WGA Ain't So Bad

[Leythos]

When everybody by a huge majority says WGA is spyware and only Lethos
upholds the unsupportable premis that it isn't with mile long,
unending diatribes 24 hrs a day for weeks on end....you have to wonder
as to his 'state of mind' I would say.

What "Huge Majority" are you suggesting? You mean the few anti-MS people
that post here about anything MS does that might lead to anything?

There are only a few calling it spyware, and only a few of those that
are not already known as MS bashers. Take away the anti-ms group and you
don't have much to base your statement on.

I'm not a MS lover, I'm actually unbiased, I don't care for/about MS any
more than I do RedHat, but I'm not going to let some anti-ms person with
a rant passion tell me that WGA is spyware when it doesn't qualify.

 

[Rhonda Lea Kirk]

Rhonda Lea Kirk wrote:

I've got it installed on my system, and it's invisible. INVISIBLE.
No "phone home" at all.

Well, that's nice. Mine continued to try to phone home until I disabled
it.

Generally speaking? It's ALWAYS a good thing.

Well, maybe not. Maybe going after the lone individual who unknowingly
procured a pirated copy is not a good thing.

Try to remember that for most people, a computer is like a TV, a
VCR...pick an appliance.

And it would never even occur to them that software can be used
illegally.

You're calling "bs" on that, right? Well, I'm telling you that I know a
lot of people like that. In this rarefied technical circle, what seems
very straightforward is mystifying to the non-computer-literate.

Most people don't even understand that it's a copyright violation to
photocopy pages from a magazine at the library. After all, the copier is
there, so it must be there for a reason.

There are going to be people caught up in this mess who simply had no
clue.

Boo freaking hoo.

Start from "PR disaster," not from "single mother." I was not asking you
to be empathetic, I was asking you to see this from the point of view of
the common man.

I've already said I don't support theft, but I can see the difference
between the counterfeiting industry, and the dumb schlub who bought a
single counterfeit item, even if Microsoft cannot.

You can "boo freaking hoo" all you like, but the single mother who is
doing her part to get off welfare and needs that donated computer to do
her schoolwork is most definitely fodder for a human interest story. She
didn't steal software. She didn't do anything wrong at all. And when the
media gets hold of her...well...I can't wait to see how that goes.

The people Microsoft needs to stop are the pirates, not that single
mother, and not even the dumb schlub who didn't know any better and
thought his spam was legitimate advertising, i.e., "What is OEM and Why
Do You Care?"

And that's the point. You don't want the little guy, the single mother,
the idiot. You want the people who are profiting in a big way, the
people who are knowingly and willfully violating Microsoft's
intellectual property rights.

The implemenation of WGA is flawed, and it doesn't solve the real
problem. All it does is make Microsoft look like a corporate monster.

--
Rhonda Lea Kirk

Insisting on perfect safety is for people
without the balls to live in the real world.
Mary Shafer Iliff

 

[Rhonda Lea Kirk]

When everybody by a huge majority says WGA is spyware and only Lethos
upholds the unsupportable premis that it isn't with mile long,
unending diatribes 24 hrs a day for weeks on end....you have to wonder
as to his 'state of mind' I would say.

Well, being ignorant and all, I have to take the word of those in the
know:

If you believe it is spyware it is because you lack the technical
knowledge to understand what spyware is.

I guess the whole lot of you need to go back to school for a refresher.


rl
--
Rhonda Lea Kirk

Insisting on perfect safety is for people
without the balls to live in the real world.
Mary Shafer Iliff

 

[Scott]

What "Huge Majority" are you suggesting? You mean the few anti-MS people
that post here about anything MS does that might lead to anything?

There are only a few calling it spyware, and only a few of those that
are not already known as MS bashers. Take away the anti-ms group and you
don't have much to base your statement on.

I'm not a MS lover, I'm actually unbiased, I don't care for/about MS any
more than I do RedHat, but I'm not going to let some anti-ms person with
a rant passion tell me that WGA is spyware when it doesn't qualify.

