When License Keys Cost More Than You Ever Imagined:

[sime]

This is an absolute doosey!

http://www.nccomp.com/sysadmin/dell.html

I guess the moral of the story is "Don't piss off your Sys Admin"!

The solution to the problem is simple ...

Format C:\
Open CD Drive
Insert Linux / BSD Disk 1
Reboot
Set BIOS to allow boot off CDROM (If required)
Install Linux

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Sime

[ September 01, 2003: Message edited by: sime ]

[jasonlane]

That will teach them to use M$ dnd DELL, a very bad combination

[Calum]

quote:microsoft blah blah microsoft blah blah
microsoft this
blah blah blah
microsoft that
blah blah
dell blah blah blah blah
microsoft microsoft microsoft
blah blah blah

sadly this will not teach them to stop using microsoft now will it?
i hope they continue to have problems like this if they continue to use microsoft software.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to have this problem or ANY serial activation key problem with linux, freeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, GNU/Hurd, FreeDOS, etc etc etc. All those systems are more stable, and out of all available FREE systems, you can now find one which will function as a drop in replacement for a windows system, no matter what that windows system is supposed to be doing in your office or university setup.

edit:
 

quote: In the meantime, North County Computers is suggesting that our clients purchase systems from OEMs that do not place license key stickers on the sides of their systems, or to buy systems capable of running the Linux operating system.

i take it back. maybe they will learn their lesson yet. hopefully this will continue to happen, with microsoft actively promoting linux like this, it's only a matter of time...

[ September 01, 2003: Message edited by: Calum ]

[Zombie9920]

That is when they should've hired a script kiddie to fix the problem. The script kiddie would've used a keygen that generates valid keys for XP OEM, then boom...the problem would've been fixed. I garantee that script kiddie would've only costed them like $100 at the most. What I don't understand is, why did they decide to go buy new systems because of this? They could've bought a single copy of XP Corp and a Volume License for like $1,000 and installed it on every computer they have. That would be a hell of alot cheaper than buying new computers. Or they could've just bought a copy of Windows XP Pro for each computer in question....which would still be cheaper than buying a whole new computer to replace each problem computer.

That is what you get when you take somebodies job away from him/her. They screwed him out of his income so he screwed them out of a chunk of thier profits. It is nice to see an employee bite a business in the ass because that business screwed him out of his living. I bet that the owner and manager of that company isn't fighting to keep food in thier families belly. I bet they aren't struggling to keep thier bills paid. I bet he didn't do his job wrong, so he didn't deserve to be fired(trying to make more profits for the company is not a good excuse to fire a good worker). I hate greedy companies who will cut costs at the expense of thier employees' lives. MS is a greedy company but you don't see them taking peoples' jobs for no reason to earn more profits. The only time a MS employee gets fired is if he does his job wrong.

I think they deserved what happened to them.

[ September 01, 2003: Message edited by: Zombie9920 ]

[Windows_SuX_@$$]

I hope windows go bankrupt

[Calum]

well, zombie's post was filled with rubbish. sorry.

how do you know how well the guy did his job?
how is some illegal keygen going to help them when the redmond thugs are coming for an audit?
why should this be possible even if the ex system admin did or did not do a bad job etc?

this simply separates those of us who work legally from those of us who are happy with such idiotic nonsense as pissing around with keygens and so on.

[ September 01, 2003: Message edited by: Calum ]

[Zombie9920]

quote:Originally posted by Calum:
well, zombie's post was filled with rubbish. sorry.

how do you know how well the guy did his job?
how is some illegal keygen going to help them when the redmond thugs are coming for an audit?
why should this be possible even if the ex system admin did or did not do a bad job etc?

this simply separates those of us who work legally from those of us who are happy with such idiotic nonsense as pissing around with keygens and so on.

[ September 01, 2003: Message edited by: Calum ]

You see, they aren't the ones who would be pissing around with keygens. It would've been the script kiddie who did it. If they got busted for having pirated copies of XP(and they wouldn't, the worst that would happen is thier keys may get blacklisted and they would be locked out if they re-installed the OS again like right)now they could claim that they didn't know what the kid they hired to get the systems running did. They should keep a copy of when the kid was hired, when he clocked in+clocked out and a reference in thier records for what they hired the kid to do(fix the computers like the admin they fired would've normally done)for proof that he did the work, not them.

They legally owned thier copies of XP so they have the right to use the copies. It is simple, if you can't use your legal copy of XP because of a blacklisted product key and you get the run-around from both your OEM and the maker of the OS you get another(working) key by any means nessicary or you pay out the ass to buy copies of what you already legally own. Now I think that purchasing copies of stuff you already legally own just to use it is idiotic nonsense.

How do you know the guy wasn't doing his job properly? From the way it looked in the boo-hoo article they cut him to cut costs and nothing more. If this is the case, did he really deserve to lose his job? You see, people work for a reason.....to survive. If you show up to your job everyday and you do what you are supposed to do when you are supposed to do it there is no excuse to be fired. I don't give a rats ass how much money they are trying to save. Chances are they aren't hurting, they are already making profits...they are just greedy and want more profits.  If this is the case(and the way it sounds from the article it is) they deserve what he did to them.

Now if this guy deserved to lose his job then it would be a different story. Then I think that he is definatley in the wrong for what he did and they should find a way to sue him to pay for the costs required to get everything back in-line.

They are retarded for purchasing whole new computers just to get a working copy of XP on each of the systems though. They should purchase a Volume License copy of XP(Corporate Edition) and pay for the cost of the VLK(Volume License Key) so they can legally install that same copy of XP on every one of thier systems whenever they need to with that 1 key. With the Volume License version of XP there is no product activation either so they would never have to worry about this happening to them again.

The reason you are bitching is because you know as well as I know that there are ways of dealing with this that don't involve "switching to Linux" and you know they probably didn't have a real reason to can the admin in question.     :rolleyes:    

I know that if I got canned from my job for no reason I would be pissed and if I knew of a way of getting revenge on the company I would've done the exact same thing that the admin did(maybe not the exact same thing...but it would be based on the same principle of fucking the corporation who fucked me).

Score one for the overlooked employees!      

[ September 01, 2003: Message edited by: Zombie9920 ]

[mobrien_12]

quote:Originally posted by Zombie9920:

You see, they aren't the ones who would be pissing around with keygens. It would've been the script kiddie who did it. If they got busted for having pirated copies of XP(and they wouldn't, the worst that would happen is thier keys may get blacklisted and they would be locked out if they re-installed the OS again like right)now they could claim that they didn't know what the kid they hired to get the systems running did.

They should keep a copy of when the kid was hired, when he clocked in+clocked out and a reference in thier records for what they hired the kid to do(fix the computers like the admin they fired would've normally done)for proof that he did the work, not them.

To quote the movie "half baked."

Dude, you done smoked yourself retarded.

[ciaran]

eh do you think maybe you guys are gone slightly off the point???

i think that the reason the article was posted wasn't to discuss the sysadmin or the use of product key generators, but to point out how easy it is for Microsoft to fuck you in the ass because of their EULA...

just a thought...

oh and as a rule of thumb never piss off your sysadmin, i did once, still have the scars...!!!