Microsoft Plans New Update to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifica

[neo]

Microsoft is planning to release an update to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications in Windows XP. The worldwide roll-out will begin this week and will continue over the next few months.

This update will only affect Windows XP Professional systems. It’ll reconfigure the notifications experience to mirror notifications in Windows Vista SP1.

Customers who are using non-genuine Windows can expect a black desktop to appear every 60 minutes of use. Also a persistent desktop notification will appear in the lower right corner indicating that the user may be a victim of software counterfeiting.

Read More at the source.

Source

[GrofLuigi]

On a related note...

Blackouts for users of pirated Windows

Several users and industry pundits that The Star spoke to believe Microsoft is using its WGA campaign to herd business users into upgrading to its newest operating system, Windows Vista, which hasn’t garnered interest among companies because of its higher hardware requirements.

“Microsoft has stopped selling Win XP in the market, so you have to wonder why it is spending time and money to take down users of pirated copies of this OS,” said a PC user, who asked for anonymity. “Why isn’t it also targeting users who have pirated copies of Windows Vista?”

“So if I’m using a pirated copy of Vista at this time, I won’t be hassled? Got to wonder about that.”

Ng replied that the concern now is XP Pro, which is widely pirated. “Vista isn’t pirated as much. WGA is continuous and should there be a Vista piracy problem, we will address it down the road,” he said.

GL

*Edit: to put it another way, in 2010 (or 2014, whatever) when XP support ends, will 'support' of WGA end?

Edited August 26, 2008 by GrofLuigi