[Cryptography] open questions in secure protocol design?

[Michael Kjörling]

On 31 May 2015 09:55 -0700, from bear at sonic.net (Ray Dillinger):
> Of course, there is at least one other motive that MS may have
> provided to refuse the upgrade; is XP the last version of
> windows that can legally be maintained without making continual
> monthly payments to Microsoft?

FUD. For all my personal preference for non-Microsoft OSes, there are
two facts at hand in this case:

1. Windows XP was the first version of Windows that introduced product
activation. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP#Infrastructure>
and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP#Reception>. Prior
versions could be installed freely without involving Microsoft at all;
Windows XP and later requires Microsoft involvement to install and
maintain a fully functional operating system, to varying degrees
depending on the specific version and edition of Windows.

2. Current versions of Windows are available in both retail box sets,
OEM bundling, and for licensing and downloading over the Internet. See
e.g. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8.1#Distribution>. MSDN
and TechNet subscriptions require renewal to remain current, but as
far as I know that is not any major departure from how it has been for
a long time. While MSDN and TechNet software these days is offered
through web site downloads rather than being shipped on physical
media, that does not change the licensing situation (and just like you
could keep or copy the physical media, you can download software from
MSDN/TechNet while your subscription is current and keep it
afterwards; technical, not necessarily legal, "can").

-- 
Michael Kjörling • https://michael.kjorling.se • michael at kjorling.se
OpenPGP B501AC6429EF4514 https://michael.kjorling.se/public-keys/pgp
                 “People who think they know everything really annoy
                 those of us who know we don’t.” (Bjarne Stroustrup)