Microsoft Can Control you.

[3400-95-Modified]

LOL, I think this is hilarious. I just got this in my TechNet news letter.

Windows 7 Release Candidate Expires June 1, 2010 - Shutdowns Begin March 1
If you are still running the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC), beginning March 1, 2010, your PC will start to shut down every two hours in preparation for Windows 7 RC expiration on June 1, 2010. To avoid interruption, you will need to reinstall an earlier version of Windows, or the final, released-to-manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows 7.

I think that's funny they can push out an update to make the software auto shutdown.

Anyone out there on W7 RC still?

[robertisaar]

this was well known once the RC went public...

i think it was actually a good idea for MS, considering they were letting you use a new OS for quite some time with no kind of payment. it at least lets everyone try it out to see if it's worth dropping the money (or bandwith ) on it.

[3400-95-Modified]

I must have missed the shutdown notice on the RC release. Then again I never used the RC... I waited for the RTM version to come out and since I have a TechNet sub I was able to download that for free technically (my company pays for my subscription)

I still think its funny... every 2hrs your PC will shut down.

[bszopi]

Yeah, I remember seeing it in the RC info when I downloaded it last year. Wonder if setting the computer date differently would overcome it? I still have the RC loaded on a computer I don't use, so I might have to try it.

[3400-95-Modified]

Probably depends on if you have it connected to the net or not with all the time/date synchronization stuff... Set it for March 5th 2010 and see if it begins shutting down, or if it corrects the date and time.

[IsaacHayes]

Yeah to remind you to back up your stuff as windows will stop working soon, we are shutting it down every 2 hrs. Hope you can back up in that time! LOL

I don't think it's pushed via updates but probably hardcoded...

It could be a combo of both, in case you have your date set back.. Also it could be smart that if it sees you moved the date back from what it was, it keeps count of days past after that. Example if you had 4 days left, moved the date back, it has a record of the last "real" date, sees it's now in the past and keeps a counter, after 96 hours boom... When I installed it I almost thought about going into the BIOS, changing the date way back, then installing it without an internet connection to see how long it would go.. It might be coded though to see if the date on the PC was set to a date before the RC was released, and if it is, change the date then start a timer...

I'm sure there's a hack out there.

I had it loaded on a PC but then loaded RTM 64bit when it was released to us. I still haven't used it more than a few hours... LOL.. I need to setup a 2nd machine and use that as a back up and for exchange account configurations so I might put it to more use soon.

[pocket-rocket]

I used a free 180 day trial of XP-Pro x64 for about 5 months setting the date back They probably are smart enough to have it check the MS servers for the real date if you are connected to the internet. I bet it would work if you left your pc offline all the time.


all your OS are belong to us...

[DefEddie]

Our DVD-rom's factory service manual discs we get sent every couple months at Ford have a time expiration on them.
I just set back the date on my computer for a few minutes if I need to use them for any reason.
I'm betting microsoft thought of that though.

[3400-95-Modified]

I had it loaded on a PC but then loaded RTM 64bit when it was released to us. I still haven't used it more than a few hours... LOL.. I need to setup a 2nd machine and use that as a back up and for exchange account configurations so I might put it to more use soon.

I've been using RTM 64bit since I moved into the house... its not like vista, you can actually install it and install programs and trust it to continue working and make it your default OS... Hell I even ran it on my laptop for a period of time before I moved to test it, granted all the visual stuff was shut off since the card in that sucks, but it still ran very well.

[IsaacHayes]

Well the state hasn't moved from XP yet, so I have to have XP on my machine as a lot of the stuff we use (legacy crap) won't work on vista/7. Hell we have a server 03 print server for our old printers around here. I hate the visual stuff. I want to use a PC not look at pretty crap. If I want that I'll watch a movie.. :P

[pocket-rocket]

From my stand point, I can see why they haven't moved to Vista. I only know of a small handful of people that haven't had problems with it and XP has almost been as rock solid as 2000. I'm still on XP right now, myself. Not because I can't afford Vista, but because I don't want it. On a side note, my old A+ teacher said that he thought that 7 was what MS wanted Vista to be and part of the reason Vista is such a resource hog is because they tried to cram too much "wow" into the core of it. From what I was told, there is tons of cool stuff that Vista can do that no one uses, so it sits there eating up memory.

[lolwut]

I've been running the 7 RC since day one, and still am. Neither of my computers are worth putting my copy of 7 Ultimate on them, and I won't be getting one anytime soon, either.
If push comes to shove I'll throw Vista Home Premium back on here, it runs that about as well as it'll run anything else.

[Schmieder]

Ever get the feeling Microsoft is hanging a carrot of a fishing pole and we all are the donkey?

There is A LOT of nefarious crap in Windows.

I still run WinXP64 but I also have Ubuntu installed as well. I would run just Linux but there is always that one program I need and only windows can run it.

I almost had HP Tuner running in Ubuntu through Wine, PITA that was. But it still couldn't read the PCM right.

In Windows, we have to cut out the software crap we don't need. In Linux, we have to install the software we need as we go along. And Linux is FREE FREE FREE. Too bad it doesn't have the software support Windows has.

[3400-95-Modified]

Linux will never take off because of the attention that is needed.

I have people here that don't even know where the printers folder is in XP... You'll never see them on Linux.

That's the thing... they gear windows toward the idiots and home users so its simple and fancy looking... and that just aggravates us that want the system to just work and do what we tell it to do... I don't care about the pretty animation for moving files. I will say though, I like windows 7 for moving files MUCH better... You can actually skip, over a file that's in use, and skip for all... rather than just getting an error in xp and having to start over and find the file in use.

That's the problem with just about everything... They make it easier and easier and people just get stupider. I guess that's good for me though, because I'll at least always have a job.

And Issac You don't have to tell me about being behind on software. You think Server 03 for your print servers is old... I was buying a secondary CPU and voltage controller for a Dell 1400SC so I could install Server 03 over 2000 and use ISA 2006 instead of ISA 2000... We are also 4 releases behind on our manufacturing software which would require a 2 week shutdown to upgrade, and since they've decided to wait that long they now have to start a new database in the new software if they want to make it a somewhat seamless upgrade. Thats if they ever get off their ass and give me a measly 10k to buy a damn server. And trust me with what they are spending in other departments at a blink of an eye... me asking for 10k is nothing... especially since it would be RUNNING THE COMPANY... But every time I ask they look at me cross eyed like I'm asking for half a mill or something. friken idiots.

[robertisaar]

i consider myself fairly proficient when it comes to stuff like this, and i played with ubuntu over the last year... gnome was easy to play with, but looked like shit in general. KDE looked MUCH better, but i was lost when it came to finding/editing some rather important things.