Slashdot Mirror
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."
I think this is just brilliant... seriously.. Every time I hear legiment users of windows getting p***** off, or angry because their windows won't work, or that they can't install patch updates because they've installed new hardware, it really lightens up my day.
No, I don't revel in customers unsatisfactory, it bugs me, but I do laugh at how microsoft is loosing popularity and a user base extremely fast due to this.
Ubuntu, Here we come!
p.s. Ubuntu has released a version today based on the 2.6.17 kernel, and that kernel includes many new supported wireless cards, one of which I have in my laptop (broadcom 4308)
I have no idea why WGA issued a warning either, but I can say that if it had anything to do with a version of something installed on a VM, you would think that's a pretty esoteric corner case that some developer should just live with.
On the other hand, how many Microsoft systems are really all that vanilla these days? Perhaps the way WGA gets paid for is through Microsoft's 900 support number?
Honestly, with the number of false positives that WGA seems to be throwing up, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find that it's working exactly as it's supposed to. How many clueless users out there who received a legitimate copy of Windows with their machine are going to get these messages? Now how many of those same clueless users will then throw another couple hundred bucks at Microsoft to "become legitimate" (nevermind that they were legitimate before)? This just seems like yet another unethical move by a company who's shown that they have no problem being unethical (faking evidence in court anyone?)...
This guy's the limit!
Uh huh. And how many Apple computers are sold with a stolen copy of OS X?
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
The one and only time I ever had to call, I was immediately accused of installing the software on too many machines. They were so quick to jump the gun on it, that I know damn well they couldn't have been actually looked at the history for the software since it had been activated ONCE on the EXACT same hardware on ONE machine almost a year prior.
That is the ONE problem I have with Microsoft's software: they see pirates around every corner and their customers are criminals.
Legitimate Windows users have to put up with WGA. Legitimate Adobe Creative Suite users have to put up with activation processes that are a pain in the butt if you have a deadline and needed to reinstall on a new laptop because your previous one died. Legitimate DVD purchases have to put up with hard or impossible to skip FBI warnings before the actual content, while pirated versions either physical or downloaded have nothing of the sort.
How are they all getting it so very wrong?
'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
Its because this guy is a complete and total Lackey Wuss! He has a legitimate copy of a product and - from what I gather - is a journalistic outlet.
He has an opportunity to voice the opinions and concerns of the people and instead chose to bend over and take one right in the arse!
Thanks Paul and Fuck You very much!
http://windowsupdate.62nds.com/
You can keep you system up2date without having to fire-up Windows Update.
What's sad is how true this is nowadays. I'm 20, and so is my girlfriend. After getting shitty service at Best Buy, (and getting my bags searched every time I leave the place) I said, "This is enough. I'm never going back." And I haven't. If my friends want to get something there, I sit on the curb until they're done. Fuck Best Buy.
Anyway, my point: The other day I was sitting on said curb with my girlfriend while my friends went inside. She says, "I don't understand why you can't just even go inside. I'm done trying to figure you out." I replied, "What's so hard to figure out about not shopping at a place that sucks? Good companies get my dollar. Bad ones don't. That's how this is supposed to work." and she says, "Why do you have to be so political all the time?"
I'd like to think that most of America is like myself, and not like my girlfriend, but I have the feeling that most of my generation are idiots.
I was quoted out of context in my autobiography...
That's not really true. Joe Average wants WIndows because that's what he thinks a computer is. A box and a screen with the windows and the internet inside. He doesn't care about hardware support or software support.
Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
What are his requirements on Windows? Are there other operating systems which meet those requirements? Do those operating systems have similar "ah well" behavior as Windows?
A significant number of people who did nothing wrong will be hassled by WGA, whereas the determined pirate will continue his illegal copying of Windows. At the end of the day, this is the outcome of any copy protection scheme-- those who were on the fence about copying, or don't have the technical knowledge about how to circumvent the protection, will perhaps pony up the cash for a legit copy. (Or, in this case, have a legit copy and still be harassed.) Those who would have paid will continue to pay, and those who would have copied will continue to copy.
