[Update, 4-Oct: Microsoft has introduced the Software Protection Platform, which contains features very similar to what I describe here. See Busted! What happens when WGA attacks and the accompanying image gallery.]
[Update, 30-June 8:40AM PDT: Microsoft responds, sort of. Details in this follow-up post.] Two weeks ago, I wrote about my serious objections to Microsoft’s latest salvo in the war against unauthorized copies of Windows. Two Windows Genuine Advantage components are being pushed onto users’ machines with insufficient notification and inadequate quality control, and the result is a big mess. (For details, see Microsoft presses the Stupid button.) Guess what? WGA might be on the verge of getting even messier. In fact, one report claims WGA is about to become a Windows “kill switch” – and when I asked Microsoft for an on-the-record response, they refused to deny it. Last week, a correspondent on Dave Farber’s Interesting People list posted some comments about his experiences with Windows OneCare Live. In the middle of the post, he added this tidbit: I like to review updates before they are installed. The only update that I have not installed is the latest WGA because of the security issues related to it. I called Microsoft support to see if there is a hidden option to say, "yep, I've got updates turned to manual… it's okay." The rep said, "No and why wouldn't you want to get the latest updates to Windows." I responded with the issues relating to WGA. He spent some time telling me that WGA was a good thing, etc. I reiterated that I have accepted all the updates except WGA and just want to review the updates before they're installed on my machine. He told me that "in the fall, having the latest WGA will become mandatory and if its not installed, Windows will give a 30 day warning and when the 30 days is up and WGA isn't installed, Windows will stop working, so you might as well install WGA now." [emphasis added] I'm wondering if Microsoft has the right to disable Windows functionality or the OS as a whole (tantamount to revoking my legitimate Windows license) if I do not install every piece of software that they send it updates. That can’t be true, can it? I’m always suspicious of any report that comes from a front-line tech support drone, so I sent a note to Microsoft asking for an official confirmation or, better yet, a denial. Instead, I got this terse response from a Microsoft spokesperson: As we have mentioned previously, as the WGA Notifications program expands in the future, customers may be required to participate. [emphasis added] Microsoft is gathering feedback in select markets to learn how it can best meet its customers' needs and will keep customers informed of any changes to the program. That’s it. That’s the entire response. Uh-oh. Currently, Windows users have the ability to opt out of the Windows Genuine Advantage program and still get security patches and other Critical Updates delivered via Windows Update. The only thing you give up is the ability to download optional updates. Hackers have been working overtime to find ways to disable WGA notification. If WGA becomes mandatory, would it mean that Microsoft could prevent Windows from working if it determines – possibly erroneously – that your copy isn’t “genuine”? That’s a chilling possibility, and Microsoft refuses an easy opportunity to deny that that option is in its plans. Over at Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise, I’ve been soliciting feedback from Windows users who’ve been burned by WGA. So far, I’ve received 20 comments. Here’s a sampling: What’s most disturbing about this whole saga is Microsoft’s complete lack of transparency on the issue. And before the ABM crowd jumps in with predictable “What did you expect?” comments, let me argue that Microsoft actually has a fairly good track record on transparency issues in recent years. Windows Product Activation is very well documented, and when a similar uproar occurred in 2001, it was squelched quickly by some fairly prominent postings from high-level executives who provided details without a lot of spin. Likewise, the Microsoft Security Response Center has done an exceptional job at providing quick responses to security issues. (Just ask Adam Shostack.) Currently, no one at Microsoft is blogging about this fiasco. No executive has been quoted on the record about it. There are very few technical details available, and those that have been published are being tumbled through the spin machine and spit out as press releases. If Microsoft really does plan to turn WGA into a kill switch in September, be prepared for an enormous backlash.
The Ed Bott Report
Ed BottIs Microsoft about to release a Windows "kill switch"?
Summary: Windows Genuine Activation is a mess. And according to one published report, it’s about to get even messier. If Microsoft’s online check determines that your copy of Windows isn’t “genuine,” will it shut you down completely? Microsoft says that just might be in their plans. Uh-oh.
