[IP] Microsoft responds re innocent users and Windows Genuine Advantage
Begin forwarded message:
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: June 15, 2006 4:50:02 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: lauren@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Microsoft responds re innocent users and Windows Genuine
Advantage
Dave,
The Microsoft program director for Windows Genunine Advantage (WGA) --
whom I spoke to originally -- has responded to my questions regarding
impacts of WGA validation checks on innocent users that I noted in:
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000181.html
To summarize his response (in my words):
- MS is aware that repair depots and stores have had a habit of
re-installing Windows (e.g., from cloned systems) in ways that
could result in WGA validation failures.
- MS realizes that being told that a system is failing WGA
checks for no obvious reason can be extremely frustrating
to an innocent victim.
- He says that MS has been warning distributers, resellers, etc.
about this issue for years, and urges them to use appropriate
software tools when fixing/configuring customer machines to avoid
creating invalid OS copies that will fail WGA validation -- but MS
knows that this is still definitely a problem.
- He urges customers who have been "victimized" by such actions
that cause WGA failures to go back to the dealer (or whomever) to
request a proper installation, using the original activation keys
whenever possible.
- In the event that the dealer, etc. won't help or can't help, he
suggests:
1) Turning off WGA notification warnings via the system tray
applet -- so at least that won't keep bugging them...
then:
2) Phone MS support via whatever numbers are provided for the
user's area. He says that the support people (he notes that
phone banks have been beefed up to handle more calls) have a
variety of tools that can be used to swap and/or override
keys to get around a variety of related WGA issues.
- - -
So it appears that Microsoft does have mechanisms in place to deal
with at least some of these issues in typical contexts, assuming
people aren't so flustered that they realize what is actually going
on and what steps are available.
Of course, none of this addresses the key issues in general of users
vs. vendor control and licensing rights monitoring, ownership vs.
effectively the "rental" of software, and a range of other questions,
including one of the perhaps most fundamental of all: Aren't these
kinds of situations starting to get far too complicated and
unnecessarily complex for consumer products on which people now
depend for so many aspects of their lives?
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@xxxxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxx
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
- International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
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