Windows XP WGA To Mimic That Of Windows Vista

[Ascii2]

At http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/26/windows-x...-windows-vista/ is an article I thought the members of this forum would be interested in. Also, http://blogs.msdn.com/wga/default.aspx may have more information.

It appears that Microsoft Corporation has worsened the experience of users that opt to update their Windows Genuine Advantage components.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Ascii2

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

It appears that Microsoft Corporation has worsened the experience of users that opt to update their Windows Genuine Advantage Components.

It appears that you are absolutely correct.

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

It appears that Microsoft Corporation has worsened the experience of users thieves that opt to update their Windows Genuine Advantage Components.

There. I fixed that for you.

Wont somebody please think of the PIRATES?!!?!!?!

[MrCobra]

^ Yeah like the pirates have to worry about it.

There are those of us that do purchase our software that get affected negatively by WGA.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Wont somebody please think of the PIRATES?!!?!!?!

I am in total agreement with our friendly ADMIN on this point. I just hope the pirates are in fact stupid enough to keep their bootleg WinXP Pro machines facing the internet with Automatic Updates enabled. Let me beat this (newly updated) dead horse while carefully staying within MSFN rules...

What I am really finding intrusive is that all the legal WinXP Pro machines I own and maintain (quite a few at obscene retail hologram prices to guarantee the luxury of being allowed to use the Automatic Updates) are targeted by MS with this latest WGA modification. "What was the advantage to buying Pro instead of Home for more than two bills again?" says the ticked-off customer.

I do not claim to know the magic answer for Redmond to safeguard their intellectual property, I can only state what I am personally feeling once again, invaded. Kind of like an imaginary traffic stop where the police roadblock every car and make each and every one produce their Insurance and Registration papers because they know there are a few that are stolen or expired.

Using the word 'invaded' is intentional, as I see this as comparable to the Sony rootkit fiasco which was almost universally despised. One difference between them is that Sony merely disabled further duplication of *their* CD's whereas this Microsoft 'experience enhancement' contains more harmful abilities. Ascii2 posted a link to the Microsoft WGA page that really says it all. Speaking for myself as one who has rooted for and defended Microsoft for years (even with the MSIE DoJ nonsense), it was clearly a mistake on my part as this piece of propaganda riddled with marketdroid terms like 'experience' makes me ill. It is a sugar coated enema.

What worries me is that I will now get some calls from clients with their LEGAL retail Pro machines now under reduced functionality because some virus or javascript toggled some registry bit or easily deleted some OEMBIOS or DBL file or they triggered WPA by screwing with the NIC or some other hardware. I hope it does not happen because such calls would be difficult to impossible to bill to the clients as have been all the calls to sort out previous Activation bugaboos.

Truthfully, here in August 2008, I do not have 100% confidence that the dozens of recently SP3 updated machines I support will pass the next WGA change unscathed. I can say this from experience of having many machines over the years become unactivated for no apparent reason (maybe a PCI card, maybe sp2, maybe a rollback). They are all 100% working *today* however, and all tested through Automatic/Manual Updates and MSKB WGA downloads. But, if you consider the recent serious SP3 registry boondoggle, one might be inclined to expect the worse from Redmond when it involves WinXP.

P.S. I Hope I kept this within forum rules, that was my intent. And, sorry about the rant, not a good day for me as both of my favorite Operating Systems: WinXP Pro and Win9x are under deliberate attack, not by Viruses or Hackers or Y2k or Communists, but by the publishers themselves!

[Ascii2]

An article aboult the change in WGA on Windows XP has made been made on the msfn.org front page today, August 28, 2008.

Edited August 29, 2008 by Ascii2