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Anti-Piracy Windows 7 Update Phones Home Quarterly
Lauren Weinstein sends in news of a major and disturbing Microsoft anti-piracy initiative called Windows Activation Technologies, or WAT. Here is Microsoft's blog post giving their perspective on what WAT is for. From Lauren's blog: "The release of Windows 7 'Update for Microsoft Windows (KB71033)' will change the current activation and anti-piracy behavior of Windows 7 by triggering automatic 'phone home' operations over the Internet to Microsoft servers, typically for now at intervals of around 90 days. ... These automatic queries will repeatedly — apparently for as long as Windows is installed — validate your Windows 7 system against Microsoft's latest database of pirated system signatures (currently including more than 70 activation exploits known to Microsoft). If your system matches — again even if up to that time (which could be months or even years since you obtained the system) it had been declared to be genuine — then your system will be 'downgraded' to 'non-genuine' status until you take steps to obtain what Microsoft considers to be an authentic, validated, Windows 7 license. ... KB971033... is scheduled to deploy to the manual downloading 'Genuine Microsoft Software' site on February 16, and start pushing out automatically through the Windows Update environment on February 23. ... [F]or Microsoft to assert that they have the right to treat ordinary PC-using consumers in this manner — declaring their systems to be non-genuine and downgrading them at any time — is rather staggering." Update: 02/12 02:08 GMT by KD : Corrected the Microsoft Knowledge Base number to include a leading 9 that had been omitted in the pre-announcement, per L. Weinstein.
Yes, how horrible that MS take steps to get paid for what they produce. I take it MS is supposed to do nothing and hope that you'll be nice and pay them?
Steps like these need to be taken because, well, people pretty much can not be trusted to do the right thing without the fear of a reprisal looming over their head.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
As Microsoft keeps tightening up on people, I really have to wonder why anyone still puts up with it.
because linux won't play an encrypted DVD out of the box? because my media key volume controls don't work? because it will never support the fingerprint reader on my laptop? because my the battery on my new laptop lasts less than one hour with linux? because there are almost no major label games developed for linux? there's no itunes for linux? netflix doesn't work on linux? i can go on.
i run linux at home and work, so i'm not a windows fanboi. but let's not pretend that linux is ready for desktop prime-time. it's not. mod this troll if you want, but those things i listed are deal breakers for the average user.
Because at the end of the day the Windows box still does what people want better than a linux one.
Hmm... you still haven't explained how those are different from most taxes.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Apple straight up deletes any Apple pirated software if you take it in for servicing.