(no subject)

So I'm reading http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/Stories.aspx?displaylang=en -

It all brings new meaning to "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt". Let's look at some of the comments from people who've "gone genuine":

I discovered I had a non-genuine copy of Windows when I called the support center with some issues I was having
...
I was also frustrated because the program was for a computer my son had built at his school, and he was experiencing some software conflicts with other programs he had loaded. These were most likely the result of the counterfeit software, because there were no problems once we loaded the genuine software on the system
...


Here's the thing.. 99% of pirated copies of XP will be copies of the real installer discs! The only possible issues your systems has because the software is pirated is because windows update hasn't applied patches. If you reinstall and apply patches, of course it's going to fix itself! Pirated copies aren't any more bug ridden than legitimate ones. I for one have not heard of any pirate releases of XP that contain backdoors or additional bugs (although, it is certainly possible).

Hmm that does bring up a cute idea - someone planting on p2p a patched installer ISO which automatically installs spyware after installing windows. It's fairly easy to make new install cds.. heh