Quote:
Anyone know an actual download on the website outside of Windows Update that is requiring this? I was poking around on the site and could still download some XP specific things fine via Safari on my OS X box.



If you look here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Popular.aspx?displaylang=en

you can get a feel for the range of stuff that needs validation (the things that need validation have a blue circle with the yellow arrow in next to them)

Quote:

My biggest concern if they do lock this down is being able to download patches for people not on broadband connections. I have frequently grabbed the bigger patches needed for XP to then take via USB storage to my mothers laptop, or to use at work on multiple machines. Somehow, I expect a workaround to all this, one Microsoft provides for all the IT support people out there. 3rd parties have reportedly already worked around it anyhow.


Hmm, yeah. Downloading with something other than Windows is an issue that hadn't occured to me.
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