Windows Genuine Advantage enforcement

[Guest]

Does anyone have any knowledge of what MS plans to do now that WGA technology
has been released/implemented?

Are they planning on disabling any non-legitimate XP installations or are
they just going to keep displaying notifications about illegal software
distribution from the notification area?

I would be very interested if anyone is in the know..

Cheers guys...

Big Liam

 

[Charlie Tame]

Does anyone have any knowledge of what MS plans to do now that WGA
technology
has been released/implemented?

Are they planning on disabling any non-legitimate XP installations or are
they just going to keep displaying notifications about illegal software
distribution from the notification area?

I would be very interested if anyone is in the know..

Cheers guys...

Big Liam

There is probably nobody here "In the know" as it were. The possibility of
disabling windows is there with any "Update" so there's no special
technology in WGA for that purpose, and I doubt that is the immediate
intention. However there are various scenarios that might develop that have
nothing to do with Microsoft but everything to do with pirates, adware /
spyware / trojan developers etc.

For example should a corrupted version of Vista be released there might end
up being thousands of users with built in malware, flooding the net with
crap. Since most users who get a professional looking fake copy will not
even realize this is going on it could turn out to be a bad situation for us
all. Even if they do detect the malware what are they going to do? Reinstall
from what they think is their genuine CD?

If that should become a reality then we might all be grateful for
Microsoft's ability to notify them, help them fix it or if they refuse and
continue to disrupt the internet as a last resort shut them down.

I would add that I am not "Automatically" defending MS here but I'd rather
they deal with their OS than have some part of the Federal Government get
involved.

We have all seen how much smarter the bad guys have become with their
malware and I think this is perhaps something MS are concerned about for
more reasons than simple loss of revenue to piracy. It would, after all,
look bad for their system whilst being extremely difficult to fix.

Charlie

 

[DanS]

We have all seen how much smarter the bad guys have become with their
malware and I think this is perhaps something MS are concerned about
for more reasons than simple loss of revenue to piracy.

No, I'm sure it's only a money/piracy thing.

It would,

after all, look bad for their system whilst being extremely difficult
to fix.

Charlie

As if some malware isn't already very difficult to get rid of ?

 

[Richard Urban]

No, I'm sure it's only a money/piracy thing.

You are privy then to all the internal memo's and conversations that go on
in Microsoft headquarters?


--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

:

You are privy then to all the internal memo's and conversations that go on
in Microsoft headquarters?

That comment was a little off topic wasn't it Richard? As an MVP why don't
you comment on the original subject of this post instead of directing sarcasm.

 

[Mistoffolees]

You are privy then to all the internal memo's and conversations that go on
in Microsoft headquarters?

Irrelevant. Microsoft is a very impulsive organization and
whatever it elects to do will be enacted at the last minute,
depending on which way the wind is blowing in Redmond, WA,
the flavor of the political climate primarily in the US and
also possibly who might be the front-runners for the 2008 US
Presidential elections. That should cover most of the internal
memos and conversations that will occur up to the point of
Vista's release and perhaps beyond for a year or so.

 

[Ground Cover]

There's talk they have plan to make it mandatory and also plan to implement
a kill switch. For the time being it's just sneaky, spies, and nags, and if
you catch it in time, optional.

 

[Charlie Tame]

No, I'm sure it's only a money/piracy thing.

It would,

As if some malware isn't already very difficult to get rid of ?

Quite so, but at this time there's the option of a clean install... if the
original media is contaminated that option is gone for the user.

 

[Charlie Tame]

There's talk they have plan to make it mandatory and also plan to
implement
a kill switch. For the time being it's just sneaky, spies, and nags, and
if
you catch it in time, optional.

