More Microsoft foolishness
According to the BBC News website, Microsoft are planning to prevent users of pirated copies of Windows XP from applying the Service Pack 2 update.
Okay, colour me stupid, but who exactly is this going to benefit? Let's think for a moment... are the users of pirated Windows installs really going to care? Is this going to make them spend £165 on a legal copy of Windows XP Home? I think that is pretty darn unlikely... more likely, they will just find a new registration key that isn't one of the ones that Microsoft have blocked. In summary, Microsoft certainly won't be benefitting from a sudden influx of licensing fees.
On the contrary, all this will mean is yet more hassle for the average Internet user. More unpatched Windows machines means it's easier for the latest Virus-Of-The-Week to propogate and kick the bejesus out of the Internet. Users of safe, patched, firewalled Windows installs (like mine) and users of unaffected Mac & Linux systems will have their firewalls lit up like Christmas trees as the latest wave of worm traffic crashes against them ineffectually, and for what?
In short, Microsoft have nothing to lose by offering security updates to pirate users, and the Internet as a whole has everything to gain.