WGA to Shut Windows Off in the Fall?

[chinkaara]

Whats the point of WGA when you have to get activation over the phone to

use your copy of windows only after that why do legit users need it.

Its just a Invasion of Privacy tool to keep tabs on our personal life.

you are right !!! 10 out of 10

[jroc]

whats gonna bug alot of people...is the fact that a hacker will soon 'exploit' this WGA Check..and either shutdown millions of comp's...or steal data...its just a matter of time....but its typical MS....just another excuse to make another Security Update.

[prx984]

it only takes a few piraters to ruin it for the rest of us. i myself and running 3 copies of xp all legit. 2 on my laptops (both dell OEM) and a retail version on my desktop. i reload my computers quite a bit (its a matter of just messing around ) i wouldnt be surprised if the thing thinks my key has been used a number of times and isnt legit or w/e anymore, but i dont have any problems with windows updates.

but with my luck im sure this thing if and when it comes out, will shut down my computer. then ill get irritated and finally either switch to linux, or downgrade back to 2000 pro (provided i can find my copy of it or even 98 )

MS takes something simple, then complicates the hell out of it.

MS is making sooo much money, they can lower the price of XP home and pro down to like 10 bucks and still make a profit. for that price, id buy 5 copies just to have. theres no reason for a copy of XP to cost 100's of dollars. not the way i see it anyway. thats my story and im sticking to it

[Electrician]

$10 - ? At least they could make an upgrade version that was $99, if

they REALLY want people to migrate from W2k to XP. Hey, remember how M$ claimed they could sell Office for $99 AND THEY WEREN'T DUMPING? Odd how, once they drove WordPerfect and other competitors out of business, it SUDDENLY got more expensive to make Office versions! The REAL reason they need to check IP/GUID/Lic# is to look for the users of Corp Lic ver's of XP. Keeping track of how many and what IP tells them if it is spreading...(IMHO).

XP at work is ok, but there is LITTLE reason to compell me to upgrade my home machine from 2K, just as there is little reason to upgrade Office 97. Does what I need and the rest is B L O A T.

[RJARRRPCGP]

I wouldn't ordinarily just post a Slashdot link, but this is one worth a read:

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/0...41&from=rss

And yes, I know that this is a "maybe" scenario. But here's why WGA Shutoff bugs me.

I am not a pirate. So, I shouldn't have anything to fear, right?

Wrong. I have licenses for Windows. 2000 and 2003. I HFSLIP and nLite and reinstall all the time. Not a major issue for Windows 2000, because it doesn't require registration, but when WGA is installed, it says the copy is pirated. So it would be a victim of the shutdown scheme. Same for 2003. You only get so many installs of 2003 or XP. I have friends who have XP licenses. If I HFSLIP, nLite, and reinstall, their key becomes invalid due to having been used too many times. We all knew this would eventually happen, but I guess we didn't complain loudly enough.

Now, my buddy just entrusted his laptop to me for reinstalling XP since it was riddled with malware. This was just a reinstall, no HFSLIP, no nLite, etc. They key was bad. Microsoft says "call [the laptop] manufacturer." Fair enough. A call to the manufacturer got us a "it was valid when we sold it to you. It's not our problem now."

Nice. WTF am I supposed to do? Where does that leave me, and all of my clients who have valid licenses and clean XP installs? Or 2000 installs? My 2003 is heavily nLited, I did it way back before TP issued his reduction files. This means no more updates. No SP2 for 2003 unless I slipstream and hope that the reg key will work. No guarantee of that, though, because it's on it's second install. And I am aware that there is a file to keep the reg data when you upgrade hardware. That's one machine. I have more than one machine 'out there' that I re-did for someone.

Now I have to firewall off the Microsoft domain, shut off autoupdates, and explain to several clients that yes, you are legally entitled to use Windows, but have a seat, because it's going to take me 30 minutes to explain why Microsoft doesn't recognize you as an authorized user since Windows has been re-installed.

Yes, I know there will be ways 'around' this, which I do not talk about here at MSFN, but think about what this means if you work in IT. All those machines you set up and the explanations you're going to owe just mean more work, more support costs. You cannot simply reinstall. You've have to pull malware off of PC's manually -- yeah, right, we're talking a five-fold increase in time.

