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

ZDNet ^ | 27 June 2006 | Ed Bott

[Fractal Trader]

Two weeks ago, I wrote about my serious objections to Microsoft’s latest salvo in the war against unauthorized copies of Windows. Two Windows Genuine Advantage components are being pushed onto users’ machines with insufficient notification and inadequate quality control, and the result is a big mess. (For details, see Microsoft presses the Stupid button.)

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.

[SNIP]

Currently, no one at Microsoft is blogging about this fiasco. No executive has been quoted on the record about it. There are very few technical details available, and those that have been published are being tumbled through the spin machine and spit out as press releases.

If Microsoft really does plan to turn WGA into a kill switch in September, be prepared for an enormous backlash.

[keithtoo]

Microsoft had better take it easy, or Google (or someone else) will develop an online operating system that bypasses the need for Windows alltogether.

[Publius6961]

I have been nagged about WGA every time I boot up and have been igoring it.
This may be the final push I need to go all Linux (Two laptops and four desktops). I own four legal Windows licences, but two of my desktops are strictly "emergency backups" for when the "recovered from a serious error" message starts popping up...

[VOA]

bump

[theDentist]

Build a better mousetrap...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I am using Linux totally for web browsing ... still some issues with multi-media aspects of course.

[ShadowAce]

[prisoner6]

Teh biiger they are, the harder they fall. Still rings true.

MS could create quite a Tsunami if/when it goes down.

prisoner6

[KoRn]

"If Microsoft really does plan to turn WGA into a kill switch in September, be prepared for an enormous backlash."

Any bets on wow long it will take for someone to find an exploit if a kill switch does go into WGA? I can imagine a worm that will disable every Windows machine with WGA, which is most of them now.

[ShadowAce]

still some issues with multi-media aspects of course.

What issues are you having?

[postaldave]

pull the trigger microsoft. i double dog dare you.

[martin_fierro]

I'm gonna seriesly look into running Linux on my older computers after MS ends its support for Win 98 next month.

[Echo Talon]

Two Windows Genuine Advantage components are being pushed onto users’ machines with insufficient notification and inadequate quality control, and the result is a big mess.

Windows is the only product that people think is ok to steal

[Vinnie]

I have been nagged about WGA every time I boot up and have been igoring it.

Yeah, me too.
I ignored it for weeks, then they sent several other upgrades.
I elected' Custom' and unclicked the WGA upgrade.
All went well.
The two upgrades involved are KB892130, KB905474 ( that's my deduction, might be wrong)

[Publius6961]

Windows is the only product that people think is ok to steal

I told you a million times, don't exaggerate!

Music is by far the most stolen item.

[Boundless]

WGA is already a kill switch if it decides to phone home,
and can't, and you left the machine unattended (so it
better not be some mission-critical, and/or life-safety
application).

The next shoe to drop is subscription-based licensing,
where WGA is a time bomb that explodes if you don't send
your annual tribute to Redmond.

MS is panicked, and like the RIAA, has yet to learn that:
1. you don't solve the piracy problem by punishing
the honest customers, and
2. even if you succeed in killing unauthorized copies,
that will NOT turn the crooks into paying customers.
DRM is lose-lose.

Win2K is the last MS OS that will ever be run in this
household. One of the machines still on the now-dangerous
Win98SE will be upgraded to Linux.

[Publius6961]

The two upgrades involved are KB892130, KB905474 ( that's my deduction, might be wrong)

Knowing the way Microshaft works, they probably have WGA embedded in one of those two updates.

[Echo Talon]

I have been nagged about WGA every time I boot up and have been igoring it.

if you want to know how to remove it freepmail me....

[Clara Lou]

If MS messes with my computer, I'll never, ever use a Microsoft OS again. And that's a promise.

[Turbopilot]

WGA is stupid, not necessarily in concept (though I'm on the fence about that one) but certainly in implementation. Deploying it before fixing the implementation, and failing to consider the potential ramifications of WGA the way it works now, was stupid on MS's part.

However, it was a fully voluntary install. I don't really feel sorry for anyone who's been hassled by it, as no one forced them to install it. Again - MS should have made its purpose and operation very clear, and not included it with critical security updates. However, no matter what OS or web browser one uses, if you blindly install downloads without knowing what they do, you take the risk yourself that they may not be something you want.

I chose not to install WGA on any machine for which I'm responsible, even though they're all verifiably software-legal. None has ever asked to download or install it again, and none has had any ill effects or failed to get other MS updates because of it.