAL EDITION version 2 – which I think is the best intergrated version of Windows to date (looks like Vista, but has the reliability of XP.)

What I plan to do is install XP BLACK (without the added bullshit software that I’ll never use!) Then install my own anti-virus software (Norton 360), after a complete scan to make sure its secure….turn off remote assistance then attempt to connect to the internet-If people are scared of using pirated software-DON’T ENTER PERSONAL INFO ONLINE!!!

All in all piracy is a criminal offence, but so i charging an arm and a leg for any type of software that you can get for free on the net! (GOD BLESS .TORRENT FILES!!!!!!)

Peace & Love.

@Tyler Reguly. If you keep this up you might be able to apply for one of Bush’s elite positions. Do you leave your house door open at nights for anyone who feels like looking in?

Amen to that Ryan.

MS P

Piracy. Yes, I pirate stuff. You could say that my machines are test beds, and I just LOVE to download all sorts of things, and see how they work. But, the idea of Bill, RIAA, or the MPIAA collecting data from my PC through a pirated copy of Windows just scares me death. NOT.

I’m not even in the rank of competent hackers, and I can ensure that Windows doesn’t “phone home”. Yes, I’ll download the Black XP and test drive it. I MIGHT even install it on one of my machines as a permanent thing. Of course, since I have two legitimate Windows XP licenses which aren’ t being used, I think that is perfectly legal anyway.

But, really, IMHO, MS and other software distributors really SHOULD start tracking piracy, and having Windows phone the police when piracy is detected. Yes, I think they should. It would prompt more people to look for alternative operating systems. That would be a very good thing. At present, I’m on Suse Linux 10.2 64 bit. What are the chances of someone installing a trojan on my box, I wonder?

Somewhere between extremely slim, and none.

For some good reading on piracy philosophy, check this out:
http://www.baen.com/library/

Jim Baen and company saw past the piracy hype long ago. They have found that they MAKE MORE MONEY when they GIVE AWAY their stuff. Imagine that…… fair use policies at work!!

That botnet / malware statement is not backed up with any proof…

F.U.D Fear Uncertainty and Doubt…

But then again i don’t use it and actually buy the software i use.

well, im not saying that pirating is right , but i have a few pirated programs myself. i have xp black installed on one of my spare machines and it works great, its got nice features to it. I would not put it on a machine that i use daily or have internet connections on. I like it but i am conscious of the malware. I mean im still check the whole program out.

its a great alternative to vista ill tell you that

The man reason for software piracy, is cause the programs people want to use are over priced. If you could go out and buy Photoshop CS3 Extended for $99 there would be no reason to pirate it. Face it, you drop anywhere from 1K to 15K in a computer, the last thing you want to do is go and spend another 1K buying software that makes this new rig usable.

If you would wake up and stop supporting companies that keep inflating prices on parts/software/games then you will see less piracy and more consumers buying.

Till then the Torrent is mightier than the Dollar.

Does anyone know why I am bugged after installation with PSAPI.DLL errors,

in general they pop up on everything I do and try to install (ADOBE CS3) for instance.

I ran a search for psapi and found one occasion in the shelf folder. I removed this one. I am sure the only psapi.dll is in the systems32 folder. However after reboot, nothing changed. Then I replaced the psapi.dll by a version I found on the net. Still nothing changed,

Anyone has an idea on why this is the case? (an specially how to solve it?)

I have a better idea, How about we smash your skull in with a nice steel jacketed boot to the head??
It’s assholes such as yourself that encourage class warfare. Let the poor people use computers too you elitist cunt.

PIRACY IS NOT A CRIME YOU SAD BASTARDS, I TELL YOU IF SOMEONE GOVERNMENT BASTARD EVER PUT MALWARE IN MY DOWNLOADED PROGRAMS I WOULD JUST HAVE TO BLOW UP A NICE BIG BUILDING IN RETURN

OH AND BTW NOT ONLY IS IT STUPID TO DO IT IT IS ALSO ILLEGAL MORON!

HAVE A GREAT DAY FUCKOS

The black edition is awsome. Altho any kid with a computer and nlite can make his own black edition. I have my own black edition. I made it with my legitamet (spelled wrong) copy of XP. It has all my drivers, themes, codecs, benchmarker, test software and upto the lastest patch. It is way easier to install and less time consuming. It is kind of lame you suscpect everyone who pirates to be untrustworthy. If you know anything about pirates there are standards that the actual pirates abide by. Of course not everyone does obey these rules. And further more why not try it out, install run some antivirus and spyware programs and see for yourself? Then after words delete it. And you suggestion breaks privacy laws. I want to be pirvate I don’t want people sneaking around and snooping on me. Then sending my data to a corp for processing. Dan is right if you cant afford tuff luck do without it. Don’t give me BS well it is to expensive it should cost less. Yeah well people should stop killing and the poor should get a job.

@Fubar

“Don’t give me BS well it is to expensive it should cost less. Yeah well people should stop killing and the poor should get a job.”

