At 6:53 am -0400 8/24/04, dhbailey wrote:
Dennis W. Manasco wrote:
[snip]Look at other companies that have switched to Copy Protection Servers: Intuit deprecates older versions as regularly as clockwork; look at what Microsoft is doing to every version of Windows prior to (its Copy Protection Server "enhanced") XP.
What is Microsoft doing? They may not be supporting earlier versions anymore, but I haven't heard of anybody's computer refusing to install them. Is Microsoft doing that? How?
Microsoft has turned Windows into a de facto subscription service: All versions prior to XP are being deprecated. None will be supported after 3/31/05. Installation of XP, or following releases, will be required to receive essential security, functionality and stability updates.
(If you have an older XP-incapable computer you'll be SOL if you have to reinstall a previous OS version from the original disk(s) -- you will no longer be able to access the updates necessary to create an OS that is even marginally patched, stable or hardened.)
XP installation requires server authentication. Current plans require server authentication for all following revisions (Longhorn, Shorthorn, Bighorn, Whateverhorn).
The planned end-of-life for XP is 12/31/06.
Do you think that the Microsoft Copy Protection Server will allow you to authenticate an installation of XP on 7/7/07, much less patch it to the ultimate sub-version that existed before XP's annihilation?
This Copy Protection Server idiocy is a trend that scares the hell out of me: I have ten-year-old software that I rely on, not because I'm too cheap to buy new versions (the companies are out of business) or switch to competitors, but because I have found no alternatives to those programs that provide the exact functionality I require.
And it's a move by Coda that profoundly angers me: I would dearly love to send them money to purchase the latest version but, as David Fenton said (while making a reference to subscription models in general),
I'd never risk my data to that. And I don't see how anyone ever could.
-=-Dennis
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