Microsoft Wins Windows XP WGA Lawsuit

Rish writes "A lawsuit that accused Microsoft of misleading consumers to download and install an update for Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) under the guise that it was critical security update has been tossed out. Last month, a federal judge refused to certify the lawsuit as a class action, which would have meant anyone who owned a Windows XP PC in mid-2006 could join the case without having to hire an attorney, and on Friday the same judge dismissed the case completely."

Comments

No good

[Anonymous Coward]

I work in computer repair, and the worst part of WGA is that after doing a repair, sometimes a customer will get that update and the customer will get confused and click cancel or that they decline. This automatically tells them that their software is not genuine.

Microsoft knows how to carefully word their alert to make sure they understand that it could be caused by counterfeit software, but does not even suggest that this alert could be because they just haven't yet validated, or they need to activate.

I used to get angry calls because customers thought I was providing them stolen software. So then I decided I'd make their copies of windows genuine for my customers before they leave. But that's when the pirates come out of the wood work! What do you do when a copy won't validate? Well now you've got a customer who thinks you've stolen their software right off the bat due to the non-genuine alerts you just caused.

It's lose/lose for the pc repair industry- and it's win/win. How many frightened people have gone to staples and picked up a new copy to avoid getting in legal trouble? I know a few...

Re:No good

[jhoegl]

That is a corner I would not like to be put into.
You can explain the situation all you want to the people, but there are people who always side with the family.
Best I could do with that is "okay, give me the Windows CD and the key it comes with and Ill fix it", when they cant produce it, they shut up.

Re:No good

[IndustrialComplex]

Then refuse to repair people's computers if they have invalid keys. Or request their Windows CD when they take it to the shop. There are about a hundred ways around this.

Yeah, 100 ways to fold your business.

Re:No good

[Anonymous Coward]

Typical Slashdotter. Copyrights and licenses should not be respected, unless it's the almighty GPL.

Re:No good

[countertrolling]

...it's just annoying that we let MS get away with this crap.

You're welcome

Re:No good

[KDR_11k]

On the other hand buying off eBay is the quickest way to get yourself some counterfeit goods.

Re:No good

[FredFredrickson]

folding, there's a difference between activation and WGA validation. There isn't a direct line for WGA validation, and they often attempt to charge for that support.

Also, your DVD player analogy is flawed. Consider the same analogy, except after 1 year, the player breaks because the manufacturer installed a kill switch, that they decided to push. That wouldn't exactly be the fault of the consumer, would it?

XP users shouldn't expect lifetime free security and feature updates. But what they should expect is that the software will continue to function as it did when it was purchased. If it discontinues to function, it would need to have been caused by anything except the manufacturer of the software. Viruses and hardware failures are expected. MS killswitches are not.

Re:No good

[HungryHobo]

And then the customers says "hey, why did mass effect stop working, this is useless for everything I want to use it for"

Re:No good

[AnotherUsername]

And then when they can never play their games again, or use their favorite software, they will never go to you again, and they will tell all their friends and family never to use you, because you broke their computer. You lose a ton of business. Then they go to someone else, who simply does what they ask, instead of assuming that the customer wants a different operating system, and they immediately gain a customer. That's what happens when ideology directly influences customer interactions.

Re:No good

[gparent]

It seems that the above poster is losing business since he gets blamed for shit he isn't responsible for.

Re:No good

[jtownatpunk.net]

Oh, upgrade deactivation anecdotes! Last time I installed XP on my home system, I scrapped my old computer and built a brand new one. I installed XP, crossed my fingers and toes, and activated. It worked! I'd been worried that activating my old key on a totally new configuration would fail. So I shut down, installed the rest of my hard drives, and rebooted. Deactivated for making significant changes to my hardware configuration. Honestly, all I'd done between activating on the new configuration and getting cut off was add 3 hard drives.

So I did the call and talked to some guy in India for about 10 minutes arguing with him that I most certainly CAN transfer a standalone license to a new machine. He finally got tired of dealing with me and gave me a code. Since then, I've swapped out the CPU, changed video cards, added a second video card, and doubled the RAM all without any activation problems.

Microsoft is just so incredibly inconsistent.

Re:No good

[Anonymous Coward]

it is a little different. If you have an apple and then I steal the apple from you, I now have an apple and you don't

He got windows xp, MS got $100. windows xp stopped working so he pirated it. MS still has the same number of copies of windows xp as before and still has his $100. He did not steal from them. They refused access to copyrighted material that he bought a license for. He then infringed on the copyright. But is it infringement if he owns a license that MS wrongly invalidated? Hmmmmm...

Theoretically, MS has grounds for a lawsuit against him, but he also has grounds for a lawsuit against them.

Re:No good

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting AC because I modded above.

It's entirely possible that "retail" copies purchased from a shop (not off Ebay) can be pirated. I have a CD from a pirated copy that a relative bought at a retail shop in their area for $100 a few years back. They didn't want to "bother me" so the first I heard of it is when they installed WGA.

The disc is a commercially made copy (pressed, not burned) with a pretty nice looking label including a small hologram. It'd be easy to mistake it for genuine if you had never seen a proper copy as is the case with many folks. We called it into MS but the shop had already closed its doors so nothing ever came of it.

I saved the CD to show clients how good a pirated CD can look but haven't ever stuck it in a system.

Anyhow, Hatta's story sounds an awful lot like what my relative went through before finally calling me.
--
Nilt

Re:No good

[bzipitidoo]

if you have the guts to pick up the phone

But why should anyone have to do that? The software failed not because of an honest mistake or bug but because they deliberately broke it. Defective by design. Software is quite buggy and unreliable enough as is without anyone purposely making it worse! Stop apologizing for MS.

