Slashdot Mirror
Paul Thurrott's WGA Woes Solved
David Horn writes "Last week Slashdot ran an article regarding the trouble Paul Thurrott had with WGA. It turns out that after talking to Microsoft, he was actually running a pirated version of Windows, legitimately purchased from an online vendor. Paul admits that 'the truth is, I just made a mistake. If we learn something from that mistake, fantastic, but I wasn't trying to set up a life lesson for anyone, let alone myself.'"
Windows XP comes with documentation? In which parallel dimension?
Windows 2003 comes with a joke of a manual, but XP? If you buy OEM, there IS none. Online help is your manual, you get a holographic disc, a COA sticker with a holographic strip, and that's about it.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
He was selling the 'Official' Mandrake CD set, or copies of it, and you have to belong to their little club to get the 'official' CD images.
Similar restrictions apply to direct copies of the 'Official' Release CD of OpenBSD (I've personally bought two releases retail).
And hearkening waaaaay back, I remember in the mid 90's attending a Red Hat Linux event at a reserved hotel meeting room, where I asked the Red Hat marketing woman if I could make copies of my brother-in-laws Red Hat 5.0 retail CD set. She just gave me this uncomfortable look back like it wasn't a sincere question on my part.
With the WGA program, Microsoft says a user who unknowingly purchases a counterfit version of Windows will receive a free copy of Windows XP, if they report the seller.
Details
Perhaps Mr. Thurrott should persue his copy.
640YB ought to be enough for anybody.
A non-manufacturer-specific OEM disc (like what you'd find at Newegg or other online stores) has the holo disc, as does the retail version AFAIK. Systems integrators like Dell have their own little motherboard-specific tweaked OEM version, and apparently also have permission to distribute their CDs looking however they like. I too have an OEM XP CD from Dell floating around somewhere, and while I think mine was blue (and I think Gateway gave me a purple one with my laptop), it certainly isn't the holo disc you'll get from a retail copy or a non-vender-specific OEM version.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
I accepted his initial report because it was perfectly consistent with my own experience. I have a system at work that has always validated as genuine. After I installed the update, it displayed the annoying and accusational WGA counterfeit notifications. Re-validating on Microsoft's website and rebooting a couple times made the notifications go away, and their MGA diagnostics tool confirms that it's genuine. Microsoft's WGA notifications update was buggy, and erred on the side of accusing legitimate users (at least myself) of piracy, despite that it was correct in Paul Thurrott's case.
I like how you guys accepted his initial report unquestioningly, because that report was in keeping with your Microsoft hatred. You had no problems applying 100% credibility to the initial report. You had no problems attaching 100% credibility to that initial report's author. But now that he's amended that report with new info, you guys are saying that he's full of shit, because the new info isn't in keeping with your Microsoft hatred.
And you have proof that the same people are posting both opinions? Newsflash: lots of people post on slashdot. Claiming that "you guys" (slashdotters) all share the same views is so absolutely stupid that it hardly merits a response, save to point out your idiocy.
That's right, the two go hand in hand. You can't use the software for production, and therefore, anyone accessing MSDN servers software must also be a valid MSDN users, using the software under the terms (e.g., for development.)
The purpose of MSDN is to provide cheap software to developers working on Windows-based software, to develop on and to test their software against.
There is another option though: It's called the "Microsoft Action Pack". This is an MSDN-like package with regular updates containing virtually every piece of Microsoft software made. It is only around $200 per year, unlike MSDN which costs thousands, and the EULA in fact grants permission to use much of the software for internal or production use.
It seems silly that MS would practically give away tens of thousands of dollars worth of software, but not just anyone can buy this. You have to fill out a lenghtly form and qualify as the right type of company. The definitions are a little loose and the form accepts relatively small development firms that work on Microsoft-related software. Much of the packaging is aimed at companies that are reselling Microsoft software, with beefy training kits with cross-selling strategies and such material.
If you manage to qualify though, you'll save tens of thousands of software, and it's 100% legal.
# Erik