5 ms·

This looks like a lot of effort for pirated software, unless I'm missing something.

andai 4y ago
From the FAQ: Q: What is the product key? A: One is not provided so the project stays legal. https://xpdelta.weebly.com/about.html https://xpdelta.weebly.com/about.html
- 8organicbits 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure that's not how copyright works. Besides there's a product key on the download page.
  - rektide 4y ago
    Your original claim was, > This looks like a lot of effort for pirated software, unless I'm missing something. This is false. Whatever law may protect Microsoft from people being awesome & investing enormous effort improving their products for them- and I'm sure there are plenty such laws- this claim of piracy seems false. I do not see any product keys on the download page. These folks have no interest in helping piracy.
    - 8organicbits 4y ago
      No comment on the rest, I think we simply disagree on terminology, but the product key is visible when you click the download link.
      - vore 4y ago
        The product key is a user-submitted comment on archive.org, I don't think you can hold the project owners accountable for this one.
    - gunhfgujh 4y ago
      Eh it’s clearly a violation not to mention the trademark violations everywhere. it wouldn’t take much to go through the image to find unlicensed msft programs and likeness. Sometimes hn confuses how things ought to be reasoning from first principals with how they actually are.
      - rektide 4y ago
        > clearly a violation It's awesome to me that no one can clearly state what this is a violation of, but we all tend to agree, yes, a rag-tag group of product-loving enthusiasts absolutely have no right to go poke around & make things awesome & cool & to improve the product. That's absolutely not ok. We agree. But we also don't even know why or how we got here & why that is. It's still not piracy.
        CyberRabbi 4y ago
        There’s a difference between “what ought to be” and “what is.” I get that you think this project is cool and the authors are doing admirable work. I don’t necessarily disagree there but the reality is this is not legally defensible. It is a violation of copyright to redistribute software without the copyright owner’s permission. That is the definition of software piracy. Whether or not Microsoft pursues legal action is a separate matter.
        TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
        Would that stop you from downloading and using it?
        CyberRabbi 4y ago
        Yes actually.
  - PapaPalpatine 4y ago
    Did you even go to the website? I’m not seeing a product key anywhere.
    - kosasbest 4y ago
      There is one here: https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-delta-edition https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-delta-edition You may have clicked the 'Extras Pack' link where there is no serial.
      - mynameisvlad 4y ago
        You understand what user comments are, right? I mean, you're making one of your own right now. So you'd understand how HN, for instance, has little responsibility with what you post in your comment. I can't claim that "Hackernews posted [your comment]". That extends to Archive.org and the owners of this project.
      - PapaPalpatine 4y ago
        I replied to a comment saying "Besides there's a product key on the download page." That's not true: there is no product key listed on the download page. It sounds like there is a link somewhere on the page that goes to another site that hosts the product key.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - stordoff 4y ago
    As far as I can tell, there's only one listed by a reviewer on the archive.org page, not by the original uploader
  - Beltalowda 4y ago
    Someone left a review on archive.org with a product key. Can't hold the XPDelta people accountable for that. I could post it here too, and accuse YCombinator of encourage piracy. Other than that, Microsoft has always been fairly relaxed about copying CDs/ISOs (not sure what the license says about it). It's the product key that matters.
  - justsomehnguy 4y ago
    What if I have a legally bought copy of WinXP and therefore have a"working" product key? What if I installed a copy of WinXP from my CD with my bought key and it doesn't activate because WGA servers are long offline? Same, but I use any WGA activation hacks? Same, but instead of MS copy I used "Delta Edition" distrib? And by the way, "working" in quotes because even if you have the key - the product key itself doesn't mean nothing except the way to allow installation process to succeed. It even doesn't guarantee what it would accuse you of pirating the said software (see WGA).
- nonamenoslogan 4y ago
  Fun fact: The 'smartphone' version of MS Activation still works with XP keys. I put XP on an old ThinkPad a few months back to play some early-2000's games and was able to activate it this way.
frostedflakes 4y ago
You might've missed the following: That not everyone cares about all that legal intellectual property stuff, and, that it was probably fun to make.
- rektide 4y ago
  In a better world, companies would support & embrace this kind of creative exploration. It's just a sad chilling legal regime that rules us. Control is prioritized over fun, for fear that the fun get out of hand or come to not reflect well on the corporate image.
  - CyberRabbi 4y ago
    - rektide 4y ago
      What is Microsoft being defended from here, by these laws which prohibit this? This isn't a pirated work. This isn't distributing keys: they explicitly say you need to get your own key. I'm honestly not sure your claims are at all valid, that the laws you are describing are the ones protecting against awesome works like this. If they are, then what a shame that those laws would be so overbroad, would threaten & wreck such innocent & virtuous remix-culture, would deny the world any of their agency & enforce top down corporate control.
      - CyberRabbi 4y ago
        > This isn't a pirated work. Distributing software without the permission of the author is the definition of software piracy. This is literally software piracy. The laws that prevent what you consider awesome work like this also prevent people from stealing your work. If we didn’t have these laws, we couldn’t have a software economy. It would be nearly impossible to make a living as a software engineer. The people who created these laws had the prudence to judge that the ability for programmers to securely make a living for their work is more important than the ability for programmers to take someone else’s work and do whatever they want with it.
xmonkee 4y ago
Why are there so many narcs on HN
- rejectfinite 4y ago
  Its devs who hate piracy now that they wanna charge for their software but grew up doing it so they feel guilty.