If only it was that easy.
And I don’t think murderous peoples are that heavily related to piracy.
The rich people seem to get the riches, with minimal effort.
Whilst the “poor”, slave away and still struggle to support themselves financially.
There seems to be a huge dividing line between “rich” and “poor”.
And if your rich you’ve got it made, as have your kids, and kids kids.
If your poor.. well you get the idea.

Personally, I think pirating should have no real effect on most of these huge corporations. The only time pirating really becomes too large of an issue, as least as far as I have noticed, is when somebody, say, brings a bootlegged version of Photoshop CS to their school, and loads it on a bunch of computers. This had recently happened at my school, and the system had to pay a massive fine, somewhere around $500,000. Does pirating hurt the corporations? Obviously not if when they catch someone they make back what it costs, and many times over. What we’re talking about here isn’t a debate of rich and poor, or XP Black or legit. What the real issue here really is, is why piracy is becoming such a massive topic of discussion. What people seem to have a hard time understanding, is that whether I go home, or a couple hundred people go home, and start downloading, oh say, BF2142, EA is still making a killing off the game. If someone gets caught, I know they’re going to end up paying a whole load more than simply $50 for the game.

Another thing I have an issue with, is these people who claim they are dev’s for these “XP Black Edition” teams. I have been involved with a few posts about this already, and the only real comment I have to make, is if I were one of these dev’s I would be somewhat laying low, not hoping on a somewhat insecure site (no offense webmaster) and posting OMGZZZ!!!!11!111 I WROTEZZ TEH SCRIpTZ for THIS! I’m almost positive that this black edition thing is legit, and not legit at the same time. As in, some programs may be clean, and some malware.

At this time I’m searching for a way to download this on my spare laptop, quite the hunk of junk, running a Celeron M 2.0, 1gb DDR Ram, 80GB HDD, and disconnecting it from my network, and disabling my wireless router. If something does try to leak out, I’ll let you guys know, but as far as I’m concerned, if you’re the kind of person who needs to download a FREE OS, with a load of pirated wares on, obviously system security isn’t your largest concern.

Reminds me of a quote I heard once from my old step-dad, pretty funny point too. “Whoever dies with the most software… wins.”

I’m a student and I’m using pirated software because I can’t afford to buy any of them off the shelf. I do a little programming and most of the time, I think, if there some people be my beta testers, it would be cool. I don’t have to pay them to learn how many bugs I have in my programs. So, Microsoft…… How many times I have been asked to report to them about which bugs is crashing my legal Windows Vista Home Premiums. If the os didn’t come with the laptop which I need to use to stay on top of my class, I probably didn’t get to use it or rather say didn’t want to use it.

Also, there is a question. Why people who have money want to pay to be testers on any version of Windows operating system?

Fuck you!
The age of controlable data is over… Nothing can and will stop piracy… so keep dreaming…

OK so as for the rest of these post……

I* make a megar wage in a failing industry (IT). Why is it failing? Because some over zealous assholes that already have more than enough wish to have more… and mo9re…. and more…. and more….. you get the picture.
I work my ass off and yet it still takes at least a weeks worth of pay to buy one application. specialy microsoft products. Take Office for example…. I’ve searched 2007 to no end and it seems they added at most ONE tool and changed the GUI. yet……….. if you want the suite its gonna set your a** back two weeks pay. So I say, screw bill the tight a** b*st*rd. Go dowload black right fuggin now. Maybe Billy Boy will get the hint and make the next OS smaller more efficiant more secure and about 300 dollars cheeper so the world can afford it. Whats a man with BILLIONS need more money for anyway? Crack Habit? Dunno but he’s tryna crack the rest of us.
As for the built in software……….. yeah go pay for that. Most of it is economicly viable, third party moms and pops type apps. Im all for the little guy even if he gets rich as long as him and his CORPERATE LAWYER DADDY arnt greedy nazi scum. _nIm ( >

hello to all ! i myself being a “poor man” am for the poor man.
i run a small pc shop and all that come for my help are aware that i pirate and hack software,(namely microsoft a/k/a = microsh*t) which i belive is why so many come to me!
i mean really guy’s, would you pay $200.00+doller’s for something that always needs “patch’s?? thats like buy’ng a $1.500.00 car that you know you will have to put $3.000.00 into each and every year !! (no wounder mr.bill is so rich, we all should have thought up this scam)
all my “pirate’d” windows os’s are hacked to beat hell! LMAO!
any one that can understand” sit down , put the cd in , reboot, press a key to boot for cd, delete partition,create partition,press enter, then come back later”. can install a windows xp os that can run on a pc with 120mg cpu and 32 mg ram! (though , with windows , the more ram the faster it runs)and pass’s ALL the windows bullsh*t “test” to install internet explorer,media player 11, etc!
all this for my charge of $25.00 !
As for vesta,what a joke!” hey, lets take xp, fill it with some “eye candy” so it takes a big pc to run, and call ity a new OS !, all the computer companys will love us for making something that needs more to run the same crap !”
though i am “forced” to use windows a lot, all MY pc’s are linux/unix boxs,
in my eye’s , window’s 98se has been the only halfway stable microsoft has ever put out. i can put all the “eyecandy” on it, why can’t those that made it ??????

in conclusion im useing the Windows Xp Black edition for 2 reasons i love the effects that it brings, as well as the low ram it takes. I have ran muti scans on it and found nothing. I also have Windows Xp Pro Keys why dont i use those? because my system cannot handle regular Windows. lol yea, so i have a crappy pc that looks like Vista.

