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WGA Turning Off PCs in the Fall?
thesaint05 writes "We all know about Microsoft's WGA initiative that started last July. Most of us were troubled to learn that the WGA has been 'phoning home' to Microsoft at every boot. Well, get ready, because eventually Microsoft may be turning off copies of Windows without WGA installed. According to a Microsoft technician, 'in the fall, having the latest WGA will become mandatory and if its not installed, Windows will give a 30 day warning and when the 30 days is up and WGA isn't installed, Windows will stop working, so you might as well install WGA now.'" A new version of WGA was released on Tuesday and, at least for the time being, Windows users have the option of removing WGA from their systems.
What? What was that sound? Was that the sound of millions of unlicensed Windows machines all screaming out in shutdown all at once - and then suddenly silenced?
To keep the current Futurama motif running, quoth Professor Farnsworth, "The Jedi are going to feel this one!"
Seriously, though, doesn't Microsoft realize that significant number of users aren't going to go out and suddenly buy Windows? Sure, most (half?) will, but the rest will go hunting for a truly free (read: no-cost) alternative until a hack comes out.
How could this possibly be a good idea now ? Maybe if it had been there all along, or was introduced in a new release (XP, Vista, whatever)... but why spring it on the unsuspecting masses mid-cycle? That just screams massive user migration.
Not that I'm shedding any tears in reaction to that concept!
"Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
I can't imagine that Microsoft would be so stupid as to eventually start turning off people's Windows systems. Talk about cutting your own throat. Even the Microsoft fans would start thinking of turning to other OS options.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
It is their product, if you didn't pay for it I don't see how you can complain that they aren't going to support you or allow you to continue using it. If you want software to be free that much, use Linux and stop complaining.
The unsuspecting masses of copyright infringers, you mean. These people aren't giving them money anyway, and are unlikely to give them money. Microsoft must feel that they have a sufficient installed base that even when they lose the people who won't pay them, that they'll still have enough seats. However, this will definitely cause Linux desktop adoption to increase, there is NO way around that.
In fact, I'll be one of them; I'm not going to slide back to XP home with its bullshit permissions tools. (Yes, I know there's other tools you can use.) I have a couple of XP Home licenses even. Maybe I'll use one in a virtual machine.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Im still on SP1, i run a tight ship and have never had a problem with spyware or virii. My questions is, does microsoft have some way of forcing this on me or has the fact that i stopped using windows update over a year ago saved me?
Yes, but as the article stated the will turn off any machine not running the LATEST version of WGA. If you havn't installed any of the most recently updates whatsoever and have been running a pirated version all long there is no way that MS will be able to shut off your machine. This feature simply wasn't built in originally. So they will only be hurting those who are legal and don't have the most recent WGA version, or those who are illigal and stupid.
A couple of scenarios I typically see:
User #1: Has auto update on and is a member in good standing anyway. No problems
User #2: Has auto update off and is a member in good standing. No problems because they haven't updated their computer since they bought it.
User #3: Running cracked copy and will have a way around this doomsday scenario pretty soon.
Your user #3 is a minority in the U.S. Microsoft and every successful software company -knows- the key to making popular software is to make it easy enough to crack. So I don't see the Microsoft playing "license enforcer" anywhere except maybe the U.S.
Sensational summary though.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I agree to an extent. But the OP has a point as well. Either way, Microsoft will be decreasing their install base in order to gain a few more legit sales. Expect to see more volume license keys here and there.
This really smacks of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. If they do go through with this, I can see them losing their monopoly status within a few years.
Now they know that they really do have the world by the balls, and they've decided to squeeze.
Let's face it -- the MS fans will bitch and whine, then they'll do as they're told. This is going to be a very good bottom-line move for Microsoft.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
If this is all true, I'll eat my hat.
The thing to look it is how this might affect legitimate corporate versions of XP--and by that, I mean VLK versions actually being used in an enterprise setting.
The company for which I work has more than 100,000 copies of XP running in offices on six continents, participating in one of the largest Active Directory installations in the world. Every system's load is tightly controlled and managed, and I can tell you that there are no copies of WGA anywhere on any of those desktops (I've seen the SMS reports). Nor will there ever be.
People say to "vote with your dollars", but your dollars, and my dollars, don't matter. Large corporate dollars matter--like the kind of dollars that can outfit a company's world-wide IT needs. WGA has no place on a configuration-controlled and managed enterprise desktop, and MS would never risk upsetting their real customers--corporate Windows & Office sales--to emplace something like this.
Here is a funny related story to this. I have 3 PCs. 2 self built monsters for my personal use both with cracked copies of Win XP. The third is a Dell Laptop that I got from my company to use for DR. After the patch a few weeks back that started checking for "genuine" copies of Windows guess which one doesn't like me now?
I have a windows xp pro box which is fully licensed and activated however, the WGA spyware keeps bugging me at startup and accusing me of being a criminal just because it cannot connect to the mothership. The reason why it cannot connect to the mothership on startup is because I activate my internet manaully and not have it set to run on startup.
I have removed the WGA crap and will not be re-applying it nor any other windows update post SP2 for that matter.
I am a legitimate customer of MS and they accuse me of not having a genuine version of their product. I do hope the WGA comes back to bite them in the ass.
Now, where did I put that Ubuntu DVD?
