License Agreement Confusion Causes Misinformation over Windows 10 Overreach

btarunr · Aug 17, 2015

Over the last weekend there's been quite some misinformation doing the rounds, stating that a license agreement you agreed to before upgrading to Windows 10, allows Microsoft to remotely disable pirated software (eg: games, apps). This may have caused fence-sitters on the Windows 10 upgrade to decide to stay on older platforms, and for some to even revert to their older Windows 7 installations. It turns out, that the situation has been grossly misread.

Microsoft Services EULA is the one which states that Microsoft may "prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices," however, this is not the license that governs your Windows installation. It only pertains to "Microsoft Services" (Windows Store content, Xbox Live, live tiles, etc.) The license governing Windows is the MSLT (Microsoft Software License Terms), and so there won't be a case of Microsoft reaching out to disable pirated software from running on Windows.

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Sakurai · Aug 17, 2015

Don't mind me, just selling my popcorn over here

rak526 · Aug 17, 2015

It's as if some media sources make their titles as outlandish as possible to get more views. No. That can't be true.

Joss · Aug 17, 2015

The privacy concerns surrounding Win 10 are grave enough without false alarms.
This only allows Microsoft to say "see, it's mostly exaggeration, we're not really spying on you".

Easo · Aug 17, 2015

rak526 said:
It's as if some media sources make their titles as outlandish as possible to get more views. No. That can't be true.

But it works, just take a look at all those threads "Win10 steals everything from you!"

ShurikN · Aug 17, 2015

Easo said:
But it works, just take a look at all those threads "Win10 steals everything from you!"

As if older versions of Win didn't spy on you at all...
Also, haven't pirated a game for ~3 years. And I live in fucking Serbia...

AsRock · Aug 17, 2015

ShurikN said:
As if older versions of Win didn't spy on you at all...
Also, haven't pirated a game for ~3 years. And I live in fucking Serbia...

Make it sound like your on a 10 step program, so no cookies here.

micropage7 · Aug 17, 2015

yeah, M$ try to fix the interface and ruin the other, and this is what happen then

Kostner Rentsok · Aug 17, 2015

Would be nice to have M$ issue an official statement !

With all due respect for techpowerup

Till then, my win 8.1 stays

micropage7 · Aug 17, 2015

Kostner Rentsok said:
Would be nice to have M$ issue an official statement !

With all due respect for techpowerup

Till then, my win 8.1 stays

and many office still running XP, i keep my 7 for more

Octavean · Aug 17, 2015

Yeah I can see how this misinformation might have been a bit of a scare for people who misappropriate (AKA steal) their consumables.

For those of whom acquire their media through legitimate means not so much,....

Jack1n · Aug 17, 2015

Octavean said:
Yeah I can see how this misinformation might have been a bit of a scare for people who misappropriate (AKA steal) their consumables.

For those of whom acquire their media through legitimate means not so much,....

But then again Win10 can read your legitimate software as not legitimate because we all know MS engineers are far from perfect, also if you install mods or custom drivers it might disable them as well, its like saying we should all submit to random searches in our homes because we should have nothing to hide.

Darkleoco · Aug 17, 2015

Is there really any significant reason to upgrade to 10 if we are content on 7? Personally I'm just not sure the even slight hassle is worth my time.

harry90 · Aug 17, 2015

if only windows 7 had DX12 support i wouldn't bother going 10. But then again if they add DX12 to win7 with an update i would still rollback! 7 is solid with no spying!

MakeDeluxe · Aug 17, 2015

Darkleoco said:
Is there really any significant reason to upgrade to 10 if we are content on 7? Personally I'm just not sure the even slight hassle is worth my time.

No reason to change until DX12 games start coming, which could take a few years

Octavean · Aug 17, 2015

That is actually a good point point. Microsoft makes mistakes all the time so its designed intention can go wrong in theory and in practice. Such logic can easily be applied to any mechanism that prevents or revokes Windows Activation for example but we have been living with it for years upon years.