-Quit arguing about something so dumb

there will always be someone out there who is clever enough to outsmart the system and make sure his data isn’t sent back to the vendor, or have it send back some sort of incorrect data or even worse, send back a malicious piece of code to the vendor, which would in turn cost them a lot of money to fix and block.

sadly piracy will continue to grow regardless of the cost.

yo install vista inspirate 2 ultimate, on fresh black … feel vista on black just name it as Windows Vxi

i downloaded a torrent of “Windows Black XP 4.0 Milestone Edition.” i burned it to DVD and performed a NAV scan. this is what was found:

The file D:\\$OEM$\\$Docs\\All Users\\Desktop\\Keys\\megaping.4.8-patch.exe is infected with the Infostealer.Gampass virus.

The file D:\\Install\\megaping\\megaping.4.8-patch.exe is infected with the Infostealer.Gampass virus.

i went back to the original ISO and opened it up in PowerISO, deleted those files/folders, then resaved the ISO and reburned it onto a DVD. after a second scan, NAV came back with a clean report.

i have to add . . . . that Windows Black XP is quite remarkable. i swear i thought this really was vista. it runs very stable, very fast (unlike vista). wow . . . . very nice job.

First off, IT IS ILLEGAL TO INSTALL ANYTHING ON A COMPUTER’S HARD DRIVE WITHOUT INFORMING THE END USER VIA the EULA (End User Licence Agreement)

Second, it is illegal to install software on a user’s computer that invades that person’s right to privacy. This ties in with the above statement. The biggest way this would be successful is that hardly anyone ever reads the EULA for the software they install.

So in short, it WOULD be legal, as long as they told people they were doing it, and what the software would do or information it would send back to the company. The person would have to agree to all of this before installing the software.

Sony had this problem when they used Rootkit software on their retail music CDs with interactive content. These Rootkits are basically information thieves that hide themselves from the operating system as to be made undetectable by this operating system’s file browser (AKA Windows API) and/or anti-virus protection. They usually send information back to the author of the malware. In Sony’s case, there was a “phone home” function, which reported usage statistics, according to Sony. In contradiction, someone had determined that PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION was also sent, including the user’s IP address and other private information.

Basically it is illegal. No one in their right mind would agree to being spied upon 24/7 just to make sure they’re using legal software. Microsoft however has gotten around this by installing spyware by the name of Windows Genuine Advantage Notification Tool. Basically, it pops up every so often, telling you your version of Windows is pirated, and offers you the chance to obtain a legitimate licence for the software. It also interferes with the normal functionality of the software, but this is not illegal, since it is their own software they are interefering with. The biggest reason this should be illegal, is because of Automatic Updates (AU). AU automatically downloads and installs updates, without the end user’s permission or knowledge, by default. You can turn them off, or change how they operate, like instead of installing automatically, it just lets you know that updates are available to install. The problem is, YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER WHAT IS DOWNLOADED AND INSTALLED. Also, this Genuine Advantage crap is set up in the Critical Updates section, so its installed automatically, as opposed to an optional download. Microsoft claims that this critical update fixes “security issues” with your installation. There are no security flaws on a PC that does not have this software installed on it, as opposed to a PC that does. In fact, the opposite is true, since the Notification Tool uses the internet connection to call home with the end user’s Product Key to find out if it is genuine or not. That is a security flaw.

I’m downloading this “Black Edition” and will check it out on a test PC.
Here is a VERY appropriate quote, directed at the morons who think it would be a good idea for a company to install malware in purposely placed pirate copies of their software:

“Those who desire to give up Freedom in order to gain Security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” – Thomas Jefferson

For the other morons who continuously waste peoples’ time by posting drivel all over the internet, here is a quote for you, if you can even read it…:

“The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish.” – Robert Jackson

Peace out, fellow End Users.

I would also like to state that Vista is the worst operating system Microsoft has crapped out, EVER. It’s a resource hog (Minimum requirement of 1 Gigabyte of RAM….) and it’s an invasion of people’s privacy and antithesis to Fair Usage Rights with the full-scale implementation of Digital Rights Management (DRM). To read more about DRM, go here:

http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/10/31/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights-management-gone-too-far.aspx

It tells the story of the person who discovered all about Sony, and some info about DRM. It is pretty technical in delivery, so be patient.
For your information, Microsoft bought out the company Mark Russinovich co-owned, Sysinternals aka Winternals. Mark was kept on at Microsoft for his expertise with malware.

