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Microsoft Just Wants a Little Look
waynegoode writes "Do you want to let Microsoft check if your copy of Windows is legit? How about if they promise it's anonymous? How about if they give you some free stuff? Recently Microsoft launched their Genuine Advantage Program to let you (and Microsoft) check if your OS is legal. They hoped for 20,000 responses but received 800,000 without offering anything but piece of mind. Now they are throwing in a bunch of free and discounted stuff including Photo Story 3 and the Holiday Fun Pack to try to get more volunteers. Read more at news.com and Microsoft Watch."
If I pirated windows, why wouldn't I pirate this too?
If anything, give away a tshirt or a hat or some other convention junk.
Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
From their site:
Using genuine Microsoft software ensures that you get world-class reliability, security, and support...
I don't think I need to comment on the reliability and security issue around here. But I have a strange feeling if Microsoft really gave
"world-class" support, half of Slashdot's readers would be out of jobs. I think they need to come up with a more realistic explanation of why it's worth spending 300 dollars for Windows.
It's not so much for Joe user with his activation crack. I have a feeling this is more-or-less sniffing out people who use the Corp. Edition that is activation-free and thereby never needs to be registered, etc. and can run Windows Update to begin with (I've not yet found a copy of Home or Pro that can get on Windows Update "safely").
They may not shut down your copy but you can bet they'll look into the company that bought that strand of registration keys that you just so happen to be piggy-backing on.
While you might have to trust that they're not going to try to hunt you down, it really does seem at this point that they are simply seeking to inform unsuspecting users that they may have received an illegit copy of Windows from a retailer. Most people who are intentionally pirating, aren't going to try to validate it. The focus of this campaign isn't try to catch Joe-Bob that loaned his copy to his sister, it's trying to get consumers who bought a copy of Windows at the corner PC store to go back and demand a legit copy.
I was going to run it, but it doesn't work under Mozilla. Oh well.
What?
get world-class reliability, security, and support...
;-)
No, they mean that Windows is about as reliable, secure and supportive as the world at large is today.
They're more concerned in targeting the people who are selling copies of Windows as legit retail copies, when they're just repackaged pirated versions. They don't have much interest in going after the average user, because the average user isn't worth the trouble. If they can shutdown a major retail pirate outlet, or find a medium-sized business running 500 copies of Windows that are all pirated; it would be a pretty good deal for them.
People that know they are pirating aren't going to run this tool (unless they're idiots). So, most of those that run it will either know for certain their copy is legit (or think it is) and 99.9% of them will probably turn out to be legit. It's the guy that bought his copy at the 2-bit shop down the street that finds out that it's not a legit copy that might just get pissed enough to turn in the bastard that sold it to him. He's not responsible for having it, and MS knows that. They want the phony retailer, not the poor schmuck that bought from him.
What?
This isn't aimed at those who know they aren't legit. This is targeted to those who purchase a PC from some 3rd rate shop and want to check that the cd they were given is authentic.
You should have contacted your manufacturer and demand they send you a proper CD Key for your computer; obviously this is a quality issue at their factory (wrong CD Key with install). Also, they will usually ship you a set of CDs if you request them, at no charge. Just convince them the partition holding the HDD Image is corrupt if they give you crap.
What?
You know, this really makes me wonder.
The whole point of making users "activate" a new installation of Windows is to discourage the use or distribution of pirated copies. It didn't really work. The honest people stayed honest, but were inconvenienced. And the pirates kept pirating.
I might guess that activation is probably something of an inconvenience to MS as well. It didn't work as well as they had hoped, and in fact they had to keep track of illegitimate or "leaked" product keys in addition to the good ones. And it still hasn't stopped piracy.
So now MS is throwing "carrots" out to people in an effort to weed out illegal copies of Windows. They haven't said just what they're going to do with the data they've collected, or how they'll expect users to deal with it. More work for them, and potential pain for those that thought they had purchased legal copies of Windows, but didn't.
I don't know if I have a point... but this all just looks bad to me, and does seem to make product activation more and more of a hassle for everybody all around. It just seems to escalate, and I wonder if this is a case of diminishing returns. Maybe it gives MS some benefit (perhaps the marketing people get good data out of it somehow), but discouraging piracy doesn't seem to be one of them, from what I can see.
sigh
Are they giving away Microsoft Bob along with those "Hot new holiday visualizations for Media Player?"
I have a better idea.
