Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

torrentfreak.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 192 posts

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#51

Post by [deleted] »

p_l wrote: post #39
choeger wrote: post #5

Interesting case. If Microsoft really demands that a user does not disable features, I am looking forward to some taking this to court. The thing is, software licenses are still largely uncharted territory. If I am not allowed to modify the system as my hardware executes it, will Microsoft take liability for any damage, material or immaterieal that could be caused by it? Think of an upgrade bricking your device (happ…

The case is that the tool included a full copy of Windows, modified, and apparently with activation removed. So it got hit like any other site providing "cracked" windows.

[deleted]

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#52

Post by chenzhekl »

FactolSarin wrote: post #49

How does something like this get to the front page? Someone provides a cracked copy of Windows and calls it "Ninjitsu OS" and then cries foul when it's taken down because of course it was. Is there that much of an anti-Microsoft sentiment that people upvote something like this uncritically?

I bet lots of people who upvoted the post didn't even read the main text.

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#53

Post by dancemethis »

It is a DMCA violation to remove what Microsoft calls "Windows features" from its proprietary operating system.

It tells a lot about what DMCA and Windows are. It tells even more about whose side they are on: the common people or the enterprise.

I can only hope the answer is easy enough to figure out, but I'll leave a tip just in case: not on the side of people.

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#54

Post by toyg »

FactolSarin wrote: post #49

How does something like this get to the front page? Someone provides a cracked copy of Windows and calls it "Ninjitsu OS" and then cries foul when it's taken down because of course it was. Is there that much of an anti-Microsoft sentiment that people upvote something like this uncritically?

People often read only the headline.

HN is the new newspaper, but still a newspaper.

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#56

Post by [deleted] »

nickjj wrote: post #36
lmilcin wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft did change. But then it looked how Apple and Google did the same thing, successfully, and sailed away in terms of market share and now it wants to replicate the success. The thing is, I don't think it is going to succeed. The likely thing that is already happening is that power users are leaving Windows and once power users leave the platform will die.

> The likely thing that is already happening is that power users are leaving Windows and once power users leave the platform will die I would consider myself a power user, but the only reason I stick with Windows still is because I can't find a good reliable video editor on Linux -- and also some games. Kdenlive makes doing super common things a lot more difficult and time consuming than what's available on Windows v…

[deleted]

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#57

Post by theonemind »

lmilcin wrote: post #13
henearkr wrote: post #4

Microsoft hasn't changed after all... I used to like what they were doing with WSL, but now on the contrary it starts to worry me, because it can become an avenue of evil behavior against users/devs/open-source/...

Microsoft did change. But then it looked how Apple and Google did the same thing, successfully, and sailed away in terms of market share and now it wants to replicate the success. The thing is, I don't think it is going to succeed. The likely thing that is already happening is that power users are leaving Windows and once power users leave the platform will die.

I don't think Mac has moved in a direction to win over power users, and Linux has a slipping desktop market share.

I don't see a power-user exodus from Windows, really.

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#58

Post by jrockway »

zeepzeep wrote: post #55

So if a modified ISO is illegal, how about a binary diff?

Here is a take from the early 2000s: https://cr.yp.to/softwarelaw.html

Not really sure how much of this is still true. Since cloud services and locked devices took over most of the software that people use, it doesn't come up much anymore.

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#59

Post by gbear605 »

malikNF wrote: post #32

Microsoft being Microsoft, its such a shame so many video games still only support MS. Over the years MS has become really user hostile (well may be not as much as my samsung android phone I guess) with constant forced updates, forced adverts for their products. And now a DMCA for a project trying to help folks customize windows? Sigh! Few days ago there was an update on Windows10 and my computer was restarted forcef…

This is pretty different from that. It’s not just that they modified Windows, it’s that they provided a cracked version of the iso. If they just provided the tools to do it, it’d be one thing (and that probably wouldn’t have been attached by Microsoft). But given the evidence, this is perfectly reasonable for Microsoft.

Re: Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says

#60

Post by sbarre »

FactolSarin wrote: post #43
choeger wrote: post #5

Interesting case. If Microsoft really demands that a user does not disable features, I am looking forward to some taking this to court. The thing is, software licenses are still largely uncharted territory. If I am not allowed to modify the system as my hardware executes it, will Microsoft take liability for any damage, material or immaterieal that could be caused by it? Think of an upgrade bricking your device (happ…

That's not really what's going on here. "Ninjutsu OS" is a modified Windows 10 ISO. Basically a pirated copy.

It's actually both.

You are right, they were distributing a modified version of Windows without permission. And there's nothing notable or interesting about that. It's a pretty clear-cut case of "don't do that".

But ALSO.. the language in the MS/BSA complaint states that tools that help the user disable Windows 10 OS features - some that arguably benefit MS more than the user - run afoul of the DMCA's anti-circumvention clauses, and that's a much broader statement that has nothing to do with an uploaded ISO.

If this stands, does it mean that I am not allowed to use similar tools to disable features on my legit copy of Windows 10? That's what the language in their complaint implies.

Post reply on HN