This whole vista thing, it urks me to no end. So I have found myself seeing what “the other side” has to offer. So I checked out some linux distros, and I like some and and some are just hard. Yes it may not be as user friendly but it works. And all the software that comes with it, the only software that I would purchase would be games and such. But oh well.

Down with the Window, and up with the Penguin….:)

I love being a pirateer. Ive downloaded black xp 4.0 dvd final and freakin love it and will continue to use and tell others that there is a easier softer way!

KING LOVE or NO LOVE

ok well u guys my be against it. bt i am related to one of the guys who helped program the dvd as it was my family member and a friend of his called gamerman who created it.
gamerman was the one who edited the xp program. and overall improved it.
i am currently running xp black on my computer and there are no problems or anything of the sort.
so trust me
the black xp OS is most definatly safe. and possably the best thing i have done to my computer.
as it has the best bits from vista and apple imac added onto windows xp.
i understand why you are aprehensive but i promise you
its safe

If there were no hackers, there would be no Web 2.0. Piracy is illegal but it has created IT a living organism which would not be the case otherwise. Many say that Bill Gates stole the idea for a graphical operating system and the mouse from Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, who stole the idea from Xerox. Well… Wonder if there would be Web 2.0 if there was no napster, kaaza, torrent, you tube (who stole the video content by the way). Here comes the end of Proprietary Software and evolution of underground WEBWARE.

#EDITED ,SORRY#

WIN WIN said,

November 20, 2007 at 8:18 am

PIRACY!!
doesn’t only affect software
IT development is not only affected by expensive software
but also by hardware prices,then why we don’t steal hardware and make the world better!!!!)
the problem that
it also affects Music, Movies,Games,
using the same piracy infrastructure
& i think any kind humane creativity should be copyrighted but without smothering the IT culture
basic softwares (operating systems,security apps,browsers,codecs,and so on) should be more available for most of people to avoid IT gap
people who uses a pirated software can’t afford its price and don’t get any financial benefits from it
so they just use it for learning & increasing their creativity space
until they can’t invest using it
Microsoft,Adobe have also gained benefits from piracy by smoothly export their apps to the fresh young generations and keeping them the standard& protecting them from their competitors

IT’S A WIN WIN

Ok well its not really piracy if you share a movie with your cousin isnt that considered piracy then. I think not all the peaple on forums like warez forums thats nothing.

All they do is share with freinds they dont pirate the software. Call t more of a time extender for peaple to try the software longer before bying it.

Either way the peaple that get shared (not Pirated) software on the internet start cramming it all on there hard drives and then have to reformat over and over the HDD so the point is

Its not Piracy this version of Xp was Ok. I used the CD version it was cool I just took it off and went to Leopard Xp then I bought leopard for my mac cus I liked it. Also Vista I had a copied version of vista yeah so what.

The thing is I used it and I loved the theme. But then I realized I had 1 gig of ram after having 2 gigs so then I said I am taking this off and going back to Xp.

See how things work out when you share software try before you buy is the same thing just easier to understand.

Sharing is Caring and if your a religiouse person you would understand if you are not thats cool see how peaple care for anything and pricks like companies that are ant Piracy are fags cus they dont understand what they are doing.

Rules are made to be broken and they will continue to be broken as long as they are keept inform and ules are enforced more

Thanks for reading.

death1246

Piracy issues are extensive. One aspect of piracy few every think of (and I dare say virtually every computer owner is guilty of) is freeware misuse, and non-payment on shareware. I know thousands of people who utilize shareware, and never pay for it — installing, uninstalling, installing, uninstalling, etc., etc. ad infinitum.

However, I have seen another aspect of piracy among many of these individuals too. Many people who have pirated software use it for a short time, and decide they want to upgrade (or are forced to), and to do so, they must either pirate a newer version, or buy the newer version — the latter seems to be more common. Additionally, there is th the virus, malware, spyware, etc. issues that often lead others to legitimizing their software. (an example; a friend of mine using a famous p2p file sharing utility, downloaded an anti-virus suite, in its early stages of development — multiple times to find a copy that wasn’t riddled with spyware, and malware. After hundreds of issues, he finally went to a local retail store, and purchased the anti-virus suite (in the hundreds of dollars) and has never been happier.)

Now to the issue of vendors and companies monitoring people and their computer use. Firstly, this form of hacking/phishing is just as illegal (perhaps more so) as the piracy that you suggest would be thwarted. Another issue to address here is that people are people, and pirates are these same people — what could ever make anyone think that these vendors and companies are not people (just as the prates) too?

Justice Louis Brandeis of the Supreme Court of the United States made an interesting dissenting opinion many years ago, that indicates that contempt for the law breeds contempt for the law. As well as that to allow the government (or anyone else for that matter) to violate the law, or not be subject to the law, breeds this contempt. The case was the turning point in allowing the government to wiretap phones, and gather information — during this case, the government tapped phones without warrants, or any real reason and evidence — now a warrant and probable cause is required.

