Microsoft responds re innocent users and Windows Genuine Advantage

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: June 15, 2006 4:50:02 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
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 () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
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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