"mile long, unending diatribes 24 hrs a day for weeks on end.....you
have to wonder
as to his 'state of mind' I would say."

Translation: Do you have a life to spend sooo much time obsessing over
this shit.
Get a life; see a shrink; go for a walk...shessh.

 

[Jeff]

So Leythos? Anti-MS?? Really; I thought you better a thinker than that.
Anti-MS is NOT what I am; to the contrary;ALL of my o.s.'s have been M.S.
And yes I do still really like Windows, in fact; beta testing a variety of
MS products; public and private;(invited by MS). Sorta strange, in a way, to
think an ANTI-MS basher would get an invitation from the very company they
supposedly "despise".
Jeff

 

[Alias]

So Leythos? Anti-MS?? Really; I thought you better a thinker than that.
Anti-MS is NOT what I am; to the contrary;ALL of my o.s.'s have been M.S.
And yes I do still really like Windows, in fact; beta testing a variety of
MS products; public and private;(invited by MS). Sorta strange, in a way, to
think an ANTI-MS basher would get an invitation from the very company they
supposedly "despise".
Jeff

I like Windows, too. Except for the first Mac, I've gone through DOS,
3.1, 95, 98, Me, 2000 and I love XP. I just don't like WGA.

Alias

 

[Leythos]

So Leythos? Anti-MS?? Really; I thought you better a thinker than that.
Anti-MS is NOT what I am; to the contrary;ALL of my o.s.'s have been M.S.
And yes I do still really like Windows, in fact; beta testing a variety of
MS products; public and private;(invited by MS). Sorta strange, in a way, to
think an ANTI-MS basher would get an invitation from the very company they
supposedly "despise".

I was not thinking of you specifically when I wrote that, as I've not
seen many posts from you during the last year, except in these WGA
threads.

 

[Jeff]

That's because;generally, I really don't have issues with most MS
stuff-except KB905474-

In business;as in life;Leythos; we all use tools. And in my (and your) line
of work; computer's are the tools. And I would be remiss,not to use the best
tools available;for the job at hand. And; at this point in time; MS may not
be the best for all-Apple user's and Linux ppl;would agree;. but it's always
been more than sufficient for me;and yes; I do like MS-just not their
methods;recently.
Jeff

 

[Gaoler]

Sure I do, I design secure networks for a living. I have a WatchGuard
Firebox X1000 in my home even. I can see in real time what files/items
are being downloaded via HTTP, FTP, SMTP, etc...

Does your question mean that you don't understand? I'm confused, how
could you know what, specifically, the AV software or other vendors
software is actually doing on your computer - fact is that you don't,
you just trust that it's doing what you think it should be doing.


Really? Are you saying that nothing on your computer can reach the
Internet without your approval at the instant that it wants out - and I
mean Nothing can get out?


If I was concerned I would not be using XP on my systems or my clients
systems. Since the activation key is tied to the hardware, they already
had that info, as for software, they already know what MS products I've
installed, as it's checked each time I download updates for them....


Yep, you are right, it could be doing anything, and we won't know until
some third party takes it apart and tells us what it's really doing.
Until that time you only have two choices, use it or use something else.


I agree, I don't want it resident on ANY computers we have, clients or
personal, but, I don't have much choice, don't have any problems with
any of the more than 1500 machines running it, and have not seen any
significant amount of users with legit licenses that are impacted by it.

Pardon me for digressing for a moment, but how the heck do you get any
work done when you post so much to usenet?!? On 6/5 alone, I see in
just this group, over 60 posts from you, Leythos.

 

[Leythos]

Pardon me for digressing for a moment, but how the heck do you get any
work done when you post so much to usenet?!? On 6/5 alone, I see in
just this group, over 60 posts from you, Leythos.

I own the company and have 4 computers at this desk, most of the
processes I run take more than a few minutes, and I can type with both
hands without looking at the keyboard. It took less than 15 seconds to
see this and reply.

 

[Gaoler]

I just installed the WGA Notification on this computer, all my other
ones already have it. I checked for updates before installing it,
installed one missing critical update, then updated and rebooted, I
checked again and there are still no additional updates.

