What is Digg?57 Comments
- longofest, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36so if I get windows off of bittorrent, and then talk to MS about how I torrented it, they will give me a free legit copy of Windows! Nice! (kidding, but would be funny)
- Ryanwb, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28That is funny because we have random PC's in our office show up with violations and they are running a corporate volume key. Microsoft's spin doctors are hard at work
- wisedude, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28Well, if they give people a 90 dollar program for free because they feel bad that they got a pirated copy, I guess that's pretty nice
- speedyrev, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26Narc on the guy who put Windows on your PC and get a free copy.
- SteveDallas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15I buy a car. It has tires that are stolen.
The true owner of the tires finds out, and reclaims the tires.
I wouldn't be mad at the real owner of the tires. I'd go after the person that sold me the car. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15digg != Your Blog
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13My computer didnt come with recover discs, it came with a "recover partition" on the hard drive that accidently got deleted. Thus, rather than spend 200 bucks on a new copy of windows, I run the bootlegg. MS can blow me as I'm sure this isn't good enough reason to give me another copy.
- Scruffydan, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15If you paid money for what u thought was a real version of windows (there are VERY convincing fakes out there), you would be only to happy to rat out the guy who ripped you off. It's nice to see MS not make you pay twice.
- tHePeOPle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11@aniruddha23
Yup. Digg comments are for clear and concise points that cut to the heart of the issue without detracting from the reader's very valuable time. Also, the comment must be awesome. - butlershouse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Ahh well this then explains how a customer with a brand new dell 170l with XP pro and a legitimate XP Office license is getting this error. I could not believe it when I saw it and just reinstalled everything to be sure. !
- violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12If I was one of those guys, I'd be a little nervous.
I swear Mr. Gates, you have the wrong guy. - alwaysmc2, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15See? That's not so evil, is it?
- chubbly0, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10I dont know... but didnt you waste more time writing a blog about your super exciting experience with WGA?
Are you going to give me my 5 minutes back that it took me to read about you doing... well, nothing? - mwales, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@DarkSorrow
According to that article, 20% of PCs with WGA installed have illegal version. Think about how many PC users know they are illegal, and purposely avoided WGA. That is a huge. I've read stats that indicate OSX+Linux market share on the desktop is less than 2%.
Microsoft would be much better off getting the illegal versions turned legit than to even try to stomp out that last bit of market share taken by OSX and linux. I'm a Linux user, and I don't even see the 'evil' in MS trying to lockout the illegal versions. - violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@ geofffox
Pasting the whole text of your blog post is worse than posting a link to your blog. Both will get you buried though. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6all you had to do was call them and usually they are more than glad to send you a physical disc.
I hate it that it takes up a chunk of your disk especially in laptops where storage is scarce but IBM did sucha fantastic job on their recovery software that I dont mind. - mistshadow2k4, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Having seen WGA in action on a Dell purchased (from Dell) barely a year ago, still running the XP that was originally installed on it, I have to say that MS is full of crap on this one. Are they really out to get pirates or are they just trying to make yet more money by forcing a certain number of people to buy the OS more than once? Since pirates can easily circumvent WGA and MS knows this, it's has to be the latter. What I find odd are the MS apologists who come along and try to spin this when what they're doing is so glaringly obvious.
- rip747, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6@geofffox
How about giving me the 5 minutes it took read your whiny, stupid post. - Goatman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8It's the OEM you bought the computer from that you should be angry at, they're the ones that didn't give you a disc.
Or maybe blow yourself for being an idiot and deleting the partition. - wallclimber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4FTA "Maybe it's just time to accept the fact that Microsoft is watching."
===========================================
That sentence speaks volumes. I'm just not sure enough people are listening. I am stunned by the amount of people I speak with each day who haven't even heard about this WGA foolishness. But they've heard about it now because I tell them. If people choose to accept this after they know what it is, then that's fine. But folks should be able to make decisions with information available to help them. The whole thing has seemed sneaky and underhanded...and arrogant, from day one. I don't care that they implement WGA, I DO care if they do it in a sneaky way.
Also, it was interesting to read about one of their own supporter's experiences (Paul Thurrott) with WGA...
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/wga.asp
Interesting read. - M34tb4LL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Just before all this WGA crap started my work started getting phone calls from our customers who had purchased systems from us with XP Home saying that they could not activate it. To cut a long story short MS had released a batch of bad XP Home keys. The only option we were given was to tell the customer to activate over the phone and they would be given a new key. End of story, or so we thought.
Shortly after, Microsoft pushed WGA onto everyone through their infernal automatic updates (don't get me started on KB908531 - that was a fun couple of days) we start getting systems back because the keys Microsoft themselves were handing out were now being rejected by WGA.
Yes, WGA is broken but it's not the only problem that Microsoft has. - jzimmerman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Your school needs new system administrators who can figure out how to legitimately install a copy of windows.
- flash200, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4...or posting a short summary with a link to a blog, instead of a posting a comment that's 2 screens long.
