Coincidence? WGA Failures Followed Windows Update 381
section: windows, for your questions: KezNews forum, 24.9.2007
Is it coincidence that Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage failure started around the same time that Windows Update self-updated? Thanks to pacpis for this news.
Based on eWEEK Labs and Windows Secrets testing and posts on various forums, Windows Update self-updated on August 23 and 24, from version 7.0.6000.374 to 7.0.6000.381. On the evening of August 24, Windows Vista users started complaining of failed activations/validations. Microsoft would later say that about 12,000 systems failed to activate/validate. What Microsoft didn't say is which ones.
Are these two events related, or is it merely coincidental that around the same time Microsoft disseminated a new version of Windows Update, WGA started to invalidate thousands of Windows systems?
I don't have an answer because I don't have a means to test for it. My Windows PCs are set to automatically update, and none of them attempted to activate/validate on Aug. 24 or 25. But it may be that the WGA failure afflicted some Microsoft Watch readers' Windows installations; system logs could identify a relationship to Windows Update self-updating, if any.
One plausible scenario: Windows PCs running Windows Update Version 7.0.6000.374 (or earlier) failed to activate/validate against a WGA service updated for Version 7.0.6000.381. Microsoft had attributed the WGA failure to early release of a system update, which could fit this scenario. I haven't set up a new Vista PC recently, but if I rightly remember, activation is a process that occurs before updating.
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Comments(7)
just how much more should paying customers put up with vista?
12,000 more
unhappy customers to fail wga?
isn't it ironic that paying customers are
treated like criminals for purchasing vista?
let me rephrase it...
what is the windows genuine advantage of failing validation to mean for paying customers?
or think of it in this way, the customers who do manage to validate their
rental (licensed copies of mass production) which the public is forbidden to share even as
wife and husband, father and son, and wife and daughter are subjected to the following
demands of providing....
windows product key or product id
windows service
pack version
pc manufacturer and model
operating system version
sku and
suite mask
security id
pid/sid
bios information (manufacturer, model, make,
version, date)
bios md5 checksum
user locale (language setting for displaying
windows)
system locale (language version of the operating system)
office product
key (if validating office)
hard drive serial number
and that's in
addition to agreeing to an ultimatum regarding the end user license agreement, which
cannot be negotiated in any manner but total surrender.
ever hear of the
meaning of indentured servitude?
caveat emptor!
the wga program was not really a consumer protection program. it was actually designed to
protect microsoft itself from people obtaining unlicensed copies of its windows (tm)
operating system, and forcing them to obtain actual licensed copies of the os.
windows genuine advantage is microsoft corporation's preferred weapon against software
piracy.
the “windows genuine advantage,” allows microsoft to unilaterally decide that you have
breached the terms of the agreement, and they can essentially disable the software, and
possibly deny you access to critical files on your computer without benefit of proof,
hearing, testimony or judicial intervention.
users who can’t or won’t pass activation within a set time period will be moved into
“reduced-functionality mode,” according to microsoft.
when a program runs in
reduced-functionality mode, many commands are unavailable (dimmed). therefore, you cannot
access those functionalities...
a) you cannot create new documents.
b)
you can view existing documents. however, you cannot edit them.
c) you can print
documents. however you cannot save them.”
microsoft product activation (mpa) is an anti-piracy technology that is designed to help
verify that the product is valid.
that's after you paid in full at the store
for your product. that's also after agreeing to the end user license agreement and then
on top of this having to once again validate your paid for license again and again there
after...
one must wonder how many times does it take or is it required to
establish and prove your already paid for license copy is considered paid for?
normally, when you purchase a product, you get a receipt that is good enough to prove it,
so says the u.s. government like the internal revenue service when they audit you.
but when you purchase a microsoft operating system, your receipt is worthless, as you
are required to active online or over the telephone, and then even that is not reasonable,
as you got to validate what you have already purchased and already activated to now
validate not once by every time you visit windows update.
i agree with the many
comments here above, in that this has got nothing to do with any genuine advantage for
paying customers to afford out of our pockets...
you all should read your eula,(yeah it actually means something). in there they basically
tell you that this is not yours and ms can do whatever it wishes to you system. (and no
its not in the fine print either)
Customers Punished for Purchasing Vista Again!
By You Got to be Joking on 25.09.2007 - 06:09