By your reasoning — If I were to pirate a program, and add malware, and spyware to it, and distribute it (free or for profit) that will give me your personal information (email addresses, SSN, IP Address, MAC Address, etc.) then this would be alright. Alternatively, if I were to simply create a program (as opposed to pirating one) and did the same thing (gather your personal information) that too would be alright.

Piracy is wrong, and illegal, but its an extensive and intricate issue: Copying/backing up /ripping your own DVDs and CDs; Photocopying a book, or scanning your own copy of a book to read on your computer; Photocopying or scanning a professional photograph (perhaps to alter and “photoshop” for family and friends); even handwriting your favorite quote from a book or greeting card to share with others — actually violates federal and international copyright laws (ergo, it’s piracy), but I doubt that you consider this wrong, or illegal.

Before addressing an issue such as this in some arrogant “I don’t do anything wrong” attitude, consider how many .mp3, .wma, .acc, .ogg, .flac, .avi, .mpg, .wmv, .jpg, .bmp. .gif, .wpg etc. files you have on your computer — would you want to do 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40 years in federal prison for these files on your computer. That IS what you are proposing.

I am not for or against piracy as a whole — because piracy is an extensive issue. It’s like saying theft is theft, whether it’s stealing for favorite candy bar from the local convenient store, someones wallet, their car, their TV and stereo, or their life — all differing levels, but the same thing.

Thanks for the opportunity to sound off on this issue.

LBGreywolf

Piracy does hurt the software companies, even Bill(ionaire) Gates. Have you ever tried to program anything? Especially something as complex as Excel, or even an internet browser? Have you ever thought through the actual time taken during stages of development?

Take Microsoft for Example, and we’ll envision just one piece of software. Let’s make it simple, Microsoft Word should be easy. Lets imagine that good ‘ol Billy has assigned 20 people to develop Microsoft Word. Each one of these programmers is paid just for kicks….$15 an hour. Assuming a 40 hour workweek: Here’s some estimated numbers.

Stage 1, Brainstorming, They figure out what they want the product to do, what features it should have, what the target hardware is.
Time: 2 weeks
Cost: $ 24,000

Stage 2, Building a team for each feature, deciding what features are going to be coded by who, and the deadline for each section of code
Time: 1 Week
Cost: $ 12,000

Stage 3, Coding different features.
Time: 3 Months
Cost: $144,000

Stage 4, Putting it together,
Time: 1 Month
Cost: $48,000

Stage 5, Cleaning up code(they have dedicated programmers to write programs just for this purpose, but their pay will not be counted here) and beta testing, Bug Squashing
Time: 6 Months(conservatively)
Cost: $288,000

Stage 6, Marketing, packaging, and more bug squishing
Time: 2 Months
Cost: $96,000

Stage 7, Release,

So in just over the course of a year, 41,600 Man hours later,
$612,000 in salary of just the 20 core coders later(at a very low rate of pay), and not counting packaging, media, Production fees, Marketing, Quality Assurance, or any of the other associated fees, it would take almost 2500 registered copies of the software(assuming a $250 price tag, not counting retailer markup) to just break even on it, just on the coding side.

So not counting everyone else, infrastructure, or materials, it looks like they should be rolling in the dough, but it’s not that easy. You say “What about the government, and schools, and all those people who stay way ahead of the game?” They get discounts, HEAVY discounts, sometimes to the tune of as little as $10 per licensed copy.

So where does their money have to come from? Consumers like you and I, just for them to pay the bills. You want cheaper software? Don’t steal it!

OK Enough
I got into XP Black, it is NOT an O/S, it is a nothing more than a very well thought out skin with a lot features and options.
As for the KeyGen that you thought was a trojan, no, but that is what you wanted to see.
What amazes me is that you talk of all these horrable pirates, yet if you GOOGLE this you would find that lots of links and a home page for this software, even an addy where the head of the development lives! That does not sound like a pirate to me.
Sometimes I think the real pirates are the ones who package a nice piece of software, say it is complete, you pay big bucks for it, then, to use some of the features, you have to buy addional licenses! I thought I bought a complete package?!?! Try returning the package and getting your money back.
If people thought they were getting their money’s worth on these products, priacy would not be an issue.

