Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
> Windows' Genuine Disadvantage
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | When you install Vista, Microsoft claims that you consent to being
> | spied upon, through the "Windows Genuine Advantage" system. This
> | system tries to identify instances of copying that Microsoft thinks
> | are illegitimate. This system includes a "kill switch" which allows
> | Microsoft to remotely deactivate your copy of Vista. This
> | deactivation, whether deliberate or by accident -- as has been the
> | case in some 500,000 cases already according to a study last year
> | -- locks you out of your computer, and forces you to contact
> | Microsoft to get access to your files.
> `----
>
> http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/windows-genuine-disadvantage
Apparently Microsoft have dropped the kill switch:
'Kill switch' dropped from Vista
.----
| Microsoft is to withdraw an anti-piracy tool from Windows Vista,
| which disables the operating system when invoked, following
| customer complaints.
|
| The so-called "kill switch" is designed to prevent users with
| illegal copies of Vista from using certain features.
|
| But the tool has suffered from glitches since it was introduced
| with many Windows users claiming that legal copies of Vista had
| been disabled.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7126902.stm
This is likely because of a combination of three factors.
First, the system was horribly broken, resulting in possibly millions of
false positives, and the realisation that when the WGA authentication
servers go titsup, it tends to cause a bit of a global disaster:
.----
| We contacted our sources at Microsoft, who told us off the record
| that the company is aware of a major WGA server outage affecting
| users across the globe. The Windows Genuine Advantage support forum
| has exploded with complaints as a result, and Phil Liu, WGA project
| manager, says that he won't sleep until the problem is fixed.
| Windows Vista and XP are affected, 32- and 64-bit versions.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070825-windows-genuine-advantage-suffers-worldwide-outage-problems-galore.html
Second, like the general backlash against all other forms of DRM, WGA is
hugely unpopular, even (or especially) amongst legitimate customers; for
many reasons including privacy and the system's general unreliability:
Windows Genuine Advantage falsely accuses millions
.----
| Windows Genuine Advantage is a controversy wrapped in an enigma
| buried inside a migraine headache. Or at least that's what it is
| for the millions of users who have been falsely identified as
| software pirates as a result of WGA's attempt to root out piracy.
|
| Since July 2005, one in five computers running Windows have failed
| so-called Windows Genuine Advantage tests according to data from
| Microsoft. More than 22 percent of over 500 million systems that
| were subjected to the browser-based validation scheme were
| identified as invalid copies of Windows.
|
| All told, some 114 million systems failed the test, which, in terms
| of retail sales of Windows XP, accounts for over $5 billion in lost
| potential revenue. The problem with such estimates is that it is
| unclear why all of these systems failed. Less than 0.5% of these
| systems were reported as having counterfeit software. Were the rest
| necessarily pirated by end users? No.
|
| Last summer Microsoft admitted that over 20% of WGA failures were
| caused by something other than key piracy
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070124-8690.html
Another Windows Genuine Advantage lawsuit to seek class action status
.----
| The debacle surrounding Windows Genuine Advantage just won't go
| away. Late last month Microsoft found itself the target of a
| complaint seeking class action status over WGA's behavior, and now
| we have learned that a second related suit has been filed.
|
| Brought by Engineered Process Controls, LLC, Univex, Inc., Edward
| Mifsud, David DiDomizio, and Martin Sifuentes, the suit charges
| that WGA is essentially spyware, inasmuch as users are deceived to
| install it by being led to believe that it is a security update.
| The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Western
| District of Washington.
|
| "WGA is 'spyware' that transmits data to Microsoft's central
| computer ("phones home") every time a PC is booted up and every 24
| hour thereafter," the suit alleges.
|
| ...
|
| Daily or not, privacy advocates are outraged. The suit complains
| that "Microsoft does not advise users of these phone home
| capabilities. WGA gathers data that can easily identify individual
| PCs and WGA can be modified remotely to collect additional
| information at Microsoft initiation." The complaint continues,
| "software hackers can exploit WGA to not only collect data but also
| to modify users' computers." The suit contends that Microsoft and
| WGA violate Federal and Washington State law and "public policy on
| privacy, security, consumer deception, notice and consent."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060705-7188.html
The third, and probably most important reason, is that Microsoft are so
desperate to boost uptake of the embarrassingly unpopular Vista, that
they're even prepared to endure the deployment of illegitimate copies:
Microsoft Exec Admits That Company Benefits From Piracy
.----
| Jeff Raikes, head of the company's business group, said at a recent
| investor conference that while the company is against piracy, if
| you are going to pirate software, it hopes you pirate Microsoft
| software. He cited the above reasoning, noting that users of
| pirated Microsoft software are likely to purchase from the company
| later on.
|
| He said the company wants to push for legal licensing, but doesn't
| want to push so hard so as to destroy a valuable part of its user
| base. The company recently got a stark reminder of this lesson when
| a school in Russia said it would switch to Linux to avoid future
| hassles with the pirate police.
`----
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070312/165448.shtml
The LA Times article, "How Piracy Opens Doors for Windows", where Gate's
made the infamous "They'll get addicted, and then we'll collect" comment
seems to have mysteriously disappeared.
Not to worry, there are copies all over the Net. Here's one:
.----
| Although the world's largest software maker spends millions of
| dollars annually to combat illegal copying and distribution of its
| products, critics allege — and Microsoft acknowledges — that piracy
| sometimes helps the company establish itself in emerging markets
| and fend off threats from free open-source programs.
|
| ...
|
| The proliferation of pirated copies nevertheless establishes
| Microsoft products — particularly Windows and Office — as the
| software standard. As economies mature and flourish and people and
| companies begin buying legitimate versions, they usually buy
| Microsoft because most others already use it. It's called the
| network effect.
|
| ...
|
| "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China,
| people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though,"
| Gates told an audience at the University of Washington. "And as
| long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours.
| They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how
| to collect sometime in the next decade."
`----
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=452150&mode=threaded
> Wait until they shut down computers for (potentially false) suspicion
> of infringements.
It'll never happen; they'd lose most of their "customers" overnight.
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "[Microsoft] are willing to lose money for years and years just to
| make sure that you don't make any money, either." - Bob Cringely.
| - http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
`----
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.23.8-63.fc8
13:47:00 up 29 days, 11:22, 3 users, load average: 0.03, 0.09, 0.13
|
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