- redhat73, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2WGA may make sense to Microsoft but not to me. I only care about my investment. When I buy something I expect it to work as advertised and that I can use it in any reasonable way I require. If I change my computer motherboard or hard drive and reinstall it should work again. WGA makes this outcome uncertain. What a big hassle if it refuses to run because Microsoft's design is flawed? Why spend your time calling them or worse, paying them for support? Why would anybody pay for this??? It reminds me of a car with WGA. If you change the engine or tires or any other major items it will refuse to run because Ford believes you may have a pirated car. You bought the damn thing. The real answer for Microsoft is quit worrying about the software and change to a hardware based operating system. Users buy a chip instead of installing operating system software in their computer. When was the last car Ford made pirated by the Chinese? Even if they tried to do it Microsoft could always offer a superior and more reliable product.
- chubbly0, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8lol an entire school worth of computers all had the exact same problem? Are you honestly trying to tell us that while 99% havent had a problem with WGA, EVERY computer in your school became a brick because Microsoft has some kind of vendetta against learning and education in general? Maybe the department looks bad because you are in it.
- dragonmortal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Whenever my volume license key at work doesn't show my copy of windows as being valid I just turn the automatic updates on and download the updates automatically and that usually fixes it. If that doesn't work you could also download that program that Microsoft offers because the web based verification is buggy.
- geeky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://digg.com/software/Remove_WGA_(Windows_Genuine_Advantage)
or
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/removewga.htm - KernelPanic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I have also seen Dell's fail the WGA. This is as much of a problem for Dell as it is for MS.
KP - RIPtechtv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have said it before best thing to do is download service pack 2 then turn off the autoupdate. Just get a decent firewall and antiviruse and that will be fine for your average user.
- conro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2imagine what would happen to your business if one of the many volume licenses floating around the net happened to be legitimately yours? more then likely every MS computer on your network would be shut down.. maybe thats the case with this school?
- SoxFanNH, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Uh no I purchased it from the Computer Store on Campus, what did you think I meant...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5That is ***** my entire school had a problem with this and they did nothing for weeks even making the department look bad!
- infinium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Same here, but from HP!?
- ziadoz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1WGA isn't a bad thing when it works. Plenty of stores will sell illegal copies of XP just to reap some extra profit in (as we've seen with the 26 stores Microsoft is sueing). At least they are aware of the issue and giving inconvenienced customers something back.
- infinium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Moron.
You already said the same comment a page up.
Do you have Alzheimer's? - lcohiomatty86, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3microsoft giving people free copies of its software... we all know how much that actually costs the company...
/sarcasm - supergnome, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Maybe because you (as you just admitted) stole the VL key from the school?
- chubbly0, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6Agreed. Why do bloggers think everything they do is interesting?
brb i gotta blog about this AWESOME ***** i just took. - jzimmerman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@DarkSorrow
I am not sure that you proof read your comments before posting. - SteveDallas, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2The old adage "buyer beware" comes to mind when you talk about the people getting ripped off by buying a PC with an illegal/bootlegged version. And, as far as recourse, the consumer should then be able to go after the company that sold them the product.
Simply put, if this catches all the illegal copies of Windows out there and allows LEGITAMATE users to continue using Windows, than it's really not that bad a thing. I've been wondering for years why many software manufacturers (Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, etc) don't do more of this. - SoxFanNH, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sounds like you are one of the lucky ones ;)
- garyrmiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have two computers both with legal versions of xp. I will not install genuine advantage for the reasons that Microsoft has no right to inspect my computer. It practically gives them the right to create a backdoor that completely bypasses my personal right to privacy. And think about the 20% of so called illegal copies out there. Imagine if all the people like me who actually monitor what windows is doing and installing without your knowledge...what happens the that percentage now......3 maybe four or am i giving my fellow American to much credit. maybe we don't care about freedom maybe we like have a false sense of security.. this is all ***** anyhow..individual rights...ha...
- SoxFanNH, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Exactly happened to me with a CD I *BOUGHT* from school. A legitimate copy... Stupid Microsoft..
- thebigbopper, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1wow- umm...so how is this fair to the people who have purchase a legitimate copy? where's my free copy of windows?
- SoxFanNH, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0And I replied to this person saying I had the same issue, so he didnt have to hunt around to find it. What is wrong with that...
Definately no need to call people morons either man, all I was trying to do was let him know I had the same problem... - pfranz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2# A second PC was illegally activated with a single licensing key
# A friend offers to repair or enhance a PC with a free upgrade, but installs the upgrade with an illegal key
Of course the way they're worded, they sound malicious and illegal (im not saying it's not illegal, just wanted to point out the wording). I think these two points sound like problems that could be improved by improving their distribution model.
I help out a lot of people with their computers. Many don't have the original install disks. Even so, they're usually woefully out of date. So that would mean a reinstall and hours of updates (many updates need to be installed in a specific order). So I usually have a copy of a slip streamed copy if XP pro (which requires significant amount of time to keep up to date, reburn, and whatnot). The problem is, I have to keep track of their key, what version of windows they had (98, ME, XP pro/home) and keep up to date copies of each one.
Yes, it is the user's responsibility to keep everything legit, but man it's a huge pain in the ass for me (for negligible gain), and practically unattainable for the clueless user if they would do it themselves. If computer tech support organizations had half a brain and didn't charge out the ass I would happily send them there. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Funny part is there is already a crack available fix a illegal corp xp install.
- Teaboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0But software isn't like tyres. Have you heard the sand analogy?
- flash200, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5dugg down, a bit too lengthy for a digg comment, makes it tough to navigate the page
- miken32, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2No, no, no. This will happen.
I should make that a sig... -
Show 51 - 56 of 56 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is