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It appears that an update that came through yesterday contained a change to WGA :)
My software was legit but the phone home feature was annoying since it was a blaring target as a risk. You can read more about the change at the following link, which also contains a kb article on how to manually disable the phone home feature, all legal and what not strait from MS.
eweek WGA removed article
You might want to read this:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=84
Sure, they've turned it off for now, but the rumor is that's not going to be the case in the future.
Of course, since you're getting the updates anyway, you're using a legit copy. BUT, if I read the article correctly if you turn it off in the future or remove it, you're not going to like the outcome.
I do not like Microsoft's current DRM initiative as I consider that it is amateur, inept, and stinks to high Heaven. Hell's teeth............. so a flat CMOS battery is a pirate version of Windows???????????
OK, so I install a genuine version of Windows.................. can anybody explain to me what might happen that will all of a sudden make it a "non-genuine" version?Quote:
The company said that the Validation component of the tool will still check periodically to determine whether the version of Windows is genuine.
If I rebuild the computer, replace the motherboard or install it on a new computer I am going to have to go through the installation, validation and activation process all over again? So why is this crap "phoning home"?.......................what can actually change "in mid flight", so to speak?
I would be very interested to learn, because their people over here cannot tell me.....................
As for:So, Gates and Ballmer have installed software on our computers, WITHOUT OUR EXPLICIT CONSENT that might "run amok" .............. how very polite and gentlemanly of them.Quote:
Microsoft insists the callbacks are a "safety check" to ensure that WGA can be terminated quickly if things run amok
That "excuse" is so pathetic, I will not even comment on it..................................
:mad:
oh come on nihil its not like anything has ever run amok with a windows feature before, don't you think your being a little rough on gates???
***cough***rpc exploit ***cough***
Its Ballmer I want............'cos he's the one who killed my frog
:D :p
Killed my frog, is that an English expression? Here in Texas we dont say that unless we mean it literally lol. Care to explain?
Brian Livingston nailed it.
http://www.windowssecrets.com/comp/060615/
I can see the point of WGA for home users, but for their partners who use it in a corporation, I dont see it. Considering the hell it has put us through with recieving updates from our WSUS servers. It was also very considerate of them to report the data back from our hard drives. Considering most of our machines have the potiential of containing PHI (Patient Health Information). Thank you Microsoft.
Microsoft released instructions on how to remove WGA!!
How to disable or uninstall the pilot version of Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications
I do hope that everyone appreciates this point?
Microsoft installed pilot (as in BETA!!!) software on our machines :eek:
Without our permission ............. this is a very dangerous precedent and ought to be made illegal in my opinion.
There is no real difference in principle between that and spyware, and if Microsoft are not castigated, punished and legislated against, you will hand every spyware and adware scumbag a failsafe, get out parachute :eek:
This is not "Microsoft bashing" this is teaching arrogant b******s the cold hard facts of life.
Microsoft have no justification for this; in fact they seem to be getting progressively out of control in this area?
Standard Oil and Big Blue have both experienced anti-trust legislation.............. it is high time that Microsoft did the same.
Please think about it carefully and then tell me what the difference IN PRINCIPLE is between this and Sony BMG?
I await your replies with interest :)
I understand their desire to varify that the copy of their software that I am using, I actually paid for. I dont understand pushing an untested application into an environment that you understand, much less into multiple environments that you have no clue about. If I pushed an untest peace of software into my environment at work and it caused the issues that we are having now. I could, at the very least, expect the CTO and CIO to talk with me at great lenght about my future with the enterprise. The more accurate response would constitute a desk cleaning-out party and a job search.
The action of puting a piece of monitoring software a system without the permission of the owner is the same. They are not a law enforcement department (Microsoft Enforcement Edition). If they suspect I am doing something illegal they need to go through legal channels.
I just read that MS is getting sued over WGA - a class action lawsuit has been filed claiming WGA is spyware.
I understand MS need to protect their IP and combat piracy of their software...just dont this WGA was the proper way.
Wow, can they have even more troubles? Recent issues...
* Keep removing features out of Vista
* Vista release date moved
* Bill G. has quit/retired from being chief architect
* Numerous 0-day vulns being released
* Class action lawsuit over WGA
Hi ric-o please go to your pharmacist and get some more "sensible pills", you are starting to think like me :eek:
I would be interested in any links to the class action suit if you have them?
My personal suspicions are that MS is testing DRM for Vista?............... but the whole thing is very unprofessional?
Hey, there are loads of us out here who would test it for them on non-production boxes? It is almost an insult that we were NOT approached?
Naturally, I fully support Microsoft's desire and right to protect their intellectual property and revenue. I just do not like the way they have been going about it recently, given the problems that they have caused legitimate customers?
I guess I don't blame Bill for wanting to "take the money and run"
:D
Some articles which describe the lawsuit ric-o mentioned in more detail:
And an article from Groklaw can be found here: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...60629160018237Quote:
A computer user is suing Microsoft Corp. over the company's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool, alleging that it violates laws against spyware.
The suit by Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks class-action status for claims that Microsoft didn't adequately disclose details of the tool when it was delivered to PC users through the company's Automatic Update system.
[more]
The news is a few days old though ;)
The actual complaint that has been filed: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart...sftwgasuit.pdf
I hope Microsoft have to cough up a LOT of money because of this, as they have caused nothing but harm in both the enterprise and home markets.
Thank you J_K9 , I really don't know where Microsoft is heading these days :confused:
They must have seen the Sony BMG thing, yet they go and do something as dumb as this?
Like the smilie says, I am totally confused............ has anyone come across any comments?