From the FAQ: Q: What is the product key? A: One is not provided so the project stays legal. https://xpdelta.weebly.com/about.html https://xpdelta.weebly.com/about.html

8organicbits 4y ago
I'm pretty sure that's not how copyright works. Besides there's a product key on the download page.
- rektide 4y ago
  Your original claim was, > This looks like a lot of effort for pirated software, unless I'm missing something. This is false. Whatever law may protect Microsoft from people being awesome & investing enormous effort improving their products for them- and I'm sure there are plenty such laws- this claim of piracy seems false. I do not see any product keys on the download page. These folks have no interest in helping piracy.
  - 8organicbits 4y ago
    No comment on the rest, I think we simply disagree on terminology, but the product key is visible when you click the download link.
    - vore 4y ago
      The product key is a user-submitted comment on archive.org, I don't think you can hold the project owners accountable for this one.
  - gunhfgujh 4y ago
    Eh it’s clearly a violation not to mention the trademark violations everywhere. it wouldn’t take much to go through the image to find unlicensed msft programs and likeness. Sometimes hn confuses how things ought to be reasoning from first principals with how they actually are.
    - rektide 4y ago
      > clearly a violation It's awesome to me that no one can clearly state what this is a violation of, but we all tend to agree, yes, a rag-tag group of product-loving enthusiasts absolutely have no right to go poke around & make things awesome & cool & to improve the product. That's absolutely not ok. We agree. But we also don't even know why or how we got here & why that is. It's still not piracy.
      - CyberRabbi 4y ago
        There’s a difference between “what ought to be” and “what is.” I get that you think this project is cool and the authors are doing admirable work. I don’t necessarily disagree there but the reality is this is not legally defensible. It is a violation of copyright to redistribute software without the copyright owner’s permission. That is the definition of software piracy. Whether or not Microsoft pursues legal action is a separate matter.
        TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
        Would that stop you from downloading and using it?
        CyberRabbi 4y ago
        Yes actually.
- PapaPalpatine 4y ago
  Did you even go to the website? I’m not seeing a product key anywhere.
  - kosasbest 4y ago
    There is one here: https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-delta-edition https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-delta-edition You may have clicked the 'Extras Pack' link where there is no serial.
    - mynameisvlad 4y ago
      You understand what user comments are, right? I mean, you're making one of your own right now. So you'd understand how HN, for instance, has little responsibility with what you post in your comment. I can't claim that "Hackernews posted [your comment]". That extends to Archive.org and the owners of this project.
    - PapaPalpatine 4y ago
      I replied to a comment saying "Besides there's a product key on the download page." That's not true: there is no product key listed on the download page. It sounds like there is a link somewhere on the page that goes to another site that hosts the product key.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- stordoff 4y ago
  As far as I can tell, there's only one listed by a reviewer on the archive.org page, not by the original uploader
- Beltalowda 4y ago
  Someone left a review on archive.org with a product key. Can't hold the XPDelta people accountable for that. I could post it here too, and accuse YCombinator of encourage piracy. Other than that, Microsoft has always been fairly relaxed about copying CDs/ISOs (not sure what the license says about it). It's the product key that matters.
- justsomehnguy 4y ago
  What if I have a legally bought copy of WinXP and therefore have a"working" product key? What if I installed a copy of WinXP from my CD with my bought key and it doesn't activate because WGA servers are long offline? Same, but I use any WGA activation hacks? Same, but instead of MS copy I used "Delta Edition" distrib? And by the way, "working" in quotes because even if you have the key - the product key itself doesn't mean nothing except the way to allow installation process to succeed. It even doesn't guarantee what it would accuse you of pirating the said software (see WGA).
nonamenoslogan 4y ago
Fun fact: The 'smartphone' version of MS Activation still works with XP keys. I put XP on an old ThinkPad a few months back to play some early-2000's games and was able to activate it this way.

frostedflakes 4y ago

You might've missed the following: That not everyone cares about all that legal intellectual property stuff, and, that it was probably fun to make.

rektide 4y ago
In a better world, companies would support & embrace this kind of creative exploration. It's just a sad chilling legal regime that rules us. Control is prioritized over fun, for fear that the fun get out of hand or come to not reflect well on the corporate image.
- CyberRabbi 4y ago
  - rektide 4y ago
    What is Microsoft being defended from here, by these laws which prohibit this? This isn't a pirated work. This isn't distributing keys: they explicitly say you need to get your own key. I'm honestly not sure your claims are at all valid, that the laws you are describing are the ones protecting against awesome works like this. If they are, then what a shame that those laws would be so overbroad, would threaten & wreck such innocent & virtuous remix-culture, would deny the world any of their agency & enforce top down corporate control.
    - CyberRabbi 4y ago
      > This isn't a pirated work. Distributing software without the permission of the author is the definition of software piracy. This is literally software piracy. The laws that prevent what you consider awesome work like this also prevent people from stealing your work. If we didn’t have these laws, we couldn’t have a software economy. It would be nearly impossible to make a living as a software engineer. The people who created these laws had the prudence to judge that the ability for programmers to securely make a living for their work is more important than the ability for programmers to take someone else’s work and do whatever they want with it.

xmonkee 4y ago

Why are there so many narcs on HN

rejectfinite 4y ago
Its devs who hate piracy now that they wanna charge for their software but grew up doing it so they feel guilty.