How about I don't run Windows at all. Ever.
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
hmm.
i'm sure the brilliant minds at microsoft have devised/gleemed all sorts of angles on how this information might help them.
somehow, i doubt 3rd rate shops even rank in the top 10.
Interesting either way though.
How is it evil to want to find people selling illegally copied software as legit? Look, if I pay for something, I expect it to be legit, as in I expect it to be what I wanted, made by the company, not stolen, etc. If I go and and buy something from a store, I expect that it's not stolen good. Likewise, if I buy software, I expect it's a legit copy, not an illegal one.
Look, you can argue that people should be allowed to make copies of software you have and distribute them. That is a defensible alternate view of copyright. However to sell software as legit when it's not, that's just fraud. We are talking about bussinesses lying to consumers to make extra money.
If you pirate Windows, you're helping Microsoft dominate the desktop market.
If you need software, you should purchase it. To support proprietary solutions with their domination, will only come back to haunt us. This is stupid and egoistical short-term thinking.
By pirating Windows, you're supporting Microsoft domination on the desktop.
Justify your actions all you like, but in the end you're just helping Bill Gates while he's laughing all the way to the bank.
For the moment. How can MS say that genuine software is more reliable?
By denying known pirated keys access to future updates.
Personally, I'm all in favour of an anti-piracy drive. In this day an age, when you get get a decent OS for free, there really is no excuse for pirating Windows anymore. Cost doesn't come into it - perfectly serviceable alternatives exist and can legally be had for the cost of a CD-R.
Cheers,
Ian
Full compliance with Microsoft licensing terms is good for FOSS. As long as people live with the misconception that Microsoft software is affordable, because they pirate it or don't bother buying the right version, Microsoft's proprietary formats will remain entrenched. Furthermore, people should also take into account the impact on TCO that attempts to comply with vendor restrictions have (I'm sure Microsoft doesn't count that in their TCO studies).
To put it differently, OpenOffice would probably have a big jump in market share if all the pirated or incorrectly licensed versions of MS Office wordlwide were replaced with OpenOffice.
True, but if you have to go with Windows anyway -- for software compatibility reasons, for example -- then every buck you give them helps their domination even more.
That said, my primary OS is legit. But it happens to be made by Apple...
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus
Nope, you've just reduced the incentive for the software authors to port to another platform.
yep, market share is worth a lot more to an OS developer than the retail price.
Also consider this:
Wonder how many shops are reinstalling computers with XP Corp because the owner doesn't have / lost the original media and the computer had to be formatted. Telling them they're gonna have to shell out another hundred bucks for an OS is NOT a way to keep them happy
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
If this was RedHat, encouraging people to report GPL violations with the promise of a similar amount of free stuff, would it still be evil?
Are we really comparing apples to apples?
Is Redhat a convicted monopolist?
Does Redhat have a history of serious privacy violations?
Does Redhat make it difficult to interoperate with competing OS vendors?
Under Microsoft, do you really "own" your data?
All they're doing is trying to enforce their licence; or is that not allowed, as "they already have plenty of money"?
Microsoft licenses do in fact generate serious legal, financial, and IT issues for many groups. They even force you to accept license changes in so-called Service Packs.
Technically, even installing VNC will void your Windows license. Read the clause about "remote management" in the MS licensing.
I know this is a rant about licensing, but I don't think you can say "License is irrelevant... what about this license validator"?
and, likely, attempting to close the non-activation loophole for volume licensed copies with Longhorn
First, plenty of pirated versions of XP just use a cracked activator. VLK might make up for a larger percentage, only because it takes less effort. Fix that approach, and they'll just shift the balance rather than significantly affect the total.
Second, although to the average home user, the magic acronym "VLK" might sound like a godsend for piracy, for the average corporate IT person dealing with more than a dozen machines, the idea of not using a VLK sounds like insanity.
I spend almost half of my time at work healing PCs (around 150 wired employees, and not even my primary job description to keep them all happy). For anything more serious than "I can't print" (hyperbole, but not all that much), I just reinstall XP. Now, if I had to go through activation each time I do that... <Shudder>.
If every Joe User and even every Bob SuperAdmin had to pay full price (even OEM) for every single copy of Windows & Office (and Photoshop and x and y and z) out there, you would see a serious exodus to Linux and related.
Agree completely. You can currently get a decent new PC for well under $500. If the cost of that tripled just for software licensing, no one would run Windows.