Neither do I. As you said, both what they did and the way they tried to rectify it later on by removing the call-back feature and making a feeble excuse were pathetic.. That is just adding insult to injury. They should never have put it there in the first place without our EXPRESS PERMISSION.Quote:
Originally posted here by nihil
Thank you J_K9 , I really don't know where Microsoft is heading these days :confused:
That lawsuit has obviously been planned very well, and the guy has a good case - let's hope he gets the chance to screw MS over for this.
Seems to me that MicroSoft have indeed just shot themselves in the foot. And ol Billy the Kid is jumping from the Bandwagon while the coast is clear..
Fronties~ my old mate............ I don't like to have to say this (nothing personal :) ) but a lot of people on this site probably rely on Microsoft for their livings?
That is bloody frightening mate, when MS start acting like a loose cannon on the deck :eek:
Johnno.. I to relied heavily on MicroSoft, until they brought out the whole WGA thing, before that i was led to believe that i had 30+ machines with legit 0s installed, all purchased legally even confirmed with microsoft before it was all installed setup etc.Quote:
Originally posted here by nihil
Fronties~ my old mate............ I don't like to have to say this (nothing personal :) ) but a lot of people on this site probably rely on Microsoft for their livings?
That is bloody frightening mate, when MS start acting like a loose cannon on the deck :eek:
Then this WGA crap came out and i was then told that all my machines had flagged license keys.
But i brought 30+ legit versions of windows XP.
The installation keys where not left on the side of the boxs so they couldn't have been stolen that way.
When the install was done i would write on the installation disc the computer number that it was installed on then put it back into it's respective box and stored away.
I called microsoft when i discovered that all 30+ machines where now flagged and displaying the your copy of windows is pirated crap.
They had the balls to tell me that i would need to purchase new keys for each box. But why should i off had to when i legally purchased the product in the first place .... ?
So i now have 30+ copy's of XP that are not worth the $200 each that i handed over in the first place..
i've now got all the machines running suse10.0 and am not considering looking back.
So that would explain the above comment that i made. ;)
Microsoft are screwing over there customers here, and by the looks of it they really don't care...
Heya Mate!
That is the really frightening part? what the hell is going on?Quote:
and by the looks of it they really don't care...
30 x $200? That sounds like a worthwhile investment in a solicitor's letter..............
"Dear Bill, please find your product enclosed..............I require my $ 6,000 refunded as your product is patently not fit for purpose, or of merchantable quality"
Take it up with your "Board of Trade", "Trading Standards" and whatever as well ;)
You might even make a few bob out of the press on top?
"Aussie small businessman driven to extinction by Yankee multibillionaire".......... Your oppo Rupert Murdoch is the man for that!!!!! (Tabloids pay better than broadsheets or technical magazines ;))
I wonder if there is some kind of power struggle going on within MS?
:confused:
You clicked the EULA. That pretty much gave them express permissionQuote:
They should never have put it there in the first place without our EXPRESS PERMISSION.
to do anything up to and including probe your anal cavity.
This could have been predicted long ago. It's no secret which way
the Big Boys want to take us. Who among us persists in believing
that free software/open source advocates are just a bunch
of malcontents and crackpots, or that linux is just amateur
software cooked up by "college kids in their dorm rooms"?
You can lead a horse to water...
:cool:
rcgreen
Hi, what you are probably not aware of is that these EULAs are different for Europe and Australia. They clearly state that they are subordinate to local laws and consumer rights ;)
;)
Actually, I agree, and have argued that they aren't legal since they are coerced.Quote:
They clearly state that they are subordinate to local laws and consumer rights
In any case, they are always subordinate to law. I was just arguing rhetorically.
The EULA is worded so broadly that they could argue that they have the
permission to install spyware. In the end it's up to buyers to vote with their
purse. Money talks. I spend mine carefully.
Hot damn! I wish I had met you earlier sir!!!Quote:
Money talks. I spend mine carefully.
I have wasted most of mine on fast women and slow horses................the rest I spent on alchohol :drink:
:p :D
i think all this is the reason gates is deciding to really step down. he fscked up, and can see the $hit storm brewing. so why not leave for a legit excuse, to work on your non-profit foundation.. and let the other guy take the fall!
i bought a mac over the weekend. screw MS..
*edit*
and i think the EULA needs to be heavily revised
bold print window. less then 300 words.
"YOUR COMPUTER WILL INSTALL THIS THAT DOES THIS. AND THIS SOFTWRE REPORTS THIS INFORMATION TO THIS COMPANY"
not "your software under the legal right act of page 2837 paragraph 23 line 4 states we can do THIS for blah blah blah blah"
who here has actualy felt like reading the novel that comes with your software... or just clicks yes and gets on with your life
*end edit*
Oh my.....I better stop drinking so much. :rolleyes: :pQuote:
nihil wrote:
Hi ric-o please go to your pharmacist and get some more "sensible pills", you are starting to think like me
I dont think MS knows either....which is really really scary.Quote:
That is the really frightening part? what the hell is going on?
Thanks for the links J_K9. I should have put those in.
He's bored...least that's what some folks are speculating. You might be right as well...who knows.Quote:
hexadecimal wrote:
i think all this is the reason gates is deciding to really step down. he fscked up, and can see the $hit storm brewing. so why not leave for a legit excuse, to work on your non-profit foundation.. and let the other guy take the fall!
Oh let me add one more 'issue' to MS's troubles...Google. See more and more articles about Google being more nimble at getting products to market and comparing MS to IBM back when MS was quicker than IBM beating them in the O/S space.
Sigh, like many others my company depends on MS products and their marketshare heavily. They need to get steer this mammoth boat back in the right direction.