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Lawsuit Claims WGA Is Spyware
twitter writes "Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft's euphemistically named digital restrictions scheme, is the target of another spyware and false advertising lawsuit. 'Microsoft this week was sued in a Washington district court for allegedly violating privacy laws through Windows XP's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) copy protection scheme. Similar to cases filed in 2006, the new class action case accuses Microsoft of falsely representing what information WGA would send to verify the authenticity of Windows and that it would send back information [daily IP address and other details that could be used to trace information back to a home or user]. The complaint further argued that Microsoft portrayed WGA as a necessary security update rather than acknowledge its copy protection nature in the update. WGA's implementation also prevented users from purging the protection from their PCs without completely reformatting a computer's system drive.' There were at least two other lawsuits launched in 2006 over WGA. According to the Wikipedia article, none of them have been resolved. The system is built into Vista and Windows 7."
Except that MS has to hand out vouchers for more MS products, giving them an even bigger market share.
[see Sony Rootkit settlement for details]
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
And if you want Red Hat without the paid support, just get Cent OS. (http://www.centos.org/) about the only way I know to get Windows for free is with less than legal methods (http://thepiratebay.org/). So if you don't need the support, there are other options.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
The problem is that, if I'm remembering correctly, is that they don't really give you a choice in the matter. Basically use our WGA or don't get our patches. If I'm remembering correctly, refusing to use the WGA would make it impossible to use the Microsoft update to properly keep things up to date. I can't recall specifically whether that included security patches or not.
FTFS: "WGA's implementation also prevented users from purging the protection from their PCs without completely reformatting a computer's system drive."
Really? Have none of these people heard of removing a program by hand? It may not be comprehensive and may leave traces behind, but you can sure rip the operating guts out. Delete the executable, unregister the DLL and delete them. Bye-bye nagging.
At the same time, I don't know what changes are made once WGA flags a system as "non-genuine". That is not a simple fix. Though, if you find yourself in that situation, you should be able to handle the problem or deal with the consequences. Otherwise, use legit purchased software or use Linux (by far the better alternative).
UMUC is an official part of the University of Maryland system, it is accredited, and it grants degrees. It's not a university on it's own, and I know nothing about the quality of a UMUC education, but it is part of the university system.
Select "Notify Only" or "Download but don't install" and then manually select which updates to install.
There are -many- systems that don't ship with Windows. Most netbooks offer Linux as an option and due to no Windows tax they are usually either cheaper or make up with it with better hardware than their Windows counterparts. While its still difficult to find a good Linux computer in a big-box retailer, they aren't exactly uncommon if you shop online.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
... but when I bought my computer, I asked for vista to be removed and the price refunded. Hoped from shop to shop until I found one that agreed (in fact I was ready for a trek, but the 3rd shop in the street was the good one). He got the deal, and I bought the refund worth of RAM to top of the computer capacity. I was pleased, and so was the seller.
My laptop is an Asus eeepc 900A linux 'edition'. Again, I carefully reviewed the options before buying.
Speak with your wallet.
There are many computer retailers who discount the price so you don't pay the windows tax if you get a Linux or other system (Dell does this, and other OEMs do too).
And (unless you are buying a Netbook/non-PC that utilizes special hardware) their products are usually more expensive than equivalent ones from other retailers that have Windows preinstalled.
ReactOS is still being developed. Some day (maybe in five years) it will reach the golden 1.0 standard. It should replace Windows XP and then we can forget about those WGA updates.
WGA has too many false positives and can ruin wallpaper settings (turning the screen to black) and do other annoying things. Plus I keep seeing it installed even if updates are turned off. Currently my system is genuine but if a Firewall software blocks Internet access it thinks it is not genuine. Until I allow the firewall and then hit validate, then everything is OK.
I doubt a majority of Windows users will migrate towards Vista or Windows 7 because of legacy software issues and legacy hardware that cannot run Vista or 7. ReactOS will fill that hole quite nicely when it is done with Windows XP compatibility and no WGA gotchas.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Wow. Where did this off the wall non sequitur observation come from? Did a professor hurt your feelings somehow? Did they fail you? UMUC is part of the University of Maryland System. It is accredited. You are an idiot.
I don't get this, don't u just go download FixWGA from the nearest torrent site, and then be done with it? Honestly - frivolous lawsuit!
I think therefore I can't be ~TTNH
OS X 10.5 had the 'Apple-labeled' term, but 10.6 has the 'Apple-branded' term. It is also dubious that slapping a sticker, even one supplied by Apple, makes that computer Apple-labeled or Apple-branded.