Maybe if Microsoft made the feature set crippled or mad Windows (Vista?) suck a lot less, this wouldn't be as much of a problem for them.
"Politicians find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the people."
He doesn't care about hardware support or software support.
He cares as soon as he puts in his World of Warcraft CD in and nothing happens. Then he assumes that the computer is broken, rings his supplier and asks to get a new computer that works 'properly' like his old one did. In other words, he wants Windows back, even if he doesn't know it himself.
I'll probably be modded down for this...
Which is interesting because when I replaced the hard drive in my laptop, which required me to reactivate Windows for the gosh knows how many'th time (The machine and the software is 5 years old almost, I bought it used which meant it was activated at least twice before I bought it - once on the original purchase and once when it was wiped to be resold) the software didn't want to activate by itself since it said it had been activated too many times already. The conversation with the person on the phone went something like this:
MS: Thank you for calling Microsoft, can I have the installation id that's on your screen?
Me: (reads long number)
MS: Thank you. (pause) Ok, how many machines has this been installed on? (You could read this as someone accusing me of piracy, but it's a pretty reasonable question when some people might not realise you're not supposed to install on numerous machines)
Me: Just the one
MS: And why do you need to reactivate?
Me: Replaced the hard drive in my laptop.
MS: Ok, I'm going to read out an activation number for you to put in the box, and you should be ok. (Gives me long number)
Very polite, minimal questions, took less than 5 minutes, and it was at 11:30 at night on a Saturday.
Now, it's fair enough to say that there might not be a real need for activation, that MS is being boneheaded by requiring it, or that they should be more trusting of their customers; these are all fair comments. It's also possible that you might have had a phone agent on a bad day. I just know from my experience that they've been always very very polite and if they err, it's on the side of permissiveness. I also assume that if I was hyper-sensitive and acted like a jerk, they might have been less polite to me. I would never suggest that was the case with you of course.
- ------- There are ten kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who... Huh?
I've forgotten why I mentioned this, but it had to do with the considerable overlap between our individual opinions of an "average user."
This is not my sandwich.
I'm saying this as someone who is twice your age: it's an age thing. She'll realize, some day, that her actions do have an effect. She already does, actually: I bet she doesn't drop her fast food bag, styrofoam container, and drink on the sidewalk when she's done with it because she knows that's disgusting and antisocial. She doesn't yet see that such an action is as "political" as not shopping at a store that's treated its customers badly. (and maybe she never will.)
And on to the other part: you, too, will realize that you don't have to make a crusade out of opposition. I'm not criticizing you: I think you're doing a good, upstanding thing. But you're doing it at the cost of damaging your relationship. In another ten years, you'll think twice about that particular tradeoff. That's why young people drive a lot of the change in the world: they're willing to sit out on the curb to protest things, where people with another twenty years are thinking "I support that, but I don't want to make waves."
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
(EG. One time, I tried to explain that my Windows activation problem was due to experimenting with installing my copy inside Virtual PC, and I had since removed that - and just wanted to put it back on my original PC like it was supposed to be. That was met with the support person repeating the question over and over, "How many total computers have you installed Windows on?" They seemed to have no idea what I was talking about.....)
What is so weird about that? Because they work in one department of a tech company, they aren't suddenly turned into technical virtuosos, or even technically literate people. The person on the other end had probably never heard of a Virtual PC, and would probably be confused if the concept was explained to them, as well as not understanding WHY one would ever want to do a thing like that.
The other persons probably saw the conversation like this;
Support: Ok, can I ask how many computers you have this copy of Windows installed on?
You: I only have it installed on one computer. The only reason it is doing this is because I had it installed on a Virtual PC on another computer awhile ago, but now I want to put this back on the computer it came on
(The Support Person here hears that you (A) had it installed on another computer at one point and (B) hears a term they are completely unfamiliar with, adding to the confusion)
Support: Uhh...How many total computers have you installed Windows on?
You: Just one.
Support: Thank you...
