Comments on: Fighting Microsoft's piracy check

The software pushes ahead with a piracy check tool for Windows as some users complain about system troubles and unwanted data collection.

[newtnNYC]

The Market Responds...

Thus far the primary response has been one of customer dissent and outsider ridicule. My own experience has been one of observation and reflection. Personally, I have several pc systems that run various OS platforms for specific reasons. I have a dual boot laptop that originally was purchased with WinXP but now primarily runs Linux. I use the Windows installation under VMware only in a support role for my valued Windows-based customers, and for a few very specific Windows-only applications. I also have test-beds running Win2000 and 2003 server. Otherwise I use a combination of Linux/Solaris for my productivity and everyday OS's.

The issue at stake here is not one of Microsoft's right to their anti-piracy efforts - certainly they have the right to protect their IP - rather one of the market's right to make choices as a result of those efforts. I made the choice more than 5 years ago to begin using Linux as my OS of choice for everyday use because I didn't want to get caught in the proprietary and pseudo-monopolistic powers of the world's most powerful software company. That was my choice then as it remains today.

I'm no Microsoft hater. I still do a great deal of consulting work for my clients on their platforms, however I must say that as they continue to move toward what is perceived to be draconian measures the market, which today offers more and more choices, will indeed respond in a significant way.

It isn't just WGA. I have several small business customers that use Windows specifically because their primary database for their business is in MS Access. These are companies that have as much as $15 million in revenue but are small manufacturers so their office staff is not particularly large. They were appalled (each and every one of them) that their "server" which hosted their Access database could only accommodate 10 connections. Not because it was a technology problem but because after 10 users Microsoft decided to break the functionality of XP Pro and force them to buy the 2000/2003 Small Biz Server product from them. Again, Microsoft is within their right to do so but it alienates customers to do such things.

And given a choice, all 8 of these customers of mine, have moved to a Linux-based server platform. In fact, 4 of them have moved even their desktops to Linux - primarily due to the constant problems with viruses and malware which required their machines to be re-imaged every 6 months or so.

WGA will only exacerbate the current climate of discontent and more will choose to utilize competing products including Unix/Linux and MacOS. Only when Microsoft sees an erosion of their market share will they change their strategy and tactics. y problem but because after 10 users Microsoft decided to break the functionality of XP Pro and force them to buy the 2000/2003 Small Biz Server product from them. Again, Microsoft is within their right to do so but it alienates customers to do such things.

And given a choice, all 8 of these customers of mine, have moved to a Linux-based server platform. In fact, 4 of them have moved even their desktops to Linux - primarily due to the constant problems with viruses and malware which required their machines to be re-imaged every 6 months or so.

WGA will only exacerbate the current climate of discontent and more will choose to utilize competing products including Unix/Linux and MacOS. Only when Microsoft sees an erosion of their market share will they change their strategy and tactics.

And only when they are forced to make their products, which have viable cheaper and even free substitutes available now, more price competitive (compare the relative prices of hardware over the past 10 years with Microsoft's OS and Office which now finally have real competition) will they be able to dramatically reduce piracy of their products. The more they continue to back their customers into a corner technologically, the more likely they are to lose them. The best answer for Microsoft to software piracy is re-evaluating their pricing power.

[GrandpaN1947]

Windows DRM

I find it interesting that there are 180 comments on this issue, most of which are negative. Yet most of these people will jump on the Windows Vista bandwagon. The DRM built into Vista will be much worse than this WGA issue ever thought of being. You might as well get used to "Them" knowing everything about your computer, your computer habbits, everything, if you're going to use Windows. There is nothing to be gained by complaining. If you don't like it, leave it. YOU don't HAVE to buy Vista. You don't have to tell "THEM" everything about you. Just make the right choice.

[gavster64]

Doublespeak?

"Our experience is that customers--as long as the process is understandable, unobtrusive, quick and painless--appreciate not only their copy of Windows more, but also appreciate Microsoft more," David Lazar, director of the Windows Genuine program at Microsoft, told CNET News.com last week."

Hahahahahahahahaha hahahahhaa - oooooohhhh - hahahahaha - oh, the humanity . . .