There was talk of WMD in Iraq and a war was started over it, but they have
not been found

As I mentioned in the original post which has been snipped a bit there may
be a time coming when for some users we will all welcome a kill switch.
Would you, for example, object to spammers being bumped off the internet? I
am not suggesting that MS should become police, judge and jury, just asking
if you would object personally.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Misperceptions about WGA
http://blogs.msdn.com/wga/archive/2006/06/30/652818.aspx

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

Enjoy all the benefits of genuine Microsoft software:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.mspx

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­---------------------------------

:

| Does anyone have any knowledge of what MS plans to do now that WGA technology
| has been released/implemented?
|
| Are they planning on disabling any non-legitimate XP installations or are
| they just going to keep displaying notifications about illegal software
| distribution from the notification area?
|
| I would be very interested if anyone is in the know..
|
| Cheers guys...
|
| Big Liam

 

[Richard Urban]

:




That comment was a little off topic wasn't it Richard? As an MVP why
don't
you comment on the original subject of this post instead of directing
sarcasm.

Sorry! But the person made a definitive statement of fact! And he has
absolutely no way of knowing if it is, in fact, true!

Maybe he can post some links to a Microsoft web page that corroborates what
he has stated. (-:

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
Using Windows Vista 5472
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[GHalleck]

Misperceptions about WGA
http://blogs.msdn.com/wga/archive/2006/06/30/652818.aspx

Today's misperceptions can also turn into tomorrow's truths.
There is no such thing as the impossible idea. Case in point:
The Royal Navy proved that aerial torpedoes can be dropped in
a shallow harbor (Taranto) in 1940 but the US Navy felt right
up to the morning of December 7, 1941, that aerial torpedoes
will not swim in Pearl Harbor.

The innocuous introduction of WGA-I as a critical update proved
that anything can be slipped into the computer and accepted.

 

[Leythos]

The innocuous introduction of WGA-I as a critical update proved
that anything can be slipped into the computer and accepted.

the same can be done through your AV software updates, via your browser,
via your email client, etc... You never really know what the software on
your computer is doing.

 

[DanS]

Sorry! But the person made a definitive statement of fact! And he has
absolutely no way of knowing if it is, in fact, true!

Maybe he can post some links to a Microsoft web page that corroborates
what he has stated. (-:

Geez, a little touchy are we.......

In the post I was replying to that you clipped, the author made a
suggestion that WGA is also M$'s response to supposed malware placed into
copies of XP and then sold.

That is one of the marketing ploys. They are 'protecting' you. Where they
protecting you when you clicked on a misleading link in IE only to end up
getting some malware installed ? The amount of malware problems from what
M$ claims happens is infinitely miniscule compared to the amount of
people infected by the use of their browser product alone.

 

[Mistoffolees]

the same can be done through your AV software updates, via your browser,
via your email client, etc... You never really know what the software on
your computer is doing.

And your recommendation is...don't update, even from bona fide
developers?

 

[NoStop]

the same can be done through your AV software updates, via your browser,
via your email client, etc... You never really know what the software on
your computer is doing.

Especially if the software is closed source. With Open Source one can look
at the source code and know what it is doing. So don't use the term "your
computer is doing". Rather, using "your Windoze computer is doing" is more
appropriate, Fanboy.


--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[NoStop]

There was talk of WMD in Iraq and a war was started over it, but they have
not been found

As I mentioned in the original post which has been snipped a bit there may
be a time coming when for some users we will all welcome a kill switch.
Would you, for example, object to spammers being bumped off the internet?
I am not suggesting that MS should become police, judge and jury, just
asking if you would object personally.

There indeed should be a kill switch. Since the vaste majority of spam
originates from hi-jacked Windoze boxes, these should be killed. Or at the
very least, not allowed to access the Net.


--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[-Alias-]

There indeed should be a kill switch. Since the vaste majority of spam
originates from hi-jacked Windoze boxes, these should be killed. Or at the
very least, not allowed to access the Net.

The USA and China are the number one and number two places,
respectively, where spam originates. Just disconnect the USA and China
if you want to cut down on spam dramatically.

Alias

 

[DanS]

Especially if the software is closed source. With Open Source one can
look at the source code and know what it is doing. So don't use the
term "your computer is doing". Rather, using "your Windoze computer is
doing" is more appropriate, Fanboy.

And what percentage of PC users can read C source code and know what it is
doing ?

 

[Leythos]

And what percentage of PC users can read C source code and know what it is
doing ?

Fewer than the ones that use Linux, generally, but many Linux users
don't understand code either. Almost ever Linux user I know, and I know
what I consider a lot of them, has never read/written a line of C/C++ or
other code in their lives.