Hacking, Cacking, and My Dictatorial Powerhead
Okay. So, here goes.
I locked the Windows Genuine Advantage post by Adam.
There are many reasons I could have done it. But they would be all wrong. I’m not about censoring free speech. I’m not advocating a stance where we take the crap any massive monopoly business tries to feed us, and I’m not taking a prissy stance. At least, I don’t think I am.
The real reason is .. I’m scared for my baby.
Typing windows genuine advantage verification into Google nets this.
And that scares me. Why?
Because Dev Dawn is not about hacking and cracking. It’s about Development .. YES, contrary somewhat to the blurb, Information, Conduits Of, Interfaces To. I admit there is some hypocrisy there, possibly. Heh heh.
As the search shows, there are plenty of places to go looking for the answers. That’s fine. I’m not worried about those sites, and that’s the power of the net, you can find just about anything. But Dev Dawn isn’t going to go down that track. Maybe I’ll create another site that’s about the freedom of information in the development world. That’s not a bad idea.
So yeah. Dev Dawn isn’t going to enter into the argument. One way or another. At least, that’s what I’d like to see it. And yes, I’ve only thought through this since noticing the amount of hits that post was getting. Which is bad on my part.
I realise that doing this sets up precendent, which is a dangerous thing. Precendent for future issues. However, I’m willing to cop that at this point in time. Precendent can also maintain other benficial aspects.
So, to all who disagree. Excellent! Comment away. But remember, it’s not about judging the act of hacking .. it’s about protecting Dev Dawn. Which to some might be the same thing. But I don’t see it that way.
Cheers,
Edit:Yes, it’s “Cacking”, as in crazy laughter, or something like that :).
PPK (Pyjama Programming King) dost decree thou cowardly knave!
Comment by Adam — March 9, 2006 @ 4:46 pm
I humbly beg your forgiveness o liege my liege. Your Pyjama wisdom is to great for my pitiful brain.
However, my pet dragon, TRUTHSAYER, will probably have something to say about your name calling.
Comment by Stu — March 9, 2006 @ 4:49 pm
I have been a Windows Developer since 386 days. I’ve always paid for Windows upgrades when the became available and have continued to do so. However, the Gestapo tactics of Microsoft is beginning to irritate the hell out of me. They assume everyone is guilty of stealing their crap.
Time was they used to let you buy one Windows license (or any of their other products, as far as that goes) and install it on all of your computers. The caveat was that you could only be using it on one computer at a time. This was great as a developer. I could have it installed on 5 or 6 different machines, with different configurations and could test it across all my platforms to see if it worked. Now, they want you to have a seperate license for every processor in your single workstation - what a bunch of jerks.
I recently had to replace the hard drive in my laptop, which had a valid license of XP Pro on it. It took a freaking act of Congress to get the Redmond Nazis to fix it so I could reinstall the software on same machine it was originally installed. They call it innovative and protective of the entire industry, as a whole. I call it ill-thought out, restrictive, oppressive, and plain dumb.
My two cents worth…
Comment by Steve — March 10, 2006 @ 1:14 am
Yeah, it’s crazy. Surely, with all the dollars, they could come up with some better methodology for easing the customer’s use.
Comment by Stu — March 10, 2006 @ 2:43 am