Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Breaks the Law by Not Patching Windows as Per the Agreement

Balance



Summary: Microsoft's legal obligations are hanging in the balance while Windows 2000 does not receive security patches

ABOUT a month ago we showed that Microsoft broke its contract with the customers by refusing to patch Windows XP. As it turns out, Microsoft is doing this with Windows 2000 as well.



Our reader Ryan, who is a former Microsoft MVP and an expert in this area, wrote in IRC: "You should drive home a point that you aren't when talking about Conficker and its brethren. Windows 2000 will be TEN YEARS OLD on February 17, 2010, and still manages to get at least a dozen security patches a month, even now. It's a good way to point out that no matter how many patches you install, there's always more vulnerabilities. Several thousand of them have been patched in Windows 2000 and it's still regularly patched. You would think that the patch rate would have slowed down and the OS would have more or less settled by now, but it's going to be patched from birth to abortion. You should also mention that companies won't necessarily throw out Windows 2000 on their systems just because it's out of support. From Wikipedia: 'On 8 September 2009, Microsoft skipped patching two of the five security flaws that were addressed in the monthly security update, saying that patching one of the critical security flaws was "infeasible".[93] According to the Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-048, "The architecture to properly support TCP/IP protection does not exist on Microsoft Windows 2000 systems, making it infeasible to build the fix for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 to eliminate the vulnerability. To do so would require rearchitecting a very significant amount of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 operating system, [...] there would be no assurance that applications designed to run on Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 would continue to operate on the updated system."' Windows 2000 not only shares all the vulnerabilities in XP, Microsoft has started refusing to patch some while the damned thing is still supported (to try and force an upgrade). It's not the first time that Microsoft has refused a security patch for operating systems still in support, they left some critical Windows 98 and Windows NT 4 vulnerabilities unpatched, with a year left on the support lifecycle.

“In other words, Microsoft can flagrantly violate the hell out of their side of the agreement, but don't you dare to step out of line or install Windows on two systems with one license.”
      --Ryan
"Windows 2000 is supported until July of 2010, meaning that per their support agreement, every security patch should be delivered on until then, so they're violating their own support agreement, but insisting that you obey your obligations under their EULA. This is kind of like the times Microsoft was found violating their side of the privacy agreement in Windows Media Player 7 (they probably still do). In other words, Microsoft can flagrantly violate the hell out of their side of the agreement, but don't you dare to step out of line or install Windows on two systems with one license."

Fewa responds with: "Microsoft has always been an outlaw corporation. They only obey the laws that benefit them and disregard those that would dare limit their greed of monopoly. They even wish to impose on other those laws. It's not just that; of course having the government totally hijacked for 6 years did not help. The democrats got a majority in 2006 (in the house)."

"8 years," insists Ryan, "and I'd argue that they still do. Obama has packed the DOJ with more RIAA mafia types." Here is a collection of references.

Ryan is not optimistic. "They're one of the richest companies and have hundreds of lawyers," he says. "You could sue them, in theory, but they could just stall forever."

To summarise, writes Ryan: "What kind of confuses me is that according to Microsoft, breaking their EULA is "illegal", but when they break their side of the agreement it's OK as long as they can say "It would have been too much work to close that critical patch on Windows 2000." It would be like me saying "Well, I installed the same copy of Windows on ten computers cause it would have been too much of a strain on my finances to buy 9 more licenses"; Same defense they're trying, too much of a strain on limited resources, so it's OK to break the agreement."

In other news, Microsoft's cryptology is broken again.

Microsoft releases fix for crypto patch



[...]

The ocsasnfix.exe (direct download) program is to fix the glitch both in the client and in the server. In a knowledgebase article, Microsoft describes how to run the program and what other actions may need to be taken.


Perhaps Microsoft could not just disable the features this time around [1, 2].

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Meme] Being Believed, Not Censored or Defamed
Daniel Pocock, Zini, and John Sullivan (FSF)
Taking Things Up a Notch
we strive/aim towards 15-25 new pages per day, i.e. around 500 per month or 6,000 per year
 
