Microsoft Just Wants a Little Look 482
waynegoode writes "Do you want to let Microsoft check if your copy of Windows is legit? How about if they promise it's anonymous? How about if they give you some free stuff? Recently Microsoft launched their Genuine Advantage Program to let you (and Microsoft) check if your OS is legal. They hoped for 20,000 responses but received 800,000 without offering anything but piece of mind. Now they are throwing in a bunch of free and discounted stuff including Photo Story 3 and the Holiday Fun Pack to try to get more volunteers. Read more at news.com and Microsoft Watch."
Stupid. (Score:3, Insightful)
If anything, give away a tshirt or a hat or some other convention junk.
Support? Security? Hehe... (Score:5, Insightful)
Using genuine Microsoft software ensures that you get world-class reliability, security, and support...
I don't think I need to comment on the reliability and security issue around here. But I have a strange feeling if Microsoft really gave
"world-class" support, half of Slashdot's readers would be out of jobs. I think they need to come up with a more realistic explanation of why it's worth spending 300 dollars for Windows.
Pie Rat (Score:5, Insightful)
They may not shut down your copy but you can bet they'll look into the company that bought that strand of registration keys that you just so happen to be piggy-backing on.
ehhhhh (Score:5, Insightful)
I was going to run it, but it doesn't work under Mozilla. Oh well.
Re:Support? Security? Hehe... (Score:2, Insightful)
No, they mean that Windows is about as reliable, secure and supportive as the world at large is today.
Re:Call me paranoid..... (Score:5, Insightful)
People that know they are pirating aren't going to run this tool (unless they're idiots). So, most of those that run it will either know for certain their copy is legit (or think it is) and 99.9% of them will probably turn out to be legit. It's the guy that bought his copy at the 2-bit shop down the street that finds out that it's not a legit copy that might just get pissed enough to turn in the bastard that sold it to him. He's not responsible for having it, and MS knows that. They want the phony retailer, not the poor schmuck that bought from him.
Re:You don't understand (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why are they doing this? (Score:5, Insightful)
The cost of product activation (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, this really makes me wonder.
The whole point of making users "activate" a new installation of Windows is to discourage the use or distribution of pirated copies. It didn't really work. The honest people stayed honest, but were inconvenienced. And the pirates kept pirating.
I might guess that activation is probably something of an inconvenience to MS as well. It didn't work as well as they had hoped, and in fact they had to keep track of illegitimate or "leaked" product keys in addition to the good ones. And it still hasn't stopped piracy.
So now MS is throwing "carrots" out to people in an effort to weed out illegal copies of Windows. They haven't said just what they're going to do with the data they've collected, or how they'll expect users to deal with it. More work for them, and potential pain for those that thought they had purchased legal copies of Windows, but didn't.
I don't know if I have a point... but this all just looks bad to me, and does seem to make product activation more and more of a hassle for everybody all around. It just seems to escalate, and I wonder if this is a case of diminishing returns. Maybe it gives MS some benefit (perhaps the marketing people get good data out of it somehow), but discouraging piracy doesn't seem to be one of them, from what I can see.
sigh
Can you get Bob? (Score:2, Insightful)
I have a better idea.
How about I don't run Windows at all. Ever.
Re:You don't understand (Score:2, Insightful)
i'm sure the brilliant minds at microsoft have devised/gleemed all sorts of angles on how this information might help them.
somehow, i doubt 3rd rate shops even rank in the top 10.
Firefox in the FAQ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Interesting either way though.
Evil? (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, you can argue that people should be allowed to make copies of software you have and distribute them. That is a defensible alternate view of copyright. However to sell software as legit when it's not, that's just fraud. We are talking about bussinesses lying to consumers to make extra money.
Pirates are shooting themselves in their foot (Score:1, Insightful)
If you need software, you should purchase it. To support proprietary solutions with their domination, will only come back to haunt us. This is stupid and egoistical short-term thinking.
Re:Mine is pirated XP. So..??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Justify your actions all you like, but in the end you're just helping Bill Gates while he's laughing all the way to the bank.
Re:Greater reliability? (Score:3, Insightful)
For the moment. How can MS say that genuine software is more reliable?
By denying known pirated keys access to future updates.
