Posted on 06/13/2006 11:45:10 AM PDT by Panerai
Millions of Windows users may unwittingly be test subjects for an unfinished Microsoft antipiracy tool.
The software maker has been delivering a prerelease version of Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications software to PCs as a "high priority" item in the built-in update feature in Windows. The tool, also known as WGA Notifications, is used to validate the authenticity of Windows software installed on a PC.
The move is a first for the software maker. Microsoft normally asks people to join test programs before it initiates the download of any such trial software.
"I don't think that we have done it before," David Lazar, director of the Windows Genuine program at Microsoft, told CNET News.com on Monday. "WGA Notifications is a unique program."
Microsoft has been expanding its effort to distinguish pirated copies of Windows from legitimately acquired ones. The original WGA program, launched in September 2004, calls for people to validate their Windows installation when they download additional Microsoft software from a Microsoft Web site. In November, it introduced the separate WGA Notifications program. It now sends prerelease WGA Notifications software to people in a number of countries, including the United States.
But some security experts are troubled by Microsoft's decision to deliver prerelease software to millions of Windows users without clearly notifying them. People may not realize they are participating in a trial and have in essence become unsuspecting guinea pigs, they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
Small potatoes compared to the massive onslaught of spyware we've already got.
Stinkers.
Love My Mac.
You don't like that Sony rootkit??? They're all ba$tards!
Microsoft got caught in a lie.
Windows XP should cost no more than $60. Than people might buy it. I think MS should be taken over by the government and made into open source.
Why is anyone surprised? Microsoft products are *ALWAYS* stealth test programs - especially x.0 versions!
I agree with the first part.
As for the second, I think the US govt should threaten to turn over microsoft to the Chinese . Then maybe they will write some good software price it right.
What they should do is alter the copyright laws so that operating software has a copyright limited to say 15 years. That would put Windows 3.1 in the public domain, with Windows 95 only a few years out.
Windows XP Pro is $200. The latest version of Mac Tiger is $89. There is something very greedy in MS's pricing policy.
Big brother Microsoft is watching.
And if he doesn't like what he sees while scanning your computer, he'll make it such that you can't even turn it on.
Thanks Bill, That's some "Genuine Advantage" for me alright.
When you consider how many copies of XP are out there, anything over $100 is highway robbery.
If every copy was purchased legally and none stolen, maybe it would be $60.
That would be the *last* thing anyone needs. The government puts its' fingers in too many pots as it is.
Just let time play out. Operating systems will eventually become commodities like the hardware they power. The only real thing forestalling it is the DMCA and I don't see that lasting over the long haul. Its' abuse will be its' end, I suspect.
China forced MS to lower the price in China and he did. I would gladly pay $60.
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