So, with all the WGA items installed, there is no difference
with/without WGA Notification installed, at least none that I can tell.

You are acting like Jupiter Jones. When to many people start saying
things he doesn't want to hear, he plugs his ears and yells "LALALA"
real loud so he doesn't have to hear it anymore. YOUR experience with
everything microsoft may be all rosy to you, but that is no consolation
to the countless numbers of loyal paying customers out there who have
been screwed by MS anti-consuner DRM technologies. When will that ever
make it through your think skull?

 

[Leythos]

You are acting like Jupiter Jones. When to many people start saying
things he doesn't want to hear, he plugs his ears and yells "LALALA"
real loud so he doesn't have to hear it anymore. YOUR experience with
everything microsoft may be all rosy to you, but that is no consolation
to the countless numbers of loyal paying customers out there who have
been screwed by MS anti-consuner DRM technologies. When will that ever
make it through your think skull?

Have I ever denied that anyone is having issues with it, NO!

I just don't see where the number of users actually running legit
software amount to more than a very small number of users.

People posting the Rant here make it seem like every user in the world
is being impacted and raped by MS, and it's just not true, only a very
small number of people are actually having problems with WGA/WGAN.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

I think you should leave this argument to those more competent.
Your need to drag my name into this clearly shows your own insecurity in
your views.
Let those with competence argue your side for you, they are here and they
can obviously do better than you.

 

[Gaoler]

I think you should leave this argument to those more competent.
Your need to drag my name into this clearly shows your own insecurity in
your views.
Let those with competence argue your side for you, they are here and they
can obviously do better than you.

I don't need to do anything, just giving leythos an example of his
behavior. Your behavior speaks for itself and has nothing to do with
me. There are others in this group who have also seen this kind of
behavior from you and would agree with me.

 

[Rhonda Lea Kirk]

I don't need to do anything, just giving leythos an example of his
behavior. Your behavior speaks for itself and has nothing to do with
me. There are others in this group who have also seen this kind of
behavior from you and would agree with me.

With all due respect, I haven't seen Jupiter post a single thing about
this subject, so I don't know how he got dragged into the current
argument.

I would suggest, again with all due respect, that a personal attack is
just plain old bad, no matter which side takes the shot.

rl
--
Rhonda Lea Kirk

Insisting on perfect safety is for people
without the balls to live in the real world.
Mary Shafer Iliff

 

[Jeff]

Rhonda,
Look at my new post. Titled simply WGA.
I thought I was responding tto this thread also. Alas,too many open
windows;too few words.
Jeff

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I'm not bailing, exactly. I just wrote an essay to Uncle Grumpy,

Never saw it.

It's not on google groups.

 

[Rhonda Lea Kirk]

Rhonda Lea Kirk wrote:

Never saw it.

It's not on google groups.

I revised and posted it this afternoon. I had to wait for my eyes to
uncross. It's here:

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...Lea+author:Kirk&rnum=1&hl=en#31907f6df0f299e4

Did you get my email?

rl
--
Rhonda Lea Kirk

Insisting on perfect safety is for people
without the balls to live in the real world.
Mary Shafer Iliff

 

[Gaoler]

With all due respect, I haven't seen Jupiter post a single thing about
this subject, so I don't know how he got dragged into the current
argument.

I would suggest, again with all due respect, that a personal attack is
just plain old bad, no matter which side takes the shot.

rl

Hi Rhonda. I don't see it as a personal attack by commenting on someone
else's behavior they display in the group. I was not referring to
behavior that Jupiter was showing in these recent WGA threads, but
something else from an older thread. Lets just say some of us have a
long memory.

 

[MattW]

I own the company and have 4 computers at this desk, most of the
processes I run take more than a few minutes, and I can type with both
hands without looking at the keyboard. It took less than 15 seconds to
see this and reply.

Nah, I think you are just a disturbed youngman with no life living in his
parents basement banging away on the keyboard 24/7 wearing a tinfoil hat.
LOL!