Your copy of windows is not valid..

[Deeko]

In case you were wondering, pronounce the topic summary like the GI Joe clip.

So I tried to download Microsoft's anti spyware program today, only to find that my version of windows is apparently not valid.

Strange, considering I use the CD key my school gives us. Its available to any student or faculty member, I'd assume they have an unlimited license...

 

[Pepsi90919]

the first rule of usenet is

 

[Schadenfroh]

the first rule of bit-torrent is

 

[Deeko]

I don't get it.

 

[her209]

You copied it off one of the lab computers didn't you?

 

[Baked]

You don't happen to go to butt pirate school do you?

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: her209
You copied it off one of the lab computers didn't you?

hah, no. There is a server all students and professors have access to with software our tuition money pays for, things like Windows, Office, Visual Studio.....maybe the key leaked out onto the internet so Microsoft blocked it?

 

[imported_LoKe]

The authentication didn't work for me four months ago, now it does. Microsoft just...well, you know.

 

[KarenMarie]

i re installed win xp pro and got that error message. i had to call microsoft and explain that it was just me reinstalling. and they gave me a bypass code and not my cd key is fine again.

 

[EyeMWing]

There is no such thing as an "unlimited license" - and there is a list of very specific things you can do with a corporate license - and handing it out to "anyone who wants one" isn't one of those things. Now, if this is an MSDN Academic Alliance license, those are issued on a per-user basis, and if something's wrong with yours, you'll need to call Microsoft.

 

[Deeko]

Well, yea, I'm sure they have a specific number of licenses purchased, and its probably somewhere along the lines of 30,000. That's close enough for me to say "unlimited" and assume that I should be able to download microsoft anti-spyware.

 

[Steve]

BODY MASSAGE!

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Well, yea, I'm sure they have a specific number of licenses purchased, and its probably somewhere along the lines of 30,000. That's close enough for me to say "unlimited" and assume that I should be able to download microsoft anti-spyware.

You can purchase 30,000 VLK licenses, and that still doesn't give you the right to hand it out to people for use on their personal equipment. If they're doing that, they sure as hell didn't read the license. MSDN-AA licenses are different, and are between the student and Microsoft directly. Microsoft issues you a UNIQUE serial number (though the whole process is proxied through the school), and this is what they SHOULD, from a legal standpoint, be distributing.

 

[Goosemaster]

n/m

 

[Deeko]

I don't know what they're doing, but I'm sure whatever it is is legal. They run this school like a business. I'm sure the reason is not because they are doing something wrong.

 

[Shawn]

interesting...


I wish my school gave out free cd-keys!

 

[Dubb]

I think some (very large) universities do make their VLK license availible to the university population. the school I went to did, you could check it out from the library. eventually they started charging $8 for access to it - but they gave you the media to keep as well.

We got curious once, when we realized that you never had to activate the library version, no matter how many times you installed it. So we ran a keyviewer on one of the lab machines, and it gave us the same key as the version in the library.

 

[trmiv]

I had this same thing happen at work the other day. I was supporting a user using W2K and I tried to download the latest Microsoft Installer engine, and it required validation. It said the OS I was using wasn't valid. Weird, it was one of our compliant images, so I know it was licensed.