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Microsoft Forces Shutdown of Autopatcher
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Wed Aug 29, 2007 03:20 PM
from the hooray-for-lawyers dept.
from the hooray-for-lawyers dept.
kaufmanmoore writes "Posts on Neowin and Autopatcher's site announce Microsoft has forced the closure of the Autopatcher download section. Details are scarce as to the exact reason for the take down after over 4 years of availability, but an official from Microsoft legal says that it has nothing to do with Windows Genuine Advantage. Goodbye to another useful tool that helped sysadmins apply Microsoft's numerous patches."
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Microsoft Forces Shutdown of Autopatcher
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One down, X to go. (Score:5, Informative)
(http://johannes.truschnigg.info/)
For many, this makes Windows XP more expensive. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.futurepower.net/)
Notice that Microsoft has not released a Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, even though it has been years since SP2 was released. The purpose of the delay is apparently to make Windows XP more expensive, in the hope that people will begin to adopt Windows Vista.
The Windows XP updates of just last Patch Tuesday were more than 20 Megabytes.
Windows Vista is not an option for many, since because of the hassles with Windows XP, many companies have a rule never to use a Windows version before the 2nd service pack is released, and the bugs in Windows Vista are reinforcing that rule.
Also, Windows Vista requires far more resources. Each new Windows version requires more resources, apparently to try to manipulate customers to buy new computers. That serves Microsoft's biggest customers, the computer builders.
Terrific. How long before they break even that? (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://yro.slashdot.org/~twitter/journal/177855 | Last Journal: Sunday November 04, @10:56PM)
offline update is terrific; its basically a script that wgets the patches directly from Microsoft,
The geinous of M$ can not be understated. Rather than let people share the burden of distributing their "patches" (efficiently [netcraft.com])they will make everyone go to them. We have just seen how well they do at an easier task [slashdot.org].
It won't be long before they only allow "authenticated" clients to download.
The contrast between this and the free software world could not be greater. Every gnu/linux distro has been easy to keep up today for the last ten years and there are verified mirrors everywhere. When you download a package from a mirror, you can md5 sum check it against the original source and most package managers do this automatically. M$ on the other hand, won't even let you distribute what they consider "free". Be wary when someone from M$ advocates BSD, love of your freedom is not the reason for their advice.
This is sad... (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://insanity.lost-angel.com/~sean)
Morons. (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuckers hit close to home, this time; Autopatcher was great for keeping relatives on dialup up-to-date.
Re:Morons. (Score:4, Informative)
/em Pours out a '40 for the departed Autopatcher ; ;
Re:Morons. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.lib.ru/)
MS is cynical and ruthless because it can and because it is profitable; and so it will stay. If you don't like that don't run Windows, it is that simple. With modern Linux distros it's not such a great loss. And if you don't want to fiddle with X settings, get a mac - Apple will charge you for that, but you get a sane system in return, not a buggy treadmill. [full disclosure: I do not own a modern Mac; all I have is an ancient PowerBook with 8.5.x MacOS, and I rarely even power it on, I keep it as a piece of history.]
Re:Understatement of the Month. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.lib.ru/)
Should have bought and funded it instead (Score:5, Insightful)
This service added a lot of value to MS customers. Tearing it down because they were better than their equivalent is destructive.
Doing things that make your products harder to use is bad business sense. It really shows how badly out of touch MS is with the industry.
Re:Should have bought and funded it instead (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Nah, it shows what a powerful monopoly they have developed. They can make using their products downright miserable (they practically have already) and people will continue to curse that evil ol' bill gates as they IM each-other on MS messenger in MS vista on their laptops with the "built for windows!" sticker still attached. Plenty of other companies would like to implement the kind of security lockdowns MS has, and are capable of doing so. However, market pressures force them to realize that excessive measures create a barrier to use and sway customers towards friendlier products. Microsoft is not out of touch with the industry. Microsoft is the industry.
Re:Should have bought and funded it instead (Score:4, Informative)
Tell me about it.
My wife bought a new Vista laptop for her Masters classes. A simple request was to transfer some files and documents to and from our network SMB fileserver (A stand alone product).
They changed the default authentication protocol. It can't log in to any server using a password unless you either upgrade the server or downgrade Vists (not recommended by Microsoft) The server is an embedded Linux appliance (SimpleTech SimpleShare NAS).
The next simple task was to connect to my LAN printers. They hang on the LAN using the well established IPP interface with an address of IPP://192.168.1.101/lp1 and IPP://192.168.1.102/lp1. It took 4 hours and lots of Google searches to find out how to enter a non-IIS printserver address into Vista.
To make it easy, you leave off the IPP:// and put in the IP address and leave off the
Ubunto was much simpler to connect to these Windows printers. (an HP laserjet and HP inkjet) on garden variety stand alone hardware Print servers using IPP. (Hawking Technology Print servers)
Why would Microsoft make it much harder on Vista Home to connect to a home network and printers? It makes no sense to me.
