Da_Taxman used our newssubmit to tell us:
Microsoft's adoring public in the unofficial beta distribution channel seems to be awarding null points to the latest escapee from Fort Redmond, WinXP build 2469. This might have something to do with 2469 being seriously harder to crack than previous efforts, but problems with DirectX seem to be turning them off as well. |
However few leaks there actually are, the next stage in the process is for the code to be passed around in ever-widening circles, and for the protection to be cracked - up until 2469, the latter took place in approximately 24-48 hours. But not this time around.
The importance of 2469 would therefore seem to us to be that it's the first build where Microsoft has given us some indication of how tough the protection in the shipping product will be. So this might be Product Activation, Release Candidate 1. According to Joolz of MSWinXP.net (which is currently running a Verdict on 2469 piece), the problem lies in something Microsoft's done to winlogon.exe. "The old crack was to replace that file with an older version. This no longer works. It blue screens during setup if you do that! Its winlogon.exe that handles the activation."
It's therefore taking the crackers longer to figure out how to get round this, and as 2469 is substantially less popular than 2465 (big negative is that the broken DirectX means you can't play movies full screen in Media Player), maybe they'll never bother.
Undoubtedly whatever protects WinXP when it ships will be cracked, but if protection systems get cracked beforehand, then surely Microsoft will be using tougher ones for the shipping code. So although the crackers aren't part of the beta, in a funny sort of way, they are, when it comes to protection.
This is a masive thorn in the side justnow as it is with any new software release. The final version of Windows XP is certainly looking to be pretty solid, and is going to be difficult to activate!
Come on, let's prove Microsoft wrong
Source: The Register