I’m so eager to download this version of windows xp black edition

(Before I start please excuse any spelling mistakes I might make) I stumbled upon this site after doing soem research for my friend on this “Windows XP Black Edition.” I agree with what most of you say on Micros*** charging too much for their OS’s. I used Windows up till last year when I got a Mac. I have to say that I love it. But since I enjoy playing PC games and boot camp just isnt working out for me I need to buy a new PC. Right now the only PC i have is an old DELL. I have also been expierimenting (spelled wrong) with Linux. I like it alot but it all goes back to PC games and programs. There are just more of them. The only things i actually like (not suing because I have too) are Microsoft Office which is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. And the Xbox 360 which I own. Besides comapanys charging too much for their programs, name brand companys charge way to much for their computers. You can buy the parts for an amazing computer from a place like http://www.newegg.com and put it together yourself for around 600 bucks or you can get an eqivelant computer from a place like DELL or Alienware and get charged over 1,500 dollars (USD). Im going with newegg. Also back to overcharging for OS’s Apple made ONE version that included EVERYTHING and it cost less than what Micros*** charged for their crappiest version. I love the joke Steve Jobs made when he showed all the “versions” of his software and they were all the same price then he said we just decided to sell one version that inclued everything for what??? THE SAME PRICE. Sorry im jumping around but going back to when I was talking about name brand computers, they even limit their own hardware so you can’t upgrade it yourself and you need to buya new one. For example on my DELL we payed good money for it over 1,500 at the time and yet they offer no way to upgrade it. The mobo (motherboard) is attached to friggin case, the give you the oldest PCI slots so you can’t upgrade the graphics and then on top of all that you can’t even upgrade the fan…. I know probally no one will read this post since this discussion is over but Im glad to vent some of this out. If you want to rag on me thats fine but these are my opinions. For a last word SCREW MICROS***!

Something to consider in life is the mere basic concept in the Yin Yang. Where there is light, there is darkness. Where there is compassion, there is hate. When there is giver, there is a man who sits in his high beanstalk with pride and a lot of money…. This concept has carried on ever since the beginning allowing us humans to develop, destroy, build nations, destroy nations, and has created many of the f*ck*d up morales of many governments, nations, etc etc.
Would I download Windows XP Black Edition? No.
Why? Because in yearns of curiousity, there is yet also will power to say no.
However I do support open source and agree that piracy will never end, just because and due to yin yang. We have as people, as humans have f*ck*d up too much with pride and money, as a whole we have done digged our own grave. The more a government lets a coporation build up with pride, the more chance it will fall. The more a nation builds up with pride, the more chance it will fall.
This is where i believe in communism to an extent, the idea that in Communism, the difference between yin and yang are less. In america, with capatilism, hate, money and pride – the difference is soo big we got a growing problem on the streets, theft will keep increasing, and there is NOTHING that will stop this.
All DCMA, governments, and cyber-theft control are protecting their own ass and they aren’t able to see the whole picture. Very few will. If you are apart of open source and accept piracy, you are for the storm that is brewing faster and faster each day. If you walk the light, and only the light – well maybe then you are blessed far more than I am, because I am not perfect.
No one is.

I just ran across this post because I saw XP Black mentioned somewhere and was curious to what it was. I used to work for a software manufacturer and piracy is built into the equation. Most of all software companies plan for a certain percentage of software piracy and then they mark up the prices to make up the difference. We know what is going on. It is no big secret and we have all done the same thing. You are not sticking it to Bill Gates by pirating his software. You are not sticking it to Bill Gates by moving to a Mac. You might not even be sticking it to Bill Gates if you order a PC from a company. They have to install Windows (usually by a legal agreement) which you pay. They know how to make money. You are also helping them as well. Pirating Windows helps promote the operating system and especially helps them if you write a cool tool that will only run on Windows.

However, yes, when you pirate something, you are taking away from people that develop the software, the folks who invested the money in the first place, and Bill. Many of which do not have as much to lose than Bill Gates. These people are planning on you purchasing the software so they could buy something that is life’s little pleasure. These include food, electricity, and maybe some cable TV, or Internet access. Investors could be people retirement accounts which invest in Microsoft stock to ensure that people do not have to work until they drop dead one day.

Microsoft is capable of doing some morally questionable things in its past as well. Maybe how it came across the GUI. Maybe when it employs H1-B folks instead of programmers from its native country (Trust me when I say it is not from a lack of good programmers).

In then end, it still is no excuse for people to pirate software. If you are intent on sticking it to Bill. Build a Linux box and do not look back. There are a great number of packages that will allow you to do everything that you are doing now. It is open so if you need something that does not exist. Write the code to get it done. If you are a student, I highly recommend using Linux software anyway. Most of the companies that are going to pay the best use open products and not Windows for anything but a stripped down version with the company’s applications installed.

If you say that you need application X, Y, and Z. Show the company that you can get the job done with an alternate package at a cheaper price. Most management does not care how you get somewhere, but the fact that you can get it done below cost and on time.

I’m now downloading the Black Edition. Just to see it looks and works. It looks like a bloated package, yet seems to be reliable. But, I have to check it. When we speak about these pirated copies… yes there are certain problems (Bugs?) that we come across at times. Once I downloaded a pirated version of XP and installed it looked very pleasing but certain hardwares did not seem to work correctly. I don’t know why.
Looking at the cost of these softwares, I would never mind spending time to fix those problems instead of buying the software itself. They are so expensive that nobody in the Third World would be able to afford to spend such a big money with which he/she can buy a few computers.

