Groklaw: MSFT phones home

[MaggieL]

"Cost of doing business" indeed...


Is Microsoft about to release a Windows "kill switch"?

Last week, a correspondent on Dave Farber’s Interesting People list posted some comments about his experiences with Windows OneCare Live. In the middle of the post, he added this tidbit:

I like to review updates before they are installed. The only update that I have not installed is the latest WGA because of the security issues related to it.

I called Microsoft support to see if there is a hidden option to say, "yep, I've got updates turned to manual… it's okay." The rep said, "No and why wouldn't you want to get the latest updates to Windows."

I responded with the issues relating to WGA. He spent some time telling me that WGA was a good thing, etc. I reiterated that I have accepted all the updates except WGA and just want to review the updates before they're installed on my machine.

He told me that "in the fall, having the latest WGA will become mandatory and if its not installed, Windows will give a 30 day warning and when the 30 days is up and WGA isn't installed, Windows will stop working, so you might as well install WGA now."

[mbpark]

there's a crack out for it.

There already is a WGA crack (RemoveWGA - google for it, I'm not posting the link). It works incredibly well, BTW.

Microsoft doesn't realize that everything they try gets broken, and will continue to do so. If it runs on hardware, it will be cracked. It's just a question of time.

And yes, if Windows stops working en masse for a lot of people with pirated Windows, which is much more prevalent than people think, there will be an upsurge in Linux usage. Ubuntu is really looking good now.

However, they said that SP2 would break pirated versions of Windows. We see how well that worked .

XP is really pissing people off. It's an evolutionary dead end (they are using the Windows Server 2003 SP1 codebase as the base for Vista) like the 9x codebase. It's got many issues (Windows Server 2003 hibernate mode actually works on my ThinkPad most of the time, as opposed to not on the new one) with power management, sluggishness/speed loss with SP2, a major increase in RAM usage since SP2 (it now takes at least 384MB RAM to run XP Pro without major performance issues), and issues with legacy apps due to SP2.

Windows 2003 Server is still the best OS they put out, by far. Too bad they didn't release it as a workstation OS. I'm running XP Pro on my T43, and it's slower in spots than 2003 Server on my R31 (which will be running Ubuntu Linux 6.06 soon). It also works well on a Pentium II . It's the best laptop OS I have ever used, and it fully supported all my Thinkpad Power Management drivers, as well as my wireless card drivers.

Between WGA, Vista, and the rest of their mess-ups, I am not envious of Microsoft. Flipping the switch like Hughes did to the DirecTV users before the Superbowl is going to really piss a lot of people off. It will probably shut down a few corporations' PC's due to leaked VLKs from low-level employees. It will make people start to think that Microsoft has ulterior motives to take people's money.

All it will take is a version of Linux that installs AOL, Google Tools, Flash, a JRE, MP3/AAC/WMV/QT Codecs, and a version of WINE that can run iTunes, and you can make the market share of Linux increase significantly. The user interface, especially with Ubuntu, is improving.

I would not be surprised if Google is putting together the licensing needed to make a Google Pack for Ubuntu Linux soon that would have most, if not all, of that. WGA will make people think twice about Windows, and Google has a golden opportunity here to Do No Evil and provide a decent alternative that puts the rest of what you need to replace a PC on the desktop, while not making their own Linux distro .

And yes, the only reason I am running Windows XP is because I have to for work. My other PCs run Linux, OpenBSD, and OS X.

[BigV]

Microsoft WGA Attracts Copycat Worm and Second Lawsuit

Security researchers have identified a worm virus masked to appear as Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program, while end users have filed a second lawsuit against the software giant's use of the actual program.

They have retreated from their earlier position. From here.

[WabUfvot5]

now it won't seem so onerous when they present this plan again.

[footfootfoot]

Can you believe? SWMBO, the same woman who cannot get her email, clicked on the dire warning pop up entreating her to "fix now" the Automatic Updates Turned Off.

I now have to go through the whole rigamarole again. I have now set her up as a limited account so she doesn't have privileges allowing her to make any of those types of changes.

I am concerned that she may need me around in order to log in.

[footfootfoot]

that RemoveWGA was on it like a terrier with a rat in its mouth.

Thanks.

I think my computer is safe for democracy now.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

I think my computer is safe for democracy now.

Ya think? It's still running Windows... :-)

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Ya think? It's still running Windows... :-)

Point. I'm hoping this winter I'll have time to fool with Ubuntu and gimp. Right now it's all I can do to get here and try and throw a few bon mots y'all's way.