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Paul Thurrott Bitten by WGA
suntory writes "Paul Thurrott, one of the most important Microsoft advocates, has been bitten by Windows Genuine Advantage. As some Slashdot users have reported, Paul installed a bunch of updates in his machine and now Microsoft thinks that he is using pirated software." From the post: "Truthfully, I can only imagine what triggered these alerts. The software was installed to a VM a long time ago and archived on my server. I no doubt used a copy of XP MCE 2005 that I had received as part of my MSDN subscription. If the WGA alerts are to be believed, it's possible that Microsoft thinks I've installed this software on too many machines, though that seems unlikely to me. I can't really say. Anyway, that's what it looks like to be a suspected pirate. Like many people who will see these alerts, I don't believe I did anything wrong. I'm sure that's going to be a common refrain in this new era of untrusting software and companies. Ah well."
Sometimes it seems to me that Microsoft is more of an abuse company than a software company. Software is just the delivery method for the abuse. The WGA patch that is causing problems for Paul Thurrott is labeled "Critical" on the Windows Update web site, and Microsoft admits it is beta software.
How would you like to be a programmer for a company that apparently cannot get anything to work correctly the first time?
After decades of good judgement about money, Warren Buffett has made the biggest mistake of his life, giving his money to something run by the disfunctional Bill Gates and his angry wife. Often rich people like foundations because everyone they meet is very nice to foundation owners so they will get free money.
That's fine if you're only doing web browsing and email, and that's all they'll ever want to do. (I never tried Thunderbird, but I fail to see what that has to do with my comment about KMail).
OOo is fine too, if you never need to send the files to anyone else.
And if those two cases are all you're using your computer for than Linux may be fine. The problem is that I think the average user does a bit more, like video editing (my uncle, a computer novice does this).
"The "average user" tends to not use any programs that didn't come with the computer."
You are a fucked up retard. Which is average for an anti-Windows slashdot shit poster. Even my mother uses programs that did not come with the computer, and she has to ask how to perform simple actions over and over all the time. I wouldn't expect her to be able to move a file around when she can barely copy and paste text. But she still uses applications that didn't come with the PC.
No one is stopping you from running your precious OS-X on your desktop, but as an admitted "cheapass" it must chap your hide everytime Steve Jobs makes you pony up more than $100 for a service pack!
A man who wants nothing is invincible