I'm used to any news involving Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy system involving headaches for innocent Windows users who are simply trying to use the software they paid for. But here's a positive development: Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista SP1, shipping early next year, will end the kill-switch measure that cripples every aspect of Windows Vista except limited Web browsing if it believes you to have a pirated copy of the operating system. (Over at ZDNet, Ed Bott has a good summary of this and other WGA changes.)
I say "believes" because WGA has had a nasty tendency to become confused and accuse paying customers of stealing their software. When it did this to thousands of users back in August, I gnashed my teeth and wrote a column telling Microsoft that it needed to either make fundamental changes to WGA or simply end it altogether.
Killing the kill switch is a good start, since it'll reduce the chances that Vista will mistakenly prevent deny functionality to paying customers. But it doesn't represent fundamental change to WGA. In fact, in this interview over at Microsoft's own site, Microsoft VP Mike Sievert says that "It?s worth re-emphasizing that our fundamental strategy has not changed. All copies of Windows Vista still require activation and the system will continue to validate from time to time to verify that systems are activated properly."
Which is another way of saying that WGA will continue to be an affront to Microsoft customers. The initial activation process you go through with a new copy of Windows isn't too onerous. But every time Microsoft makes customer re-validate their copies of the operating system, it's inconveniencing them and effectively accusing them of possibly being thieves--and all because WGA doesn't work well enough to determine once and for all whether a particular copy of Vista is legitimate or not.
And I have no confidence at all that we've seen the last instance of WGA misbehaving and declaring that paid-for copies of Vista are fakes. Should that happen again, Vista SP1 won't deny access to any features. But according to Ed Bott's post, it'll still annoy them with messages accusing them of piracy. It'll change their wallpaper. And it'll give them a dialog box that makes them wait until they can postpone activation.
OK, it's possible that SP1's WGA has eliminated the possibility of customers being treated like crooks. But if so, Sievert doesn't say so in his interview. In fact, he doesn't say a thing addressed at Microsoft customers who must jump through hoops to help the company protect its profits. In a just world, it would be a very long time before any Microsoft representative was allowed to discuss WGA in public without issuing apologies to all the customers it's inconvenienced; I heard from dozens of them after I wrote my column on the topic.
(Actually, in a just world, Microsoft would be forced to remove the word "Advantage" from the name of this technology, given that there's nothing advantageous about it...)
For years, the Microsoft monopoly made it very hard for anyone to opt out of using Windows. Thanks to the resurgent Mac OS X and ever-improving Linux--neither of which are burdened with copy protection--that's no longer true. WGA remains a significant argument against choosing Windows, and will be one until it gets far more seamless or simply goes away.
I agree with this article completely. I have been asked (accused) at least three times to verify my "licensed" copy of XP. This is really a pain, especially if you have to replace your hd and re-install your os on it and then get "accused of stealing. People will steal if they want to no matter what you do to keep it from happening. I've become so fed up with Microsoft that it no longer is my primary operating system on my laptop (and yes it was a licensed copy of MS). I now use Linux and would use it on the desktop except my wife would have a fit. She doesn't like me changing things that she is used to on the computer.
MS had better wake up and smell the roses, because with the gains of Apple's OS and Linux one of these days they won't be the most used OS, if they keep treating their customers like theives.
As an independent IT professional, I see the woes of WGA in all its forms.
The mentality of it escapes me; it cannot and will never prevent 'genuine' pirates from taking 'advantage' of Microsoft's products, while it assaults the integrity of honest customers.
Although the move has some PR value which they'll naturally exploit, I can't bring myself to believe it has any significance with respect to Microsoft's mindset.
The beast, I'm convinced, is still relentless and utterly unrepentant. They're removing the kill switch because their own analysis shows it adds little or nothing to the effectiveness of their harassment campaign; and perhaps because it exposes them to potential liability when it malfunctions.
Given that Vista itself is such a mass of wrongheadedness, it's rather ironic they're going to such lengths to 'protect' it. I'm continuing to recommend XP to all my clients who feel they must use a Windows O/S.
Kudos, Harry, for taking a firm stand against this outrage.
As a IT person with many years (18+) I have to ask: How can you make these statements?
"For years, the Microsoft monopoly made it very hard for anyone to opt out of using Windows."
This is probably the only truth in this paragraph, but let's be honest. Microsoft has never put a gun to anyone's head. Management opts for Windows. Microsoft does have a virtual monopoly, that's very true. But please place the blame where it belongs, firmly on the heads of management and the end user at home. If they all chose not to use Windows, Microsoft would collapse tomorrow.
" Thanks to the resurgent Mac OS X and ever-improving Linux--neither of which are burdened with copy protection--that's no longer true."
This remark is, at best, evasive. Please do more research next time. OSX requires a Mac to run because of protection placed in the OS. There is no other reason why it won't run on PCs.
It's true that FOSS versions of Linux don't, but some commercial Linux software does.
Upgrading to Windows XP has been a dream come true! It actually works! Of course someday I will be forced to change to Vista and when the time comes, I hope MS gets their heads on straight. Some people have said "Change to MAC!" MACS are still computers that cost too much. Both MS & APPLE look down on the common person. Absolute Power Corrupts!