Yes it’s an ethical issue. But what’s the solution? If only the people in the West could afford such big money,,, What about those in the Third World? I’m from India and I’ve never seen anyone buying legitimate copy Windows or any other software, yet these are the pepple who have really mastered using these softwares.

I’m not an advicate of piracy. but what else to do? Yes it’s an ethical issue but here 90% (literally) of the people don’t even know that they are using pirated or illegal softwares. Piracy really helped these people come to know about computers for these years. Had the prices been affordable I bet most of the people, if not everyone, would have owned the license.

I acknowledge PC said about the expenses the software companies have to meet. But tel me what these people can do. It costs to buyu XP somewhere between Indian Rupees 3000 to 7000 ($80 – 170) which is not a joke. Vista is even expensive.

I don’t know if I’m supporting piracy, though I don’t wnat, piracy is what practical here unless the prices are brought down. These things may hurt others, though my intent is not that.

I followed with great interest all the comments pro and con. I will admit I have been using xp black 4.0 for a month or so and find much about it I really like. I agree thusly, with the comments about the creativity and imagination, & passion, should be recruited by M$ – obviously they don’t pay enough (sarcasm) for their staff to be this passionate. I found it very fast compared to xp pro sp2. I am at present dl’g Last XP to check it out.I am an inveterate tinkerer also – and always curious about new s/ware. I agree with Raver, I too have spent too much money for Norton, First Aid, McAfee, Roxio, and others’ s/ware that either didn’t work, was way too slow and bloated, didn’t do as advertised, and there were other alternatives for much less money or free, that did a better job.I tho, was stuck with sh*t I had wiped my pc to remove all traces, but couldn’t return. Would anyone buy an appliance that didn’t work as advertised, was faulty, or defective, and could not return for a refund? Big software companies are monopolies who, produce buggy product, buy up any small company / competitor that does anything better than their apps, just in order to maintain their control over the market. I am old enough to remember Peter Norton’s apps, before he sold it to Symantec – they were excellent quality appz – I cannot say the same since Symantec took over. That’s just one example.I once emailed M$ & Gates (about a dozen yr ago) to suggest that like pocket calculators (which were 500$ Canadian when they first came out – but now can be bought for 5 bux,& things like VCRs – Betamax when it first went on sale here in Canada was 2K$ – and you could only record 1 hr.The first movie I bought for my then wife, “The Happiest Millionaire” was 130 bux Can., but 2 yr later was 12.98$. Now, how many do you think they sold at 130 as opposed to how many they sold @ 13?
Bill and the gang never even ack’d my email – and obviously ignored the point.

Another interesting point to XP Black:

BluezDawg54 indicates that XP Black is no more than a well thought out skin. In the most basic sense this is true.

Windows XP was designed to allow network administrators (and others who like to tweak with their software and hardware) to customize and automate installation for multiple installs (usually with multicomputer license on a network). Windows XP professional (the one I own, I don’t know about XP Home), on the installation disk, has instructions and files to customize and automate your install. Additionally, there are dozens of free and share ware programs available to increase this functionality beyond the standard (or modified) installation. Microsucks own packaging development tools are an example to be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3E90DC91-AC56-4665-949B-BEDA3080E0F6&displaylang=en

Windows XP Black is indeed a well thought out semi-unattended installation package. There is nothing illegal about this, in fact see this url for Microsucks own guided tour of how to create an install exactly like Windows XP Black:

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/

With, of course, one exception: The CD-Key Code.

However, any mild tech and net (that’s internet, not .NET) savvy individual, could easily find the one file containing the instruction script for the XP install (WINNT.SIF) and edit the file (it is only a .txt file with a different extension) to include your own Windows XP CD-Key Code. Re-burn the DVD and voila you have a LEGITIMATE copy of windows XP with the “Black” skin and mods.

In theory (that is the “letter-of-the-law”) you cannot legally do this without violating copyright laws. However, Microsucks provides a walkthrough of exactly ho to do this, so they have provided their own work around for the copyright laws. It’s like copying your DVDs and CDs to back them up to protect your investment — theoretically it’s illegal, but software companies provide you the means (legally) to work around copy protections with their software and codecs.

Piracy itself is not really the issue here anyway. The issue is still allowing software companies to infect (because that is what it really is) your computer with malware, spyware, adware, etc., and gather personal information. To allow even the most basic intrusion of this nature would allow abuse, and uncontrolled abuse, that would spread like wildfire, or trojans and viruses. There are examples in history of this very phenomena (both good and bad): AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND I AM NOT A RACIST, CHAUVINIST, BIGOT, ETC., THESE EXAMPLES ARE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE:

Women asked for the right to vote — now they can work anywhere a man can without exception, get paid the same, and do less work;

Blacks wanted to go to school with whites, and ride at the front of the bus — now they have organizations that if whites were to have something similar it would be racist, and they own the bus companies;