What drove me to linux on the desktop was my increasing unease at the amount of stuff windows was sharing with MS. That was about 3 years ago, I suppose. I don't think people will move in droves either , but if the threat of it was enough to push me over the edge, I'd imagine there's plenty more people not too unlike me that would move as well. I'm not -that- unusual.
there is no need to sign your posts. this isn't usenet. your username is right there above your post. stop it.
Making WGA mandatory doesn't mean ALL illegal copies of windows will be shut off, only the ones that have WGA installed.
You can do a fresh (and illegal) install of Windows from the leaked corporate verion floating around, load SP2 on it (you can download SP1 and SP1, directx, media player 10, etc as 'standalone' installer packages and get around the whole WGA issue), and just completely turn off automatic updates. Without WGA installed, the OS will never phone home and will never be deactivated. Problem solved?
However, not having WGA installed will prevent future security updates and bug fixes, which means you'll have to take care to use a firewall and/or anti-virus apps accordingly, and install apps which won't bog you down with spyware/malware/adware (which unfortunately the general public mostly doesn't do, but this solution works for any semi-intelligent individual).
Chums up, let's do this!
Nobody is moving to Linux because the games aren't there, the thousands of cheesy little Windows applications people love aren't there, it's different (read: scary), and it's a pain in the ass for most joe schmoes to install.
They might move to MACs. I've been doing windows support for decades and in the last several months, I've actually had some users ask about hooking their MACs into our network....I was shocked because these users are not savy with the tech. I would have thought moving to a MAC would be a big deal for them...but it wasn't.
I helpped them and I am hopeful about Apple's new sleek laptops. Doesn't hurt that they have such nice ads for the MACs now....
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
You know, I'd love to know, HOW can Microsoft turn off copies without the WGA installed? Do they have some kind of back door that they had installed ages ago? Built into XP from when we installed it from binaries? That seems odd.
Rawr
Indeed it is.
Especilally to a user with a ten to fifteen years investment in Windows software and hardware to protect.
To him migration to Linux has all the appeal of root canal.
This cannot possibly be a good idea. Let me tell you about my WGA experience. I bought a legimate copy of WIndows XP Pro from Insight Computers in (about) 2002. Full copy (not an upgrade) and it cost me $300.00. About 6 weeks ago I came home to a notice on my computer saying that I might be the victim of piracy and that my copy of Windows wasn't genuine. I KNOW that it was. I bought it form a reputable vendor, I activated with MS, the whole thing. I searched Google, I read everything that I could find about why it would say it wasn't genuine when it was. I called Insight, I called MS. Any time I told anyone about my problem they IMMEDIATELY assumed that the copy wasn't genuine and that I was pirating software. We do a lot of business with Dell so I called the MS Rep with our Dell team and got the same thing. No one even considered the fact that this problem could be malware related or a problem with WGA. I was furious. I do not pirate software. Finally I found an obscure post on MS website that said something about deleting the WGA directory and rebooting to reset WGA. I did and haven't had the problem since. No one at MS pointed this out to me, I had to stumble on it myself after weeks of searching. I nearly threw the computer out and bought a mac. If anything lie this happens again, I will buy a mac. I can understand MS wanting to protect their investment but they really error on the side of caution. Incorrectly accusing their customers of piracy is not a good business move. And what will happen when the deadline passes and the malware triggers this same scenario?
I tell you, I came from Linux to Windows XP, and Windows is just as Strange, Scary, and Wrong as Linux was. However I keep using it because my laptop works better this way.
you should read everything on the internet as if it had "but I'm probably talking out of my ass" appended to it.
I'm guessing the functionality will be rolled into a critical security patch, if it hasn't already been. That seems like the most likely scenario.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No... they won't need to migrate anything. Some fortune 500 company who didn't install windows correctly is gonna have all their computers shut off at once and MS is going to get sued like there's no tomorrow. And that'll pretty much be the end of WGA.
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I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
Others may have made similar points, but here's it is in a nutshell. Microsoft's claim to fame is that people don't know anything else. They are dependant upon Windows because they know that if they need help, most of the people they know use windows, and can't help with anything other than the few pieces of software that came prepackaged with their previous purchases. They do it because tech support personell are just looking for any excuse to say "not my problem", and if they find out you're not using Windows, hot damn, will their eyes light-up. In short, they are in the Windows camp because they have nowhere else to go.
If other operating systems start to creep their way out of the "niche audience" category, and into the "mainstream, yes, my freakin' grandmother has a copy (and no, i didn't install it for her)" category, then microsoft will soon find themselves competing again.
Right now, Windows' main competitor is piracy, which still gives them a monopoly. So, if half the world steals Windows, and the other half buys, then, no biggie; they can just charge double. But, if half the world uses the competition, they can't raise prices, for fear of losing the customers they have left.
OK, WGA, if installed, checks to see if your copy of windows is properly licensed.
Let's say, that my copy is not properly licensed.
I haven't installed WGA, because I know my copy is not properly licensed. WGA cannot notify MS that my copy is not licensed.
Windows does not currently contain any code that makes it "shut down" if WGA hasn't reported in. I know this because WGA has been available for quite some time, and my windows has not become inactive.
In order to achieve this, MS will have to DEPLOY some sort of update that that will do this.
Hell, if I can prevent WGA from being installed, what is to keep me from just NOT INSTALLING this new piece of code?