Links 11/05/2024: Analysis of the Microsoft Crisis and Backdoor-Looking Bugs
Links for the day
Attacking the Messenger?
Stack Overflow and LLM licencing
Microsoft Fired Loads of Staff in Kenya, Which is Another Large Country Where GNU/Linux Has Grown a Lot
Microsoft pays Kenyans only 2 dollars an hour for an IT/office job
Knowing the True History of Debian, Owing to Irish Debian Developer Daniel Pocock (Currently Running to Become Member of the European Parliament)
Irish-Australian and scapegoat of a highly dysfunctional 'Debian family'
Attacking by Credentials
Modest people do not demand fancy titles
Microsoft Windows Used to Have 99% of the OS Market in Jordan, Now It's Just 13% (Less Than iOS)
Based on the data of statCounter, GNU/Linux in Jordan climbed from 0.62% in May 2014 to nearly 5% right now
More Nations Are Reaching and Exceeding 5% Market Share for GNU/Linux, Microsoft Wants to be Bailed Out Again
Microsoft is once again reaching out to Biden for a bailout - a subject we'll cover in a video some time this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 10, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, May 10, 2024
[Meme] What Do You Call a Woman Who Does BDS on Free Software? Elana Hamasman.
Here are some confused thoughts
[Meme] Mission Aborted
Mission Aborted: cancel RMS
Gemini Links 10/05/2024: Love Is Infinite and Books vs Internet
Links for the day
Links 10/05/2024: Fears Over TSMC, Microsoft Loses Major Patent Case
Links for the day
Links 10/05/2024: Burner Phones in 6-Eyes Government, “Hatred and Demonization” on the Rise
Links for the day
Microsoft Layoffs and Closures Now Reported in Africa
Microsoft Uninstalls Nigeria as it closes African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos
[Video] Richard Stallman, "I Saw You Playing Your Recorder in Paris" (Due to Proprietary Software Only)
Corporate autocrats do not want counterparts or alternatives to even exist
Five Years After the Extensive Campaign of Defamation Against Richard Stallman He's Still Giving Public Talks
"Richard Stallman will give a talk, in French, Free Software and Freedom in a Digital Society at Centrale Supelec in Saclay, on May 15."
Microsoft Is Rebranding Its 'Chatbot' Search for the Third Time Because It Fails to Gain Adoption
it always means that something has failed - not that they'll openly admit it
Richard Stallman Gives a Talk in Paris Next Week (in French) and It's About Freedom
another talk, which he has only just announced
Pace Up, Distractions Down
We've made our curation process faster and more efficient
In Algeria, GNU/Linux Estimated to Have Grown Tenfold in a Decade
a sharp rise in GNU/Linux usage
[Meme] Red Hat Diversity
Red Hat: don't mention Haghighi
Our Sister Site Turns 20 in Exactly One Month
twentieth anniversary of the site
Corporate Media Focuses on Who's Suing Red Hat, Not What It's Sued For
The unfortunate thing is, anybody who has an opinion on this lawsuit will inevitably be framed as "pro-Trump" or "anti-Trump"
Links 10/05/2024: Many More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 09, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, May 09, 2024
Microsoft OSI Uses Its Money to Hire PR Agencies That Spy and Spread Mindless Openwashing of GPL-Violating Microsoft Ploy
`We're under attack. But the attackers smile at us and hire PR firms to spy, mislead etc.
Gemini Links 10/05/2024: geminispace.info to Shut Down in 3 Weeks
Links for the day
In Nigeria, Africa's (by Far) Largest Population, Microsoft Bing is the 0%
To Microsoft, Africa is just "someplace" to get intensive, hard-working human 'resources' (tech labour) at 2 dollars 'apiece' as in per person per hour
Links 09/05/2024: Journalists in Detention, China Banning Songs or Anthems
Links for the day
Support for harassment and abuse victims
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 09/05/2024: Being Sick Enough and End of “World of Ends“
Links for the day
Links 09/05/2024: 'Hey Hi' (AI) Bubble Implodes Some More, Microsoft Layoffs So Widespread It's Hard to Keep Track
Links for the day
Speaking of Enshittification and Freedom, We've Still Not Begun Tackling the UEFI 'Secure' Boot Mess (Preventing GNU/Linux From Even Booting!)
Microsoft continues to fly under the radar and commit competition crimes with impunity
Microsoft Has Just Confirmed Mass Layoffs in Nigeria, It Now Adds Insult to Injury With Price Hikes for Locals
It's not like Microsoft paid them good salaries
Software Enshittification or Freedom? It's not a hard choice!
Reprinted from Alexandre Oliva
Links 09/05/2024: More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way
Links for the day
Amid Microsoft Layoffs in Nigeria GNU/Linux Climbs Above 6% Market Share (Not Including ChromeOS)
Hundreds are being laid off by Microsoft in Nigeria, based on yesterday's reports
[Meme] Blame the Robots or the 'Hey Hi' (AI), It Always Works in Today's Media
Companies do not have financial troubles! They have "efficiencies"...
News Reports Say Many More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way, Rumours Say Red Hat Also Imminently a Target
Microsoft is slipping out of control
Links 09/05/2024: Diplomacy Efforts With China, AstraZeneca Stops Experimenting With COVID-19 Vaccines
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 08, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 08, 2024
Gemini Links 09/05/2024: Registered Computer Professionals and TLS (The Long Slog)
Links for the day