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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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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)