It's almost like they designed it to be easier to use Ubuntu at home. It is much easier to use Ubuntu at home than Vista. Vista kept interrupting for a Java Update, Sound system Update, AV update and reregistration, and a few other things got in the way of setting up LAN settings and configuring 2 printers. Ubuntu was much better in that also. A single small notification popped up letting me know there were updates available. The small notification did not cover my applications in Ubuntu or force a reboot to close the notification.
Re:Morons. (Score:4, Funny)
(http://conceptjunkie.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 25 2003, @10:22PM)
They don't care what's on your hardware as long as it's theirs. Actually I wish that were true, because XP is pretty decent, but they couldn't leave well enough alone and had to spend 5 years squatting on the toilet to excrete Vista, the first piece of software that doesn't even pretend to offer anything new to the customers, it's only selling points are what's good for Microsoft and their big media buddies. OK, I lied. It does offer a new feature for users: It's shiny.
WindizUpdate next? (Score:5, Interesting)
Are they making the arguement that..... (Score:5, Informative)
"Q: Is AutoPatcher legal?
A: Yes, Antonis Kaladis (our project manager) once spoke to a Microsoft employee and apparently they know about us but don't care what we do! The AutoPatcher project has been going strong since 2003 and never had a sniff of trouble from Microsoft."
From http://www.autopatcher.com/faq/ [autopatcher.com]
Re:How 'bout getting that in writing next time? (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Thursday April 28 2005, @06:02PM)
Re:How 'bout getting that in writing next time? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Are they making the arguement that..... (Score:5, Funny)
Goodbye (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Friday November 09, @01:36AM)
Hello to a useful alternative operating system. If Microsoft doesn't want our business, we shouldn't give it to them. However, the desire for control of updates is understandable from a liability point of view, although they claim they don't have any...liability that is.
Are the patch installers still available? (Score:5, Interesting)
Torrents for August release plz?
Coming tomorrow (Score:4, Funny)
Torrent links here for August ... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://trolltalk.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday October 11, @01:49PM)
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/mystats.php [m2ys4u.co.uk]
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatch er_DirectX_Aug07_x86_ENU_Addon.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_Extras_Jul07_x86_ENU_Addon.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]\
h er_Office02_Aug07_ENU_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_Office03_Aug07_ENU_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_Office07_Aug07_ENU_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_OfficePack_Aug07_ENU_Addon.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_Win2K3_Aug07_x86_ENU_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_Win2K_Aug07_ENU_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_WinVista_Jul07_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_WinX64_Jul07_x64_ENU_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_WinXP_Aug07_x86_ENU_Core.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_WinXP_MCE2005_May07_x86_ENU_Addon.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
h er_WinXP_WMP10_May07_x86_ENU_Addon.exe.torrent [m2ys4u.co.uk]
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
http://autopatcher.m2ys4u.co.uk/torrents/AutoPatc
Found via google cache :-)
I noted this on Neowin... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure. Whatever. We all know that there's never been a case of malicious code distributed with Autopatcher. So I'm calling it now. Watch M$ come up with their own tool that does the same thing as Autopatcher and watch them find a way to turn it into a revenue stream.
It was good, but (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Thursday October 18, @12:52PM)
That said, the overall rhetoric of this move still isn't nice. AutoPatcher was at the very least, a handy tool for people that didn't know about the above methods, and to leave it 4 years in the game before sending in the lawyers isn't a nice way of treating the user community. A shame if you ask me.
But you don't understand what it was good for (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday August 07, @01:18PM)
Re:It was good, but (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.artboy.org/)
Yeah, except that neither of those things does what autopatcher does. I don't want to have to reinstall the whole OS just to keep patches up to date, and I don't want to have to lay ethernet cable several hundred miles to my relatives' homes in order to patch them quickly from a server I control.
The donkey of the comuting industry... (Score:1)
(http://www.aaron5367.com/)
Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Wednesday September 22 2004, @11:13AM)
Apple and Linux, he we come!
Windizupdate (Score:4, Informative)
I hardly use IE, and this updates through Firefox.
Which is of course very neat. *cough*firefox fan*cough*
From Neowin (Score:2, Informative)
It seems like a reasonable request.
Autopatcher FAQ's now out of date (Score:1)
But... you might want to update the FAQ's on the website. Looks a little funny now!
A: Yes, Antonis Kaladis (our project manager) once spoke to a Microsoft employee and apparently they know about us but don't care what we do! The AutoPatcher project has been going strong since 2003 and never had a sniff of trouble from Microsoft.
AutoPatcher needs to think "business" instead (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.stopcomputerlicens.dk/ | Last Journal: Wednesday August 01, @08:24AM)
- Jesper
Missing the obvious (Score:4, Funny)
Why does Microsoft hate their users? (Score:2, Insightful)
Shenanigans (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.krgallagher.com/)
I call Shenanigans!
Can we get an auto downloader for these updates? (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://arc.nucapt.northwestern.edu/F/OSS)
But why can't we make this even vaguely win-win? Provide a utility that will download ALL of these updates (whether the machine thought they were applied or not) directly from MS for use on removable media.
