Topic: Is Microsoft about to release a Windows "kill switch"?

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

Note that the following article is rather short on facts other than Microsoft not denying anything when asked.  I consider it highly speculative.

Guess what? WGA might be on the verge of getting even messier. In fact, one report claims WGA is about to become a Windows “kill switch” – and when I asked Microsoft for an on-the-record response, they refused to deny it.

The below is quoted in the article and is in my opinion of "questionable lineage".

He told me that "in the fall, having the latest WGA will become mandatory and if its not installed, Windows will give a 30 day warning and when the 30 days is up and WGA isn't installed, Windows will stop working, so you might as well install WGA now." [emphasis added]

If this is true I would expect the lawsuits to hit quite hard against Microsoft.

If it is true I expect to be immune with my 2 windows systems but if it did hit me those 2 systems would join with my other 2 as Linux boxes and I would send Microsoft a nice polite E-Mail for making the decision to go totally Linux for me.

[Just plain old Punisher]

What's the problem, didn't you buy Windows?

[Nemesis]

What's the problem, didn't you buy Windows?

Every copy is legitimate, even the one I didn't want to get with the laptop.  But if you have followed anything on the WGA discussions it appears that Microsoft is acknowledging a significant number of legitimate users are being tagged as illegal.

WGA = William Gates Authorized.   (Ok officially its Windows Genuine Advantage but what advantage is there to the user legitimate or otherwise?)

I don't need or want his authorization.

[Nemesis]

Microsoft appears to be in the courts now over WGA.

"Microsoft effectively installed the WGA software on consumers' systems without providing consumers any opportunity to make an informed choice about that software," the suit alleges.

A Microsoft spokesman, Jim Desler, called the suit "baseless" and disputed the characterization of the tool as spyware.

"Spyware is deceptive software that is installed on a user's computer without the user's consent and has some malicious purpose," Desler said.

1/ Deceptive?  The WGA is misrepresented as a critical update when it does not improve anything from the customer viewpoint and does cause many trouble.  Sounds deceptive to me.

2/ Without consent?  Forced consent is not considered consent by the law.  Neither is consent if the facts are seriously misrepresented.  Sound like without consent to me.

3/ Malicious.  Turns off your OS and renders your expensive computer useless and your data inaccesible unless you pay Microsoft its ransom.  Sounds malicious to me.

[Commander Maxillius]

Yet another reason to go Mac.

[Dash Jones]

Actually, this might be a reason Gates got out of it.  Gates is against piracy, but he's also against stupid moves in the company.  It could be he's been against a lot of this "take over the machine" idea from MS...and with him getting out of the business to be with his wife...well...it lets those who are felons truly start taking the book.

I've had problems this past year with XP things occurring.  That's WITH a LEGIT copy of WinXP...it had problems reauthorizing after I upgraded a computer.  Had to even go contact tech support (which was a pain in and of itself even), and even then, it wasn't a walk in the park.

If they do initiate a kill switch, it might have nothing to do with Gates...and a LOT to do with others who are behind this push.

I hope if they do implement it it DOES damage Windows and MS's reputation AND SALES so badly that they change their entire shove of trying to shove authentication and all this hijacking of one's computer and abandon that approach...but are still in business so that we have continuity and backwards compatibility in Windows OS's.

[Commander Maxillius]

I'm all for letting Microsoft do whatever stupid things it wants to dowith its cash cow.  When people see that they can no longer use their machine that they paid lots of money for to do the things they bought it for, I hope the monetary damages are steep enough that Microsoft will either adapt or join Amiga in the mists of the past.


Microsoft has the resources to do really great things if they didn't have so many morons at the controls

[Just plain old Punisher]

If you're worried, download a program called mublinder

Do a google search for it, current version 2.3.

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

“No, Microsoft antipiracy technologies cannot and will not turn off your computer,” said a spokeswoman with Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft’s public relations firm. “The game is changing for counterfeiters. In Windows Vista, we are making it notably harder and less appealing to use counterfeit software, and we will work to make that a consistent experience with older versions of Windows as well.”

Microsoft has tried to appease customers by releasing a new version of WGA that checks users’ computers only once a month, rather than every day.

[Mr_Tricorder]

So that quote was from a Micro$oft PR person.

PR = Pure Rubbish

[Nemesis]

So that quote was from a Micro$oft PR person.

PR = Pure Rubbish

The thing I found odd was that it was essentially a support related question but they had an outside person do the talking instead of an executive as they have in past incidents.