AutoPatcher no longer allowed

By Steven P.
in Site Announcements

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Grand Master

Steven P. Administrators

Posted
  • Administrators
Posted

I had a call from Microsoft Legal this morning and they have told me that we are no longer allowed to endorse AutoPatcher on Neowin.

Microsoft will only allow updates to be downloaded from its own servers.

AutoPatcher started in 2003 and has been redistributed in some of the worlds best computer magazine cover CD/DVD's. I have no explanation for why Microsoft allowed it to continue unchecked for 4 years before making this decision.

I asked the representative if Windows Genuine Advantage had anything to do with it and he categorically told me this was not the case, he added that Windows Update for pre-Vista versions of Windows can now be accessed using Firefox and that the concern at Microsoft had more to do with the possible malicious code that could be redistributed with certified Microsoft updates.

We have no grounds to challenge the decision by Microsoft.

I'd like to thank the whole AutoPatcher team for their continued work, unfortunately none of the team is online, but they have been contacted via the AutoPatcher.com website by Microsoft Legal.

The AutoPatcher forums have been disabled for guests and members.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/584427-autopatcher-no-longer-allowed/
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Grand Master

Malisk

Posted
Posted

:(

It's great for packaging offline patches, portability, and in many ways more flexible than updating through Windows Update. What does Firefox access on WU have to do with that?? That's not nearly the reason I believe most are using AutoPatcher, and I think Microsoft is missing the problem here, or more likely, they either pretend or don't want to realize the problem. I mean, all Windows users have IE installed anyway, including Firefox users.

AP is more for system administrators and experienced users wanting to package files for easy offline installs, possibly on a network scale.

And of course they'll deny it's for WGA reasons. They don't want to get into the debate of locking in users to their services out of inefficient antipiracy methods again. They'd probably even lie to not have to.

Mentor

AdzzzUK

Posted
Posted

While I don't see the need for MS to ban support for AutoPatcher, it is after all a great utility and something that has saved me hours and hours when repairing clients machines, I'm sure they (MS) must have their reasons for this.

I'll continue to support it as long as I can, but it is a massive blow to myself and to the community as a whole that MS have decided to take this action. But, as I've said there must be a good reason why, I'm sure it will all become clear in due course.

I'd like to express my thanks to all the team behind AutoPatcher for the sheer amount of hard work and dedication that they have all shown in making this product, and like others have said, it's a massive blow and it sucks - I feel for you guys.

Ad

Grand Master

accesser

Posted
Posted

Lets hope MS come up with there own solution for it I vaguely remember before XP SP2 they did a security rollup where several updates where in the one download.

I think it would be nice if they offered this every now and then a single download that has all the updates in it after SP2 perhaps they could have it make you register the PC after you have ran the updates on it making it possible to update peoples PC?s for them when they are on dial up etc.

Grand Master

gigapixels Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
Lets hope MS come up with there own solution for it I vaguely remember before XP SP2 they did a security rollup where several updates where in the one download.

I think it would be nice if they offered this every now and then a single download that has all the updates in it after SP2 perhaps they could have it make you register the PC after you have ran the updates on it making it possible to update peoples PC's for them when they are on dial up etc.

The single download isn't the point of AutoPatcher though. The cool thing about AutoPatcher is that you have a disc ready with the updates and you don't need to actually download the updates when setting up the computer, which can take quite a long time as it seems the XP update system seems to slow everything down. It also includes several optional updates that are never included in the infrequent rollups that Microsoft puts out. All in all, it's much more convenient to use AutoPatcher when compared to any solution Microsoft has ever provided.

This is a poor decision by Microsoft. I can understand their concern of being blamed if malicious code were distributed with their updates, but the AutoPatcher project has been going for 4 years without incident, so I'm at a loss as to why they would be concerned about this now.

Rising Star

PsiMoon314

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys,

It's a sad day and I don't mind saying that I am in shock here regarding the AP news.

I appreciate that the AP project is now dead as far as Neowin concerned, however I am wondering if there could be a future for it in another form?

Perhaps if the hotfixes and patches themselves are not re-distributed then MS would be able to live with it?

There are other projects which list the hotfixes for download or automate the download of the hotfixes directly from MS servers for offline use. If this could be combined with the AP framework then we could still have a viable project.

Folks would need to download the hotfixes themselves however once this is done the AP framework could still be useful for installing the hotfixes offline.

I have PM'ed some of the AP team with my suggestions so we will see what will come of it.

At the end of the day this is an attempt by MS to close down a freeware project that competes with their own automated patch distribution systems.

Anyone who thinks this has anything to do with security of the patches is deluding themselves.

Giving that MS had no issues with this project for over 4 years it seems strange for them to object now based on security concerns.

I am also disappointed that the Neowin Staff has let MS run roughshod over this project and done little to fight this action by MS.

Regards

Simon

Collaborator

thunderrooster

Posted
Posted

What a crock of sh**. What is the crap about neowin is not allowed. Is Microsoft telling you what to do now neowin? Cant believe neowin will just do whatever it is told by Microsoft. Who is your daddy neowin lol. Wonder what will happen to http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/ and sites like that if "Microsoft will only allow updates to be downloaded from its own servers."

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