Yesterday, Microsoft said it will roll out an improved version of Windows Genuine Advantage with the first “service pack” for Windows Vista, due in the first quarter of 2008. The new tactic is not to turn off a computer should WGA declare that the software was pirated, but to simply annoy and pester the user continuously. A story from the Associated Press describes the plan:
In the new version [of WGA], PC users found to have a pirated copy of Vista will continue to be able to use their computers, but with unmistakable signs their operating system is a fake. The desktop wallpaper will turn black, and a white notice will appear alerting users to the problem. Each time they log in, they will be prompted to buy legitimate software, and every hour, a reminder bubble will appear on the screen.
The idea is based on this theory: Microsoft does not misidentify legitimate software. What’s really happening is that there are people out there who think the pirated software they have purchased is legit, when it isn’t. So the new pester-until-a-fee-is-paid tactic is Microsoft’s way of being a nice guy about it.
Of course, this ignores WGA recent not-so-pretty recent history. In August, the WGA servers experienced a problem that caused them to misidentify an unspecified number of legit users as frauds. (Some 12,000 people during a two-day period tried to validate software and couldn’t – but how many of those actually had pirated versions is unknown.)
In the meantime, even bona fide Microsoft software experts, like Tyson Kopczynski, have run into issues with WGA’s overly militant tactics. The latest episode, he reports this week, is having WGA break the Windows activation (of machines that had already been activated) while working with virtual machines. The tale is must read anyone that works with Microsoft software and virtualization.
