Windows Me instalation with out a valid product key

In ,
Fahid had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

And what am I doing ?
snip

I have no idea what you're doing I do know that you should wait a while
and get more opinions other than mine. If you give this method that you used
to other people and they use it they will be commiting a crime. They will be
stealing. That, my good sir, is what you need to think about more than
anything I could possibly say. Beyond that the choices you make are yours
and you're alone, you're the one who must live with them. I honestly don't
think that if you told people your method that you'd be doing anything
illegal BUT what I do know for a FACT is that anyone who followed your
method would be commiting an illegal act. I do hope that you understand
that. I can only tell you what I know and am only able to speculate on the
first part.

Galen
--
Signature changed for a moment of silence.
Rest well Alex and we'll see you on the other side.

Fahid
I have had a brief conversation with a contact - and the result is as
follows.

"Ironically, there are scenarios where his friends might be fined for
violating license agreements and then sue him for providing the
information to do so to help pay the fines. He needs to think through
the possibilities with someone who understands the potential scope of
this."

I suggest that you speak to a good lawyer before publishing anything
publicly!!

While ME is technically soon to be out of support, that does not mean that
MS will no longer defend its intellectual property.

WRT the response - In my experience, you will almost
certainly hear nothing more from them, unless they become aware that the
methodology is
a) viable
b) being used
and/or
c) publicly available

In the first case - you *may* get a 'thankyou' - or see something in the
press that relates. But since there's almost nothing that MS can do to
mitigate the assumed problem, it's unlikely that they'd admit to it, or post
a patch, since a patch can't be effective until the OS is installed,
and..... (chicken and eggs)

In the second case, you may get a call to find out who you told about the
vulnerability.

In the last case, you will almost certainly get a 'cease and desist' order
from your local MS subsidiary - and can expect further hassles either from
users of the method, or from MS, depending on the local laws and people
involved.

As I said before - see a GOOD lawyer before doing anything stupid!


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

In fond memory of one of life's Gentlemen - Alex Nichol
http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Fahid" wrote in message
...
And what am I doing ?
a few months before, (right after the discovery of that exploit) I posted
at
MS NEWS group about it. I wanted to share the mothod to MS, I wanted to
support MS. but some how, I didn't got any responce, alternatively some
one
said "I am not interested in windows 98 or Me, but I am very interested if
your method works for Windows XP".

and after reading that message, I thought, "MicroSoft may have stoped
working on windows 98 and Me, so they won't take it serious any more. they
don't care bout it at all."

but, main while, some of my friends who don't know the methodolgy, but
they
that I can do it.
they asked me to open this method in public forums.

and once again, I have came to MS NEWS group, so can ask "If MS won't mind
if I post the method in public forum."

I am still not doing anything illegal yet, and I don't want to do such
things.
How many time do I have to repeat that I am not a hacker/cracker/badguy or
something like that.

what you suppose me to do now, "let me post the method here, in an open
public place."
is that what you people want ?
won't that be illegal ?

I am seriously confused, why I posted ?
what am I doing now, and what should I do next ?
no one to guide me, I have not much understandings of Copyright like
things.



"Galen" wrote:

In ,
Noel Paton had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

As Mike said - what you're proposing is illegal.

It is a breach of your licence agreement with Microsoft.

I suggest that you post your methodology to and
see what response they make to it.

Alright... I'll ask... If he finds a method of bypassing the key function
and posts it in a public forum is this illegal? Or, alternatively, are
the
people who opt to use the method he gives (should it work) performing an
illegal activity. Microsoft is headquartered in America AFAIK. Here, with
some limits, we've a certain expectation to the rights of free speech and
have a whole set of rules based on this freedom.

My contest is that if he posts it then it's not illegal unless it's
through
some unchartered waters with DMCA. Beyond that it's no more illegal than
a
site which tells you how to convert a firearm into an automatic weapon.
These are legal here in America though I can't speak for the rest of the
world and certainly (How long have you known me now Noel?) not touting
this
under any political banner, it's more a matter of curiosity or debate for
me
at this point. I feel that if he's able to find a vulnerability in the
software AND has given due notice to the owner of said software there's
nothing illegal about posting his findings and his methods. I think that
an
analogy could be the full disclosure people who post exploits after a
given
amount of time. They haven't committed an illegal act nor violated any
EULA
in their actions from my understanding. However, the people who opt to
take
advantage of these exploits may very well be committing a crime.

On the other hand I'd argue that it's not socially acceptable behavior to
post this information in a public forum. The act that he mentioned isn't
illegal from what I'm able to read in the EULA and opposite that it's
certainly immoral. At least the OP had the ability to post here and ask
first. That's more important than anything else that I can think of.

Galen
--
Signature changed for a moment of silence.
Rest well Alex and we'll see you on the other side.