Install Linux instead? 98% of users only want a web browser and Word. Sure, there are Windows-only things like VMWare and Adobe CS, but if you're using those, then you don't need guys like us in this forum to reinstall Windows for you, you're probably very knowledgeable. Making the change to Linux on a n00b's PC -- it's too much for them, they want the stupid little utilities their friends have. They want "in" on all of that garbage Windows has. AOL Instant Messenger. WMV video clips (I just HAVE to download that funny new video and now I CAN'T!! Linux SUCKS!).

Anyway, had to blow off some steam... thanks for reading guys and gals

Interestingly, here are some of the WGA problems people are having... From Microsoft's OWN SITE.

http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowFo...2&SiteID=25

Good news, someone at the Microsoft message board said "Windows 2000 should automatically pass validation since it is not a WGA Supported OS."

[prx984]

Good news, someone at the Microsoft message board said "Windows 2000 should automatically pass validation since it is not a WGA Supported OS."

all the more reason to revert back to it if they do this dumb WGA thing. XP is getting older now, why do they care anymore? besides, MS is worth billions anyway. i know it sounds like im justifying the criminals, but think about it, how much would it cost to have 4 desktop computers, and maybe 2 or 3 laptops in a house all running legit copies of XP? i know how much itll costs, im doing it right now, and ill tell you, its way to much. i was looking into doing it, but it was way to expensive for my dad to justify doing it, so he just runs 98 on a few of the desktops (which are way to fast for 98 imo) they need XP but at $130 for each computer, its not worth it. ill just stick with a lower operating system till XP gets a lil older then ill goto it.

who else agrees that XP is too much? for an upgrade version too.

Edited June 30, 2006 by brian10161

[pcalvert]

This sounds like another good reason to support the efforts of the people working on ReactOS.

ReactOS home page

[prx984]

react os is starting to look very promising, i think im going to have to try it again. i used version 0.2.8 or w/e and it wouldn;t load on my laptop, so i might try 0.3.0rc 1 soon. plus the lack of WGA and anything else bloated into XP is a major plus

lol the first time i went to the site it said in one of the screenshots "flash wont work in react os" thats another plus lol.

Edited June 30, 2006 by brian10161

[pcalvert]

Install Linux instead? 98% of users only want a web browser and Word. Sure, there are Windows-only things like VMWare and Adobe CS, but if you're using those, then you don't need guys like us in this forum to reinstall Windows for you, you're probably very knowledgeable. Making the change to Linux on a n00b's PC -- it's too much for them, they want the stupid little utilities their friends have. They want "in" on all of that garbage Windows has. AOL Instant Messenger. WMV video clips (I just HAVE to download that funny new video and now I CAN'T!! Linux SUCKS!).

Actually, I have thought about this lately, and I think that Linux could be an excellent choice for many newbies. Why? Because for many, all they really care about is being able to send and receive email, and to be able to surf the Web. They couldn't care less what OS their email client and web browser are running on.

This little story is a good example of what I am talking about:

"The only distro to pass the 'my wife the Realtor' test."

(BTW, that's somebody else's story, not mine.)

Edited July 1, 2006 by pcalvert

[tain]

At least somebody is actually doing something about this.

[Camarade_Tux]

react os is starting to look very promising, i think im going to have to try it again. i used version 0.2.8 or w/e and it wouldn;t load on my laptop, so i might try 0.3.0rc 1 soon. plus the lack of WGA and anything else bloated into XP is a major plus

lol the first time i went to the site it said in one of the screenshots "flash wont work in react os" thats another plus lol.

And they're nearly done with their code audit.

Also, is preventing WGA from installing a reason to be banned ?

You know it installs itself faking a critical security update. I think it is possible to prevent it from installing even if you forget to untick it.

Now, I don't want to be banned.

root, user, su, NTFS

[saugatak]

Sooooo glad I have Win2k. Will use it until June 2010 when support runs out. ****, that's only 3 years from now.

[Camarade_Tux]

Four years.

[Tomcat76]

That's the problem when you've been using computers for too long... You start counting EVERYTHING from zero...

[Camarade_Tux]

I've not been using copmputer enough then.

(hopefully I didn't I'll be doing maths and maths and maths during the next five years. )