Even fairly sophisticated users might not know the finer points of the difference between an OEM license and a retail license. And why should anyone have to know or care about that? Wholly artificial distinctions created by MS that does absolutely nothing for their customers and tramples upon the First Sale doctrine.

Even if you believe that they're allowed to add DRM to their new products, should they have the right to change old products retroactively? But never mind rights. Is it smart? No!

And why did they try to sneak it past everyone, lying about what it really was? It seems they anticipated that their customers would take a dim view. So instead of being sensible and not doing it, they compounded the problem by trying a stupid deception. Anyone in MS who didn't understand they'd be found out wasn't using their brains-- if indeed they have any. And also the very name-- "Genuine Advantage"-- was, as everyone quickly learned, an offensively steaming load of marketspeak that insulted our intelligence. It is sad how often corporations try this sort of idiocy. And most people are far too forgiving of it. I at least don't want to use products that were screwed up by people who have demonstrated their incompetence in such a wanton fashion. I don't trust Windows. Bad enough wondering if this incompetence means their honest bugs will be worse than usual. But to also have to wonder what more the managers of this software might arrogate is beyond the pale. What will they try next, have the Malicious Software Removal Tool go rather beyond its stated purpose and also check for piracy of other MS products such as Office? Maybe even disable the software? Check your music collection on behalf of the RIAA? Does Windows also purposely sabotage competitors' offerings, making it slower and buggier? Who do they think their customers are?!

It's too bad MS was let off the hook. The court didn't do them any favors. They'd be a better company if they got roasted for this. Instead, MS is still pushing the DRM, and still trying stupid cheap marketing to try to smooth things over with wholly cosmetic changes. They've renamed it to WAT in an attempt to move on from the bad name WGA deservedly earned. WAT is the same old thing, and it shows that they still don't get it.

Re:No good

[DMUTPeregrine]

And what, exactly, about bypassing a broken WGA is a violation of their copyright? Sure, it can be used as such, but if that's your reasoning we should ban all CD-burning software.

Re:No good

[initialE]

So 20% of your customers try to screw with you. Check around, you'll find that to be true in most industries. And guess what, it's very likely they'll try to screw you anyway, even when you deliver as promised.

Re:No good

[Anne Thwacks]

My experience is the same: XP shipped with machines bought legit from PC world Business Centre fail. Dodgy looking copies bought from my Ukranian friend at the computer fair pass. (Ubuntu - priceless)

Re:No good

[dkleinsc]

You totally got this wrong. The correct way to post this sort of thing is the same sort of technique as the way to avoid upgrading your chips back in the days of the SX/DX split:

"To avoid having your Windows show up as genuine when it isn't, do not add the following registry keys on bootup ..."

Re:No good

[wintercolby]

Are cars that need keys to work defective by design? What about anti-theft systems that disable the starter? If Microsoft wants to implement their business model in such a way that alienates their customers as well as the technicians that work with their product, it's their business to do so. If this new business model pushes enough people away, other OS's will get more marketshare. That's right, OS X is gaining marketshare.

[offtopic] I'm very pro-linux, haven't had Windows on my personal systems for 5 years. My aversion to Windows was never about the cost of software. For me Linux has always been about functionality and access to compilers/office software/network clients/network tools/scripting languages out of the box.[/offtopic]

Good. There *should* be consequences for using MS.

[Rogerborg]

If you don't like the "we can do anything we want to you at any time" EULA, then the solution is to switch to and support a different OS, not to bitch and moan about the EULA that you chose to accept.

Re:Good. There *should* be consequences for using

[jedidiah]

Yes. Because we all know that corporations should be able to put whatever egregious language they want in their contracts and mere citizens should just bend over and take it.

Fortunately, real contract law doesn't work that way.

Although I am sure that corporate boot-lickers such as yourself will do their best to erode what consumer rights and protections do exist.

Re:Pirates

[Joce640k]

Any decent PC tech knows which file to delete to remove the nag screen. Get rid of the nag and let them reinstall WGA next month.

You're there to fix the PC, not to enter into a legal battle.

Re:Good. There *should* be consequences for using

[DomNF15]

"citizens should just bend over and take it."

No one is shoving the operating system down your throat, if you don't like the EULA, as mentioned above, switch to an alternative OS. The corporations can only put in "whatever egregious language they want" if you (and a bunch of others) fork over money to them. Stop giving them money, and you'll see how quickly their EULA changes...

Re:They may have won in the courts....

[Rockoon]

You were so upset by WGA that you decided to do business with Super-Lockdown-Incorporated? Really?

Re:They may have won in the courts....

[aflag]

Except that apple is probably much worse than MS when it comes to DRM. You can't even save certain files on iphone, or so I've heard.

Those with the Gold...

[CrazyDuke]

...make the rules. Do as I say, not as I do. It's the same in every authoritarian government, whether it be a superpower, a multinational corporation, or just the family next door.

Judge not available for comment.

[Anonymous Coward]

He was last seen driving away in a brand new Rolls-Royce.

Re:They may have won in the courts....

[ZorinLynx]

>Starting with Mac OS v.10.5, upgrade discs no longer checked to see if you had an older version already installed.

There was never any point to doing this. Since all Macs come with Mac OS X, *ALL* copies of OS X are "upgrades".

There's no such thing as a non-upgrade install of OS X, technically.

Re:Half an install

[Thinboy00]

Don't use Windows. It's out to get you.