Is that Bill’s hand on the button?
Another side of this controversy and the anger, frustration and problems it has created.
Microsoft Corp. … denied speculation that it plans to cripple copies of Windows XP for users who refuse to install its controversial antipiracy tool, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA).
But the software company confirmed that for its upcoming Windows Vista operating system, companies will be required to activate their software differently than they do today in order to prevent the leakage of volume licenses that are the source of most Windows piracy.
A ZDNet.com blogger reported earlier in the week on a conversation between a Windows user and a Microsoft support staffer, who allegedly admitted that users who refused to install the WGA update would be given 30 days before their copies of Windows would stop working.
ZDNet.com said that Microsoft refused to deny the report at the time. But later, Microsoft appeared to sing a different tune.
“No, Microsoft antipiracy technologies cannot and will not turn off your computer,” said a spokeswoman with Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft’s public relations firm. “The game is changing for counterfeiters. In Windows Vista, we are making it notably harder and less appealing to use counterfeit software, and we will work to make that a consistent experience with older versions of Windows as well.”
One of my computers uses a legitmate educational copy of W2K, but Microsoft won’t let me update. I’m guessing it has something to do with the fact that my system is home built. I haven’t tried in a while, but when the form asked me who the manufacturer was and what model it was, there was nothing I could enter to get pass the form to the actual download.
Pffft!
I bet there is already a hacker patch to make WGA believe you have a genuine Windoze XtraProblems.
#2 You bet there is… 😉
” #3 #2 You bet there is… 😉 ”
Link ?… Just kidding. 😉
She said they won’t turn off your computer, not that they won’t turn off Windows.
Of course they won’t turn off… If they did they’d risk a mass migration to OSX or Linux. These are very viable alternatives to WinXP. One is cheaper and much prettier and the other is free…
And for Micro$oft, a illegitimate copy of windows is still a PC running windows. It might not put money directly in their pockets, but it helps to set the Windows “de facto” standard on the desktop.
It’s nice having a hacker in the family who actually gets paid for being a geek. I just showed this Post to my wife — and her response was — “Great. A good hacker can take WGA with a Kill Switch and send it back out into the world with a switch to Kill the genuine copies.”
Mission Accomplished..
How can any company be so arrogant about such a virus-prone, buggy piece of OS crap. Surely XP will go down as one of the worst botch-jobs of an OS ever. They should be paying us money to use it!
“Surely XP will go down as one of the worst botch-jobs of an OS ever. ”
JimJammer that isn’t fair. Vista isn’t out yet.
#6. Of course they won’t turn off… If they did they’d risk a mass migration to OSX or Linux.
True … and they’d also be showing the world that they really are “inside our box” – something else that has been denied by Microsoft.
I do hope everybody downloads a distro of Linux though … just to be on the safe side.
I’m not real computor savvy….like anyone here who knows me hasn’t already figured out. I have been urged (and threatened) by good friends to go to Linux……but I’m afraid I’m too dumb to do it correctly, so have avoided doing it.
A friend in Holland who is even less savvy than I am just went to Firefox?, Mozilla?…..but, he had someone do it for him. Are these things really that difficult for an average computor user to download and do?
#11. I’m not real computor savvy….
Not difficult at all. The latest reslease from Ubuntu for instance installed flawlessly on my laptop (Thinkpad T23). I use a GNet wireless PC Card in it, which I normally have to find drivers for, but this found it as well. From start to finish, I was on the Internet in about a 1/2 hour. If a person is playing on the Net (web, email, IM), performing normal “office type” things like word processing and stuff, playing the odd game (not the commercial Warcraft types) … they can do all this from Linux right “out of the box”.
Go grab a Live CD version of some Distro and boot off the CD and experience Linux yourself without installing anything. If nothing else you can at least have fun playing with something different for a few hours. Google “linux live cd” and have fun …
thanks Rebel.
Should Microsoft decide to play hardball with the computing masses there will most likely form two camps of unequal size; those clueless ones who plug it in then does whatever prefaces the (recommended) tag, and those who will simply search out different, and maybe even better, computing solutions.
yeah this thing about the a differnt way of lic copies of windows is ok i think that it will give the hacker comunity a chance to explore what MICROSOFT call Antipiaricy technologies
The WGA kill switch did kick in when I scheduled a chkdsk to run on next reboot. They are lying about it not kicking in – the keyboard was LOCKED – there was no prior notification – those WGA screens came up AFTER the keyboard was locked. Computer came up only in SAFE MODE. Corporate customer. When I clicked on RESOLVE now, it went to a go.microsoft site THAT NO LONGER EXISTS.
Computer was purchased 2 years ago.
Took it to Best Buy at 8pm. Best Buy looked at the hologram sticker and said the computer was genunine. Someone there mentioned the reseller – a MAJOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA NAME – had been cited for non genuine licenses, but that it was in the newspapers this reseller was ALSO burned by Microsoft themselves. While acknowledging – bottom line – our company had been screwed, none of this was fair business practice, they offered their “911 service”, meaning, 24 hour turnaround – which would have cost us $900 dollars. They tried to figure out a way to lower the cost to us. However, all our biz programs would have to be reloaded. This means we’re SOL for 3 days.
Hey – what do you expect of a country and their anti-Racketeering policies that decriminalizes KEN LAY of Enron, and lets BILL GATES – IMO a higher echelon racketeer than KEN LAY or CARLOS MARCELLO (Mafia to those of you
outside the US) – get away with CORPORATE TERRORISM?
Anna
…I know what the A stands for in WGA. My bottom line? The real cost is this ONE incident WILL start a process that WILL end Microsoft. I guarandamntee that.