Murderers were put to death for their crimes — now there are twenty years of mandatory appeals and psychological testing to waste taxpayer money;

Pedophiles used to have to download, produce, and/or distribute child pornography for it to be considered a crime — now even accidentally viewing (no download) can send a person to federal prison for 5 or more years;

Homosexuality used to be against the law (in fact in some states it still is) — now gays can enter the military and even marry in some states;

Witches used to hung, tarred and feathered, or burned at the stake — now witchcraft is the fastest growing religion in the united states and the UK (in fact the LDS and Jehovah’s Witnesses could have been included in these as they are not traditional [i.e., Catholic, Church of England] Christianity);

Entrapment used to be simple (if an officer showed, offered, named price, etc. it was entrapment) — now law enforcement sends officers out to pretend to be drug dealers, hookers, and peddlers of child porn (or to impersonate a child) and entice people into committing crimes.

The list could go on, and as I said these are not bigotries, racism, chauvinism, etc. Just lack of space examples of how inserting things into the works go overboard, or at the least spread like wildfires, and can lead to abuse of the power/privilege.

Signing off for now,

LBGreywolf

well it’s been close to 3 months since i last posted to this blog about Black XP, and i can say that i am still very impressed with this Black version. it’s rock-solid.

it doesn’t have the 3d aero flipping, but you can download a program called WinFlip, and it does the same exact thing with very very minimal system resource usage.

so again, bravo . . . i’m very impressed with this version of windows. . . . screw Vista.

return. Would anyone buy an appliance that didn’t work as advertised, was faulty, or defective, and could not return for a refund? Big software companies are monopolies who, produce buggy product, buy up any small company / competitor that does anything better than their apps,

Would you buy a car or truck without test driving? Then have I got a lemon for you! Every bit of software I have I legally own. But I first downloaded each one, and test drove them. If you go to the companies you can sometimes download a trial copy with limited features. What good is that? If you buy it and install it, forget about getting you’re moneys back. Once that plastic wrap is taken off, there’s no more warinty. Been there, done that. Even with a purchased cd of linux red hat. And I will continue to test drive any and all software before I buy it. It cost me $800. to be burn’t, and it will never happen agan.

As for what you wan’t software company’s to do. You would be a good candidate to work for home land security. Being a Viet Nam vet. I have issuses with being monited. I belive in my civil right’s of illegal search and seasure. Don’t care if it’s spelt right. But lets see if you have an issue with it. Dirty Boom. Key word used by Home land security. Now you are being monited

I have tested and tried a PLETHORA of modified operating systems, including Black, LastXP, LastV, ETHO releases, TinyXP, SpeedyVista, etc., etc., etc., and never came across any infection or illicit network activity or anything of that nature.

You will sometimes get ‘false positives’ when you virus scan cracked softwares (such as included in these modded OS’s) because the (usually crappy) virus software sees how a file or patch may modify a software, but really it is just a patch or crack. Using Kaspersky or some good software like that I have never had a false positive that I can remember, nor a true positive for that matter. If you become a member of a forum that distributes these modded OS’s, you will see that some of them have a rather large userbase and as such a lot of feedback from people installing and using these mods.

When Microsoft came out with that monstrosity called Vista, I felt a lot more violated than I ever had using the virtual plethora of modded OS’s that I have installed so far. And not any more “safe”. As for stability, some of these mods are put together better than the original XPs, with many, many tweaks and updates and improvements, though, of course, the core remains pretty much the same. I would say Windows generally is a very good product, and much easier and productive to work with for 99% of the people than, say, Linux ever was or is.

I really don’t see how pirating could ever be prevented. Think about it. The stuff you do from the comfort of your own home, you will feel some kind of ownership associated with it. If you could only have access to the net at some cafe and use softwares there you would never do it. As if it is not a supreme privilege of all those software companies to come into the privacy of your own home already through adds on the internet and through pre-installed software, etc. On a level so abstract and so close to mere thought as software is, and enjoying these from the comfort of your home (which is TEMPLE), I don’t see how it could ever be prevented or not spread.

Would you buy a car that had parts missing, functions that didn’t work, and was totally misrepresented by the manufacturer? No you would not. So why pay for broke microsoft software when Linux is free, more stable, way more secure, more robust, and it works as advertised. Microsoft sells broke software plain and simple, why do you think they have such a great reporting system for errors. So they can fix problems with service packs. When you download a pirated version most of the problems have been fixed, it actually works for more than a month, and generally they are NOT sending out your personal info without your knowledge. Think XP was bad about it, vista is horrible about phoning home and reporting things such as surfing habits, software installed, and computer usage. So who is really invading our privacy.

In response to “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…” Malware/Spyware??? You mean like Microsoft did with Windows Vista?!?! bet some of ya didn’t know that one huh;)

I completely disagree. And so should anyone who cares about their privacy and their rights. Piracy is illegal. That doesnt mean you can invade peoples houses and sell their private, personal information to anyone! I hope the closest software pirate clubs you for even thinking of that!