[Microsoft] Pirate Us, Please

When I was still teaching, I remarked to my boss (the school director), "How come people get to be idiots when they are promoted to boss positions?" Nope, I was not pertaining to my boss, who is one of the brilliant persons I know. It's just that in the school system where I taught, I encountered a lot of people who were great when they were peons, but became idiots when they were promoted. Eaten by the system, I guess.

So imagine when I had read this headline:

"If You're Going To Steal Software, Steal From Us: Microsoft Exec"

Shiver me timbers!

Apparently, this is a marketing strategy to expose individuals to MS products and lead them to buy originals. Makes sense. A bit.

But, add the MS Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool, and it really makes sense. You know, "pirate us and we'll know, so settle or else." That nifty spyware will bring lots of cash for MS so it is OK for them to "encourage" piracy. Neat.

Wait. WGA is spyware? Just peruse this Google search and judge for yourself.

[Microsoft] Windows Yellow State

It's just been announced that Microsoft has now created a new "yellow state" as part of it's Windows Genuin Advantage software authentication tool. Essentially this new state is for cases when they're just not sure whether or not your copy of Windows is authentic for any number of reasons and thus provides you with alternatives in terms of how to handle things.

I suppose this has been done in response to the relatively high numbers of false-positive flags when it comes to WGA trying to figure out if a user's copy of Windows is legitimate. Rather than sticking the to black or white test of the past, this new level is, well, a definite maybe for some users. Sorry, I couldn't resist saying that.

One one side, it's a good move by Microsoft, I suppose. It'll reduce the number of complaints that stem from users "falsely" tagged as software pirates while providing Microsoft a way to validate users authenticity while fine-tuning how WGA tests systems based on the traffic they'll see from users trying to resolve to get their system out of the yellow state. Then again, it's probably going to revive all the usual gripes about why do we continue to deal with the software giant at all, haha.

Take your pick, I suppose.

Now I'm wondering how many legitimate users are now going to get flagged as "possible" pirates...

Related Links:

• CNET News.com: Windows adds 'maybe pirate' category
  
• Ars Technica: Windows Genuine Advantage's newest setting: 'you might be a pirate'

Photo linked from Flickr user hodie's photostream.