[fi_flyer]

From DOS 1.0 to ... a Mac

I had the original PC and have had every flavor of DOS (and Windows) since 1.0. After WGA trashed my IBM T42 (with Window XP installed by IBM), I decided that enough was enough. I bought a Mac, found it to be a fine computer ... and have not looked back.

I own stock in Microsoft -- for how much longer is another question -- and have been reasonably satisfied until Microsoft abused its critical update patching program and rendered my computer unusable.

It is absurd that an operating system would intentionally destroy the usefulness of the computer on which it is installed. It would be more absurd for me to continue to rely on a OS that intentionally installed a trojan horse program on my computer.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice ....

[TroyHR]

Linux galore

Theres plenty of Linux in the sea...

[jmagecko]

RUMOR on WGAP future usage - disable suspect OS installs

It is important to understand this is reported as a RUMOR being discussed around the internet.

An item on http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/4794/53/

suggests that a future use of Microsoft's WGAP program will be to INTENTIONALLY disable a user's computer if the program suspects it is a non-genuine license version of the OS.

Given the incredibly bad history of MS software bugs, and the clear history of problems with the WGAP itself, this seems a very risky thing for MS to consider implementing.

Screwing someone's computer up by mistake is one thing...screwing the computer up intentionally is quite another.

I think WGAP is already skating on broken ice with respect to classification as a virus/malware/spyware/etc.

I believe if the WGAP is changed to intentionally harm the operation of the target computer, it will be in violation of federal computer crime statutes, REGARDLESS OF THE INTENT.

[jmagecko]

MAJOR change in WGAP policy - Microsoft sanctioned removal instructions

A MAJOR change in Microsoft WGAP policy, including Microsoft-sanctioned uninstall procedures.

http://news.com.com/Microsoft+Heres+how+to+halt+WGA+alerts/2100-7350_3-6088669.html?tag=nefd.pulse

"Add or Remove Programs" won't work, but installing the new version will automatically remove the older version of the software.

In addition, Microsoft provides step-by-step instructions to remove the OLD version at its website. Those instructions also uninstall the updated version, but Microsoft does not sanction that and you left hanging in the wind if that screws up your system.

We'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

[genix--2008]

Long winded comment

"imacpwr" wrote: "Mac just keeps looking better and better and better...That's it Microsoft, just keep shooting yourself in the foot. Before you know it you'll be on your knees begging the public to come back."

Before I comment I wish to add that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does great work, it / they should be respected and supported. Keep up the good work Gates Foundation.

Microsoft has just recently started to admit publicly about the flaws, security, poor judgment calls ( IIS defaulted on Win2k Pro Installs, WGA calling home ), the list goes on. So now the public is hearing for the first time that all the money blown on cleaning viruses, malware have been in some ways Microsoft's fault. The lack of even the most basic security and defaulting users to administrator has been the overall reason we see such widespread infections. Why would a company with such rich resources and talented programmers choose to ship products with out security in place? Wasn't there just one programmer at Redmond that seen this as being a threat? Why did Microsoft choose to turn their head ? Simple ? Out of the Box Usability ?. Not that this is a bad thing, I admit I enjoy plug and play, quick app setups, and not having to venture into the control panel or switching to admin in order to initially setup something as simple as a printer. So out of the box has advantages, it would be wise to include during setup, maybe a few pointers, offer a helping hand. Service Pack 2 of XP has implemented such to a small degree, it still leaves the many faced with reinstalling after the fourth virus attack of the year wide open, that is if they are installing from XP or XP sp1. It's great that Microsoft has been more forthcoming with past ? OVERSIGHTS ?, and promising greater customer care and security in the next versions of Windows.