What alternatives are there for those on dial up (or other cases of no or intermittent network connection)? For those who have had malware make edits to their hosts file and/or browser security settings that make obtaining updates directly from MS on the computer they're updating difficult?
Still many useful tools (Score:4, Informative)
Is very nice
Microsoft is immune to bad press (Score:5, Interesting)
Shutting down Autopatcher is nothing to them and will not affect their business in even a negligible fashion.
I would like to think otherwise but I can't. They are unstoppable.
I just used this to fix a xp media center system (Score:2)
Now THAT'S customer service! (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://kim.biyn.com/)
Congratulations, Microsoft. You've shut down yet another tool useful for installing and deploying legitimate Windows, thereby increasing the value of "pirated" Windows offerings AND provided more reasons for users to choose alternatives such as Linux, OS X, and BSD. Good move there.
Why not actually, oh, I don't know, innovate some new features for Windows rather than harassing small third-party developers who offer FREE utilities to make YOUR piece of crap offering easier to manage? Like, say, I dunno, work on a better filesystem [slashdot.org] or something.
I can't believe no one's mentioned this yet... (Score:2)
What about the DVD ISO on MS's download page? (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Thursday December 12 2002, @01:00AM)
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=913086&SD=tech [microsoft.com]
Re:What about the DVD ISO on MS's download page? (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Wednesday July 12 2006, @11:49PM)
You're missing the point! (Score:3, Interesting)
Now what would be useful, is for Microsoft themselves to make it very easy for you to download and burn an 'windows update' DVD that'll take each version of XP up to date. Downloadable direct from Microsoft.
Alternatively, they could offer hashes for the downloads on Microsoft's servers, which Autopatcher can be pointed at in order to verify the downloads.
Had they done that, then they'd avoid all the negative PR!
Total cost of ownership (Score:1, Insightful)
They may claim that the shutdown is not about WGA, but I can't see what other reason they would have, other than that AutoPatcher competes with some as-yet-unreleased Microsoft product.
What's the deal with Neowin? (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://billposer.org/)
Microsoft is within its rights, though obnoxious, with regard to Autopatcher, but since when is it their business what Neowin says about Autopatcher? Where does MS get off telling Neowin to take down their forums? Is MS just being a bully or is there some relationship between MS and Neowin that I don't know about?
How much money did this program save? (Score:2)
What about the other fish? (Score:2, Interesting)
AWFUL (Score:1, Interesting)
We use Autopatcher ALL the time for in house clean up work... ie... who wants 6+ boxes trying to download patches and clog up your bandwidth?
Slipstream? Don't make me laugh. Who doesn't already have an SP2 XP disc? If you're setting up a new box... activate, drop autopatcher on it, and you're done. WSUS? Why waste time adding another person's box to our domain, update, and then remove?
MS's own update ISO's? You really think I want to stick like 9 different discs... in several machines? And still not get like 1/2 the updates out there?
And of course... it has saved our bacon times when our net access was down(usually a backhoe hitting the fiber), or when Windows update simply wouldn't work(dreaded Win 2000 windowsupdate issues, even on a clean install).
Honestly, I don't think we can go back to downloading the same damn crap 5 at a time again. Just ridiculous.
Well shit...M$ fucks me over (Score:2)
(http://hangarbay.niteshdw.com/)
Now it's just a matter of time before another huge flaw is founded which malware/spyware & virus makers exploit to shit. With WGA and all, patching my system against these hazards will basically be impossible. Just a matter of time before it succumbs to one of these
I Don't Do Windows (Score:2)
(http://www.watters.ws/)
This is just one of the reasons I refuse to run Windows and I refuse to support it. If somebody is having problems with their Windows stuff I tell them to call Microsoft or buy a Mac.
BITS broke (Score:1)
wsus (Score:1)
Just grab the script from MS that does it for you. (Score:4, Informative)
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-US/library/aa387102
My modified version that forces cscript.exe and adds an
http://b0n.us/WUA_SearchDownloadInstall.vbs [b0n.us]
It usually takes 3 times with reboots in between to get all the patches.
It will use your WSUS settings and get the patches from a local server if you have one.
Yes, they are VBS, don't run them without reading them and understanding them!
jorgie
This makes my job much longer... (Score:1)
loyalty test (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Thursday July 22 2004, @11:14AM)
kind of a crude and sadistic loyalty test.
Usual Microsoft Bashing... (Score:2)
(http://trog.qgl.org)
Yes, they could digitally sign their updates or release md5s or something, but at the end of the day it's a third party application that they have no reason to trust giving their customers updates to their operating system - updates that could potentially cause a lot of problems.
There's no doubt who the finger would be pointed at - MS. They want their customers to update using their mechanism so if anything breaks, they can at least try to figure out why, instead of having to unravel a ball of changes made to their OS by some random third party updating system.
Thanks a lot Microsoft (Score:1)
This is just a predicate (Score:1)
(http://www.visi.com/~jskline)
Just a hunch.
RyanVM is unavailable as well (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Tuesday October 29 2002, @10:47AM)
I'm wondering what took them so long. (Score:1)
(http://angrykeyboarder.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday September 02, @10:07AM)