Our Exchange 2003 server has been having issues for a while now.  It hasn’t worked right in a year or more.  The drives are filling up and we’re rapidly running out of room.  There are some software oddities that have accrued over the years, and Exchange itself doesn’t work as well as it should.  The remote agent for our backup software has trouble grabbing data.  It falls over periodically for absolutely no reason.  You get the idea…

I’ve been pushing to replace this server for almost a year now.  About six months back I finally got approval to buy some new hardware and load it up with Server 2003 x64 and Exchange 2007 - which I did.  And I was supposed to go ahead and migrate all the data over to the new server shortly after it was built…  But that’s where things fell apart.

They weren’t willing to let me take down our existing Exchange server long enough to migrate the data to the new one.  Nobody could part with their email or calendar for the time required.  So the migration got delayed…  And delayed…  And then put on the back burner…  Somewhere along the line our new server was shut down and shoved into a corner.

Recently our Exchange 2003 server has been having even more issues than normal.  It is falling over on a daily basis.  People can’t send or receive mail.  The public folders are unavailable half the time.  Backups are failing more often than not.  And now it is suddenly important that we get a working Exchange server up and running.

Which means that in addition to all the other work that was scheduled for today, I’m trying to get an Exchange 2007 server up and running.

And because this server has been offline for over three months, replication between it and the rest of the domain has been shut down.  So I can’t just fire it up and start migrating information.

I did a quick search for information…  A little troubleshooting…  And while it does seem to be possible to convince the servers to start replicating again, it also doesn’t appear to be a very good idea.  It looks like the recommended way to get things working again is to un-install and then re-install Active Directory on the server.  And since it’s got Exchange installed simply un-installing Active Directory is not going to work very well.

So I’m likely looking at a complete reformat & re-install of the entire OS, from scratch.  Which means we have to locate the media we used to install it in the first place - not an easy thing to do around here.  Discs seem to vanish into thin air.  And then all the updates will need to be downloaded and installed again.  All of which is supposed to somehow be squeezed in between jobs in an already short and busy week.

Yeah…  Fun…

Red Alert 3 is out…  And like all EA releases in recent history it includes a couple different types of DRM.  There’s the SecuROM stuff to make sure you’ve got an authentic disc…  But there’s also a CD-key that needs to be typed in during install.  The problem? The last digit of the CD-key is missing…  The fix?

There is currently a work-around that may allow you to bypass this issue. Since you have the first 19 characters of the code already, you can basically try guessing the last character.  To do this, simply enter your existing code, and then for the last character, try the letters A-Z, and then the numbers 0-9. You should eventually get the right combination, and be able to play the game.

Of course, anyone who’s pirating the game can just download a key generator and get all 20 characters of the code - no guessing involved.

There’s finally a cracked version of Dead Space available for download on The Pirate Bay.  I’ve been checking there almost daily since release day.  Yes, I did purchase the thing…  But I’d rather not keep the disc in the drive all the time, I’d rather keep it safe from damage.  So I’m hoping I’ll be able to download a simple no-CD patch from Game Copy World before too long.

I’ve also been looking around for a Fallout 3 download.  I really don’t want to buy that game without giving it a try, and once again there will be no demo available.

I really don’t understand why companies aren’t making demos anymore…  It used to be a great way to evaluate a game before you spent your money on it.  And with the way DRM/activation works these days it can be very difficult to return a game that you’ve discovered isn’t worth the money or doesn’t work on your machine.

I’m quickly discovering that the biggest change the 3.0.2 patch brings will likely be the mods that I run.  I’ve been trying to locate updated versions of all my favorite mods, and I’m running into some issues.

I used to rely almost exclusively upon ACE mods, which were easily tracked and updated through the WoWACE website and the WoWACE Updater.  But the WoWACE website has merged with Curse Gaming into a new modstrosity simply called Curse.  And the WoWACE Updater is no more.

Curse has its own updater, and the newest version isn’t that bad, but it isn’t what I’m used to.  So I’m having difficulties locating some of what I’m looking for.  Which means I’m having to locate a lot of it by searching through websites myself.  Not fun.

Adding to my difficulties is the fact that many mod authors have taken the 3.0.2 patch as an opportunity to completely rewrite their mods.  BarTender, for example, has a whole new release.  BT3, which I was using, does not work with the newest patch.  BT4 does, but it won’t import settings from BT3.  So I’m having to completely re-configure everything in BarTender.  And there are plenty of other mods taking a similar approach.

I’ve also discovered that some of the mods I’ve been using haven’t really been supported by anybody in a very long time.  There haven’t been any major mod-breaking patches in something like a year…  So some of these mods haven’t been updated in almost a year…  And some of them are no longer being actively maintained at all.  So I’m having to look for alternative mods to replace some things.

Interesting comic on xkcd today…

Even more interesting is the caption if you mouse-over the image on the website:

I spent more time trying to get an audible.com audio book playing than it took to listen to the book. I have lost every other piece of DRM-locked music I have paid for.

I’ve been saying for quite some time now that DRM, in all its various forms, only hurts those who purchase the product legitimately.  Regardless of whether it’s a game, a movie, music, an audiobook…  Whatever.  The folks who pirate the stuff have already bypassed the DRM and don’t have to deal with it at all.  The folks who legitimately purchase the item, however, have to deal with the restrictions that DRM imposes.

If your HDD dies, or your computer gets hosed in some way and you have to reload, most DRMed media stores offer some way to re-download your files.  But what if that DRMed store has moved on to a new technology, or closed its doors entirely?  What happens if you buy a new MP3 player that the DRM doesn’t like?  What happens if you switch to a new OS entirely?

SPORE requires some kind of on-line activation to allow you to play…  What happens in a year, or two, or three when EA is no longer actively supporting SPORE?  Will there be a patch that removes the activation?  Or will you simply not be able to play anymore?

Alternately, if you just grab your music/movies/games/whatever from The Pirate Bay, you’re all set.  Any music files will be simple MP3s without any DRM.  Videos will similarly be unencumbered by DRM.  Any games will either come with a no-CD crack right in the archive, or instructions on where to find one.  You can reload your computer all you want, switch to a different OS, grab any MP3 player you want…no problems!

If anything, DRM seems to encourage piracy…