So I'll say again. As the story was misinterpreted I can see how those misappropriating media would have been concerned,...with specificity.

The clarification:

Update: Microsoft's Services EULA is different from the one governing Windows (Microsoft Software License Terms), which means that the amendments Microsoft added recently were to protect against counterfeiting of Xbox Live and Windows Store content, and not monitoring (or disabling) illicit content on Windows 10.

This seems more like an extension of Microsoft's concerns with respect to making sure Windows is genuine at least in terms of the agenda. I see nothing specific with respect to drivers here.

Having said that, one would think that third parties would want to get in on this as well if it proves to be an effective deterrent.

Overall I'm still not concerned though.

Ahhzz · Aug 17, 2015

Octavean said:
Yeah I can see how this misinformation might have been a bit of a scare for people who misappropriate (AKA steal) their consumables.

For those of whom acquire their media through legitimate means not so much,....

Anyone that's ever had to deal with problems with a hardware key knows that its not just the illegitimate software that can cause an issue....And M$ is not exactly known for giving the benefit of the doubt... "Shoot first, ...... "yeah, then I got nothing....

Octavean · Aug 17, 2015

Ahhzz said:
Anyone that's ever had to deal with problems with a hardware key knows that its not just the illegitimate software that can cause an issue....And M$ is not exactly known for giving the benefit of the doubt... "Shoot first, ...... "yeah, then I got nothing....

Do you mean software key or maybe license key,....?

Not sure what you mean otherwise.

Ahhzz · Aug 17, 2015

Octavean said:
Do you mean software key or maybe license key,....?

Not sure what you mean otherwise.

No, I mean a hardware key. A dongle. A USB key. (http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/44111/hardware-key)
I've had several clients need these for various software packages, and at least half of them have had issues with them at one point or another, and until I get someone from their support team online, and in some cases, a replacement key in hand, they're dead in the water. Using legitimate software.

DeathtoGnomes · Aug 17, 2015

Darkleoco said:
Is there really any significant reason to upgrade to 10 if we are content on 7? Personally I'm just not sure the even slight hassle is worth my time.

directx 12? people are reporting small framerate increases.

Octavean · Aug 17, 2015

Ahhzz said:
No, I mean a hardware key. A dongle. A USB key. (http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/44111/hardware-key)
I've had several clients need these for various software packages, and at least half of them have had issues with them at one point or another, and until I get someone from their support team online, and in some cases, a replacement key in hand, they're dead in the water. Using legitimate software.

So you are saying you ran into this hardware key issue specifically because of Windows 10,...?

fullinfusion · Aug 17, 2015

ShurikN said:
As if older versions of Win didn't spy on you at all...
Also, haven't pirated a game for ~3 years. And I live in fucking Serbia...

Lol I hear ya!!

So many ppl complain about W10 and how your privacy is gone, look at Google, face book yadda yadda, Sorry to say but your privacy was gone long before W10 came out. Google knows more about you then you know about yourself

Enjoy W10 and how smooth and fast it is. Gaming for me has shown a nice noticable improvement, I love to bench and yes its faster.. I however am still on the fence, but I have about 2 weeks to go back to 7 but ATM I love 10 and don't think I'll even look back..

Blue-Knight · Aug 18, 2015

btarunr said:
and so there won't be a case of Microsoft reaching out to disable pirated software from running on Windows.

It would be the end of Windows. LOL!

JunkBear · Aug 18, 2015

I cant believe how many people who were happy with Win7 that complained of Win8 are now bashing Win7 after upgrading to 10. Bunch of fuckin hipsters.

Ahhzz · Aug 18, 2015

JunkBear said:
I cant believe how many people who were happy with Win7 that complained of Win8 are now bashing Win7 after upgrading to 10. Bunch of fuckin hipsters.

Really? I'd not seen any of those. I've seen a lot of "Sticking with 7, not touching 10 for awhile/ever", but not any bashing 7/loving 10.

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License Agreement Confusion Causes Misinformation over Windows 10 Overreach

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