Will Microsoft continue to reign as the king of the hill ? Will customers continue to purchase their products based on this sudden and way past due admittance of ignorance ? Yes ! While many of my customers are feed up with all the security issues, inconveniences and over the past year have been researching alternatives. They are now also inquiring about ? Do you know what percentage of our Microsoft [ product here ] purchase goes toward the Gates Foundation ? ?. You see the timing is just right, Gates announces his reduction in daily operations at Microsoft and that he will focus on the foundation. Warren Buffet donates over 70% of his total net worth to the foundation. [http:// A quick side comment ? Thank you Mr. Buffet, truly thank you ? |http:// A quick side comment ? Thank you Mr. Buffet, truly thank you ? ]. With all the media buzz focused on the foundation, who and what they are, people have in ways associated Bill Gates founder of Microsoft with The Foundation. Yes, that sentence might read wrong at first. What I'm getting at is, people might become sympathetic toward Microsoft down the road because of the association and over look the general flaws and deceptions that I feel will continue. Hey, if I buy Windows [ version ] I will be contributing toward The Foundation, that for example had some role in saving Aunt Judy's life. Starting to see the potential problem ?
While I admire Gates, his family, friends, supporters of the Foundation and the many great achievements plus potential advancements, I would hate to see a poorly put together OS [ other products ] continue to gain market share based on, what just might be one of Microsoft's greatest PR campaigns. It's really a matter of smoke and mirrors, being that M$ nor The Foundation has publicly suggested that for example without Windows there would not be a Foundation, or with out the Foundation there would be no Microsoft.

Hopefully people will be able to separate Mr. Gates from the two and not base their continued support of Windows based products on the Foundation. In the event this does not happen, I suggest people donate directly to the Foundation and if you must have something tangible, pay the est $150-200.00 retail for Windows , keep it shrink wrapped and install a secure alternative in it's place.

"imacpwr" wrote: "Mac just keeps looking better and better and better...That's it Microsoft, just keep shooting yourself in the foot. Before you know it you'll be on your knees begging the public to come back."

I'm with you imacpwr, but it seems Microsoft has the worlds greatest medical professionals at their disposal. They can shoot themselves in the foot over and over all they want. I personally can not justify purchasing a product where the stability of my system and/or servers are at risk due to flaky WGA calling home services. It's bad enough when a home XP desktop burps for no reason, but when a server or server cluster burps for no reason it's costly. Granted Microsoft has announced they will pull this from the next update cycle, this is great news, but will they do something similar down the road ? can we trust that when such ' morally wrong ' business practices are used that our privacy, our customers privacy will be safe from Microsoft's marketing department eyes ? I'm all for protecting Intellectual property, however, there are certain lines that must not be crossed. Running services without notification and/or clearly marked logs of the activities is one of them, you may own the OS Microsoft, you do not own my IT staff, the hardware or contribute to our already under funded IT budget.

[whataheadache]

Microsoft relents, issues WGA removal instructions

Microsoft has relented to our gripes (and those of countless others), and has issued "safe" means of disabling WGA Notifications, so it never phones home. No 3rd party hacks. Interestingly, they have also now reissued the WGA Notifications update as a "release" instead of "pre-release". So if you disable your pre-release version, you may still be prompted later to install the "release" version. So be careful, and read this document fully before proceeding. Here is the link official link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921914
Thanks, MS. Now leave us alone.

[whataheadache]

Microsoft issues REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS

Microsoft relents to WGA concerns.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921914
for official removal and disabling instructions.
Read carefully, otherwise you may end up installing a newer version of the same thing!

[pepolez]

M$, blind and stupid, desperately trying to rake in the cash

This is simply people fighting for their privacy, m$ has no right to spy on them. If the OS wasn't so damn expensive, maybe they'd have less people pirating it.

The tactics of M$ in relation to sales and use seems to be similar to that of a small child throwing a tantrum - their money is taken from them, so they begin to try every way they can to get it back, reguarless of effectiveness and make alot of noise doing so.

Yet another good oppurtunity to convert the masses to Linux (or at least the newbie distros).

Personally, with the chain of events negatively affecting M$ as they are, I envision a rapid increase in the userbase of UNIX based OSes (MacOS/Linux/BSD).

[fantasyd]

THEY'VE GOT A HOLD ON MY SYSTEM

I fell in a financial rut was unable to finish paying for my dell/microsoft system, only owed alittle left...now no support no upgrades no nothing they locked my system up on me so i cant even download anything ... i dont know much about computers only wanted to turn my vhs into dvds and record my albums and tapes but nothing works now...software & drivers i purchased not ms but ati and they even shut me down