- Asian input methods. My girlfriend is from Taiwan and sends email to her friends back home, but she primarily wants her computer to be English-language. In Windows, getting Chinese input to work on an English install of the OS takes, oh, roughly 90 seconds or so of clicking around in the control panel UI, and once enabled it works perfectly in virtually every common modern desktop application. Linux, not so much -- please edit your X configuration, please do one thing if you're running GNOME and something else if you're running KDE, oh, and by the way, don't expect to be able to enter Chinese characters when you run an app since most of them either don't handle alternate input methods at all or are only compatible with the input system you aren't using. (I am not blowing smoke on this -- Mark Shuttleworth specifically mentioned lousy Asian input support as one of the reasons he wanted to delay the next Ubuntu release.)
- Media playing. Bitch all you want about how it's the fault of patents or closed formats from evil companies, the fact of the matter is that you can browse the web on a Windows machine and expect to be able to watch most of the video you come across, and listen to most of the music you come across. Linux? Well, if you're willing to violate the law, and you happen to know how to configure your system to install packages from nonstandard repositories, you can hack together support for some of the common formats. Not all of them, but hey, you didn't really want to watch that movie preview, did you?
- Device support. Just try hooking up, say, a Canon scanner (I have one; it works fine on my Mac and my Windows boxes, but it's a doorstop when I'm running Linux.) Again, is this the fault of Linux per se? Maybe not. As a nontechnical user do I care whose fault it is when I want to scan something I could scan when I was running Windows? Nope.
- Fonts. The ones that come with all the Linux distros I've tried are clunky, and they vary in size between font families in odd ways that make a lot of Web pages look funny. Yep, I know all about the Microsoft Core Fonts package. It is not installed by default. It is not in the default repositories on a new system. If I am a nontechnical user it is therefore nigh-irrelevant.
Okay, that's probably enough. The point is that there's more wrong than just games. I completely agree that if all you want to do is read simple HTML email and visit non-multimedia web sites, you don't want to listen to music or watch DVDs, you don't have any devices other than a keyboard, mouse and monitor, you only want to input text in one language, and you never need to trade Word documents or Excel spreadsheets with someone who cares what the formatting looks like, then Linux on the desktop is definitely ready for your nontechnical-user needs!That was NOT my experience earlier this week. I loaded a set of restore CDs on an eMachines box I have. It couldn't contact the activation server. The message was something along the lines of "please verify your network settings and ensure you can make a connection to the internet and then try again."
It would not let me evenlog into XP to check the network settings, it kept saying I had to activate before I logged in, so I called the phone number to activate. I did not get a person, but an automated voice recognition system of sorts that claimed it could help me activate my XP. It recognized 48 of the 50 digits I spoke into the phone and then went into "I'm sorry I didn't understand you." every time I tried the last two numbers. Screaming the numbers didn't help. Screaming obscenities didn't help I put down the cell phone and tried again with my land line. Same results, no activation for you.
I downloaded ubuntu desktop and server versions this morning.
VLC should fix your video problems. I prefer it on all three operating systems I use. The only video files i've had problem with are protected WMV files. Plays dvds too.
If you know about Microsoft Core Fonts package, then you likely know about the distribution restrictions. Same problem with mp3s and dvd playback. I have seen some distros include these things (was it SuSE?).
What browser was he using? I use firefox all the time in all the operating systems and rarely have problems (Although, I admit, occasionally I do have issues where I need to fire up Safari, Konqurer, or IE).
I'm not posting this to be like, "See, your problems are wrong! Use Linux!" It sucks about your girlfriend. My roommate wishes to use mainly English, but switch between Japanese, French, Spanish and English. His biggest gripe is he wants a keyboard he can use to switch languages (the text on the keys).
There's plenty more wrong with Linux than games, but the with the pain of dealing with Windows I've learned to go with out the few apps I havent found a suitable replacement (Photoshop and Video editing software). It also helps that my job uses Linux all day and I'm in a Linux support position. I've also found cool apps that Windows doesn't offer.