Personally, I'm all in favour of an anti-piracy drive. In this day an age, when you get get a decent OS for free, there really is no excuse for pirating Windows anymore. Cost doesn't come into it - perfectly serviceable alternatives exist and can legally be had for the cost of a CD-R.
Cheers,
Ian
Re:Stupid. (Score:2, Insightful)
The 800,000 who have submitted are end-users who *wanted* a legit copy and paid (some amount) for it but now are worried if it's legit. Notice (in the article) how easy MS is on illegit copies -- you submit BIOS and purchase information to help them spot the system builder/retailer, you get a courtesy key and get all critical updates nevertheless.
There's a strong element of hypocrisy, though. Notice how MS doesn't *really* go after pirates in the poorest countries. Actually, it looks like they have divided the global market basically into three areas with corresponding strategies:
1. "Userbase, userbase, userbase." Developing countries. Sure, make a song and dance about piracy, but do absolutely nothing else about it. Unhindered piracy of MS products ensures (near) 100% share of userbase and keeps Linux at bay. There wasn't much revenue to make anyway.
2. "Missionary." Prospering but still comparatively poor countries. Take a real stand to battle piracy, giving incentive to those who care about their reputation to become legit, paying end-users. In short, make the "legit" status desirable, important for doing business.
3. "Cash In." The "Western World" countries. Really go after pirates (lobby for stronger laws, have the BS Alliance raid offices, anything else) to make 100% of the userbase also paying customers.
The idea is that when each country moves up a level, as they do, everybody continues using what they are familiar with -- MS products. They just start paying for the priviledge.
It works out fine, too. Step 4 is "Profit!", not "???". Thus, my bottom line is, MS doesn't mind piracy in the poorest countries, at all.
It's kinda smart too. Shrewd but smart.
(I'm a legit Win2k user and I can't wait until Linux fits my bill. Not yet, not even Mandrake 10.1 or SUSE 9.2, but soon I hope. But until then, I'll be a semi-happy Windows luser although I dislike the company behind the product.)
compliance is good for FOSS (Score:5, Insightful)
To put it differently, OpenOffice would probably have a big jump in market share if all the pirated or incorrectly licensed versions of MS Office wordlwide were replaced with OpenOffice.
Re:Firefox in the FAQ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mine is pirated XP. So..??? (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, my primary OS is legit. But it happens to be made by Apple...
Re:Mine is pirated XP. So..??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope, you've just reduced the incentive for the software authors to port to another platform.
Re:Mine is pirated XP. So..??? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You don't understand (Score:5, Insightful)
Wonder how many shops are reinstalling computers with XP Corp because the owner doesn't have / lost the original media and the computer had to be formatted. Telling them they're gonna have to shell out another hundred bucks for an OS is NOT a way to keep them happy
Re:Call me paranoid..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Are we really comparing apples to apples?
Is Redhat a convicted monopolist?
Does Redhat have a history of serious privacy violations?
Does Redhat make it difficult to interoperate with competing OS vendors?
Under Microsoft, do you really "own" your data?
All they're doing is trying to enforce their licence; or is that not allowed, as "they already have plenty of money"?
Microsoft licenses do in fact generate serious legal, financial, and IT issues for many groups. They even force you to accept license changes in so-called Service Packs.
Technically, even installing VNC will void your Windows license. Read the clause about "remote management" in the MS licensing.
I know this is a rant about licensing, but I don't think you can say "License is irrelevant... what about this license validator"?
Re:You don't understand (Score:3, Insightful)
First, plenty of pirated versions of XP just use a cracked activator. VLK might make up for a larger percentage, only because it takes less effort. Fix that approach, and they'll just shift the balance rather than significantly affect the total.
Second, although to the average home user, the magic acronym "VLK" might sound like a godsend for piracy, for the average corporate IT person dealing with more than a dozen machines, the idea of not using a VLK sounds like insanity.
I spend almost half of my time at work healing PCs (around 150 wired employees, and not even my primary job description to keep them all happy). For anything more serious than "I can't print" (hyperbole, but not all that much), I just reinstall XP. Now, if I had to go through activation each time I do that... <Shudder>.
If every Joe User and even every Bob SuperAdmin had to pay full price (even OEM) for every single copy of Windows & Office (and Photoshop and x and y and z) out there, you would see a serious exodus to Linux and related.
Agree completely. You can currently get a decent new PC for well under $500. If the cost of that tripled just for software licensing, no one would run Windows.