One In Five Windows Installs Is Non-Genuine

snib writes "Microsoft disclosed Monday that, according to reports collected by the notorious Windows Genuine Advantage tool on millions of users' PCs, 22% of all Windows installs do not pass its validation tests and have therefore been deemed non-genuine. Quoting: 'Since WGA launched in July 2005, over 512 million users have attempted to validate their copy of Windows, Microsoft said. Of those, the non-genuine rate was 22.3 percent... [T]he Business Software Alliance... reports that 35 percent of the world's software is pirated (22 percent in North America)...'"

Comments

100% of Linux 2.6 installs contain stolen code

[Anonymous Coward]

from SCO.

Re:100% of Linux 2.6 installs contain stolen code

[CapitalT]

I'm not sure whether mod you troll or funny, but that's OK since I don't have mod points.

Re:100% of Linux 2.6 installs contain stolen code

[vertinox]

To be fair... 100% of Windows Installs has stolen code from BSD.

Oh wait...

Re:100% of Linux 2.6 installs contain stolen code

[x2A]

even the name, Windows, is a word stolen from the dictionary, made purely with letters stolen from the alphabet!

What a load of BS

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no way it's that low

Re:Really?

[fyngyrz]

Give me time.

Oh, I think that's a little excessive. Confiscation of your computer and a public whipping would satisfy me.

Who are the 4 saps who are paying?

[dwalsh]

I kid. Really, I kid.

Re:i dont think that word means what they think it

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

But virus-infected software is not. Maybe that's what this number is referring to.

80% of Windows Installs are Genuine???

[WaZiX]

That's a lot...

oh come on

[x2A]

Looks like SCO have managed to wangle some mod points on slashdot... anyone with a sense of humour and mod points like to mod that the way it should be?

Re:A thought....

[misleb]

Well, personally, I have reinstalled the same copy of windows on the same machine more times than the activation allows (~20?). So, no, I don't try to activate either.

Now that's persistence! If at first you can't make it stable, try, try again.

Re:My policy is...

[chris_mahan]

Yes he does! Linux itself is a computer game. A very long text adventure game full of twisty passages, all alike. Want to know your score? >uptime

Re:A la Bash.org

[binarybum]

"All you had to do was call Microsoft and they would have validated you over the phone"

    That's such a creepy statement. You are not valid without microsoft's consent... fortunately, for your convenience, you may be validated by telephone.
  For an additional $199, Bill Gates will baptize you over the phone.

Re:A la Bash.org

[Schemat1c]

For an additional $199, Bill Gates will baptize you over the phone. That's cheaper than the church charges.

Re:A la Bash.org

[McGiraf]

me too!

Re:Sampling?

[Frosty Piss]

I doubt many geeks have non-genuine Windows installs.

Oh you've got to be kidding. This is the hight of Slashdot delusional thinking. You know as well as I do that the primary source of cracked XP is geeks. Same with cracked Photoshop and all the rest. Next thing, you'll be telling me that no one here has any pirated music.

Re:Really?

[Lost Engineer]

Oh, I think that's a little excessive. Confiscation of your computer and a public whipping would satisfy me. For stealing windows or for using it in the first place?