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Dec. 12th, 2006 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnpalmerSo... a while back, just before my trip to Philly, I bought a new laptop.
It's a sweet laptop, under 5 lbs, Intel Dual Core at 1.67ghz (which makes it a tiny bit faster than my old single core 2.4ghz), 512 megs memory, 14.1" widescreen. I can use it on a plane, just barely. Oh, did I mention "under a grand, even with an additional high cap battery, and another 512 meg memory, if I choose to buy the memory"? Well, it also cost... what? You already heard? Damn. Someone's been spying on me, and I don't think it'sthe chicken Billina.
I decided to install XP pro on it. You see, I've been moved to a new office. I thought working in a supply closet was bad; now I'm in a room full of people, jammed side by side, on 30" desks.
When I was a grad student at tOSU, I had a bigger desk with a lower people-per-square-foot density.
Attention, corporate folks around the world: when a person yearns for the comforts of University provided facilities for grad students, you're doing something *wrong*.
Anyway: with XP Pro, I can log on to the wireless network, and work from anywhere in the building.
I got a key for it, and tried to install over the network. "The CD Key you entered is invalid".
Oh, just great. I bet that the company that gave me that key was buying code keys from counterfeiters!
(For those of you who don't get it; I'm a contractor working at Microsoft.)
ObPleaseDon'tFireMe: Please do not think that this says that this kind of thing happens often; in fact, I'm betting that this is the result of me getting the wrong type of key, or going to the wrong install point. They do have a darned efficient internal help desk. I just thought it was hilariously funny that I could end up getting that error under the circumstances.
It's a sweet laptop, under 5 lbs, Intel Dual Core at 1.67ghz (which makes it a tiny bit faster than my old single core 2.4ghz), 512 megs memory, 14.1" widescreen. I can use it on a plane, just barely. Oh, did I mention "under a grand, even with an additional high cap battery, and another 512 meg memory, if I choose to buy the memory"? Well, it also cost... what? You already heard? Damn. Someone's been spying on me, and I don't think it's
I decided to install XP pro on it. You see, I've been moved to a new office. I thought working in a supply closet was bad; now I'm in a room full of people, jammed side by side, on 30" desks.
When I was a grad student at tOSU, I had a bigger desk with a lower people-per-square-foot density.
Attention, corporate folks around the world: when a person yearns for the comforts of University provided facilities for grad students, you're doing something *wrong*.
Anyway: with XP Pro, I can log on to the wireless network, and work from anywhere in the building.
I got a key for it, and tried to install over the network. "The CD Key you entered is invalid".
Oh, just great. I bet that the company that gave me that key was buying code keys from counterfeiters!
(For those of you who don't get it; I'm a contractor working at Microsoft.)
ObPleaseDon'tFireMe: Please do not think that this says that this kind of thing happens often; in fact, I'm betting that this is the result of me getting the wrong type of key, or going to the wrong install point. They do have a darned efficient internal help desk. I just thought it was hilariously funny that I could end up getting that error under the circumstances.
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New Laptops and Microsoft Licensing...
Date: 2006-12-12 10:49 pm (UTC)I just bought myself a new one, too... though I'm more of a dual boot kind of guy (Gentoo Linux optimized for network and security analysis) and XP Pro for when I'm doing jobs at conformist organizations like the government....
I do think the licensing thing is crazy. I'm part of a Microsoft Gold certified partner, and our license keys were totally screwed up recently. I hate to say this (and can, since I don't work directly for or even indirectly for Microsoft)... that the licensing model MS is using is broken, and the technology they use is too unstable for what they're trying to do. And it's going to get much worse with Vista, by all indications.
-Bill