NE #14: FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8
Part 14 the Nerd Encyclopedia on a notorious string…
If I had published this string 20 years ago, the prosecutor would probably knock at my door tomorrow. Today I can print a T-shirt with it and stroll along the hallways without any careless nature in the association of the software industry.
This is a license key that reached dubious celebrity in the late 1990s. The software industry tried (at the time as it is today) to protect its products with license keys from unwanted copies. These had to be entered at the first start of the software in order to use the program. This is also the case with the Windows XP operating system, which is on 28. August 2001 was published. Among other things, Microsoft also distributed so-called volume license keys, which companies could use to activate several copies of Windows.
The hacking group succeeded the coup par excellence 35 days before the official launch of Windows XP: They reached a copy of the operating system and circulated it together with the working volume license key FCKGW-RHQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8.
The photo of a self-burned CD and this key made the rounds on the Internet and can be interpreted as a middle finger towards Microsoft:
Microsoft reacted relatively late and did not put the key until August 2004 on a blocking list to prevent further use. The string nevertheless secured a place in IT pop culture and is now even distributed on T-shirts.
Other famous license keys include the 111–1111111 and the 000–0000007 for Window 95. The mechanisms for assessing the validity of license keys were not very mature at the time. Nowadays, you have to enable the software effortlessly or need an Internet connection to check the legality of the copy. In Windows 95, there were a few simple rules that the license key was checked. In principle, the key consisted only of a date and a number, the crossing total of which amounts to 7 [INFOS1]. Of course, there were also exceptions, so 10 times the 1 or the James Bond string were accepted.
Meanwhile, the methods of the software industry are much more sophisticated. For example, The validity is checked via a permanent Internet connection. Or there are launchers who start the respective software and monitor the license status.
