June 28th, 2006
WGA News: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Responding to criticism of its new WGA Notifications program, Microsoft has made some changes to the software and released a new version. The updated software no longer checks in every time the PC boots. They have also given guidelines to remove the application, which had previously been uninstallable and let to development of such utilities as RemoveWGA.
Interestingly, the new version is said to check “periodically”. Microsoft needs to define periodically for me.
At the same time, however, Ed Bott at ZDNet Blogs has some interesting rumors / speculation about the possible future of WGA. He wonders if, since Microsoft has said to him via email that it may someday make WGA Notifications mandatory, Microsoft may someday use the program to prevent PCs it believes are running pirated software from booting. Naturally, this is all speculation, but it is interesting food for thought.
I have 7 PCs and laptops, all with legitimate OSes, but I also know software. There are bugs in all software. And there have already been reports on WGA issues on legitimately licensed PCs.
More info here.
Eric N. says:
Windows Genuine Authentication? I don’t know what WGA means and your article doesn’t define it. I also didn’t RTFA.
June 28th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
GiM says:
WGA? Well… I buy a desktop, XP Pro, and a laptop, XP home. First thing I did was to install on desktop a XP cracked version. Why? My hardware change on a week/month basis. I can’t affort to buy an XP copy every week. The XP Home is untouched, but it can’t connect the WiFi network. Why? I can’t tell you, but the cable work well for me
. If the next version of Windows is also great like this, Linux is the future…
June 29th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Mike says:
One more reason I will happily never buy or use MS software again. As if the vast superiority of Linux wasn’t reason enough, MS just makes it even better by doing everything in their power to tick off their customer base.
In their fight against piracy, have any of the geniuses at MS contemplated the law of diminishing returns?
June 29th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Another Mike says:
Honestly though, this news and the like from all the other sources are just flame-bait. Exactly how would microsoft make WGA madatory. They can’t just install their software on ones computer on a whim. Sure if you want to get your updates from Microsoft then yes, WGA you will need.
But I point to www.autopatcher.com with glee. It’s not magical. If I never to to microsoft.com and never download anything from there they can’t install anything on my computer. Again, not magic. Let’s not blame Microsoft for something I am positive they will never initiate and is speculation by a ZDNet employee not a Microsoft employee.
June 29th, 2006 at 10:43 am
» Lawsuit Says Windows Genuine Advantage Anti-Piracy Tool is Spyware » Blog Archive Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech says:
[…] We Say: Earlier this week, as posted by Michael, Microsoft released a finished version that does not check in daily. Microsoft should’ve known and they should’ve disclosed properly how the tool worked and what it did, now, not only do they have damage control to worry about, but each time something like this happens, consumers remember and will be more and more cautious of every “new tool” they release to “help us”. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
December 29th, 2006 at 6:51 pm