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Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications.
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Ed Bott
Ed Bott is a freelance technical journalist and book author. All work that Ed does is on a contractual basis.
Since 1994, Ed has written more than 25 books about Microsoft Windows and Office. Along with various co-authors, Ed is completely responsible for the content of the books he writes. As a key part of his contractual relationship with publishers, he gives them permission to print and distribute the content he writes and to pay him a royalty based on the actual sales of those books. Ed's books written prior to fall 2011 have been distributed by Que Publishing (a division of Pearson Education) and by Microsoft Press. As of November 2011, Ed is a partner in the independent publishing company Fair Trade Digital Exchange, which exclusively publishes his books.
On occasion, Ed accepts consulting assignments. In recent years, he has worked as an expert witness in cases where his experience and knowledge of Microsoft and Microsoft Windows have been useful. In each such case, his compensation is on an hourly basis, and he is hired as a witness, not an advocate.
Ed does not own stock or have any other financial interest in Microsoft or any other software company. He owns 500 shares of stock in EMC Corporation, which was purchased before the company's acquisition of VMware. In addition, he owns 350 shares of stock in Intel Corporation, purchased more than two years ago. All stocks are held in retirement accounts for long-term growth.
Ed does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.
Biography
Ed Bott
Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He's served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million during his tenure. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office, including the recently released Windows 7 Inside Out.
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Is this part of the "plan" too? Get it out there before we realize what being done to us?
Carl Rapson
I have had it with Microsoft. I have been a person who loved everything to do with Windows (and Linux) for years. I have had two computers, one Linux and one Windows. But Microsoft has gone way over the edge now. I don't even buy Intuit products because they do this crap that Microsoft is gonna pull.
So my answer is simple.
Now I have one Linux computer, and one dual boot Windows XP Pro and Linux, and it spends 98% of its time in Linux. When the dual boot computer goes to Windows, it has no Internet connectivity at all ... disabled the NIC device entirely and unplug the network cable just to be sure they can't turn it back on.
Microsoft draws fire for stealth test program
http://www.bambismusings.com/?p=409
And wait for Vista! You think this is bad ... you ain't seen nuthin' yet.
More postings about that too.
You might be better off running your XP machine in a VM. That way you can set it up without networking to begin with.
WPA has been enough of hassle. At least Microsoft support is reasonable. Intuit is not.
This will especially be true, if their way of doing it could be percieved as intrusive by their customers, or if it somehow creates more trouble for their paying customers.
Looking at the new Novell desktop, and MacOS-X that both leave Microsoft XP and even Vista in the dust with respect to usability, users will not be without other options.
They'll simply fire up the propaganda machine and tell people that this makes their software CHEAPER by controlling piracy. Every OS they've released to date has promised faster speed and greater stability. (Um right. Can you imagine trying to even LOAD Vista on a Pentium 90?) People buy into it. They BELIEVE it. Tell them enough times that WGA makes their software cheaper and more stable and they'll believe that, too. If it falsely lables their software as not genuine, they'll think THEY did something wrong.
If it kills a corporate desktop or two, that's not a problem. The poor pleb sitting at the desk will get suspected of downloading something (s)he shouldn't. Small businesses will be inconvenienced, larger ones will have their IT staff reload the PC.
If it kills a server, this is probably the worst case for Microsoft. Again though, the largest business impact will be with small business, and it won't affect home users at all. Small businesses are too busy doing what they do to keep the money coming in. Larger businesses will simply have their IT staff reload the server, operating the domain on a backup server for a day. The end result is that Microsoft gets off scott free.
WGA causing instability? Prove it! Maybe there's some interference with some device driver, but then it'll be the non WHQL driver that takes the blame.
I use Windows XP Pro at home. I have a machine that's a dedicated media server. It could as easily be running Linux, and probably would be, except that when I looked, I could not get Linux drivers for the TV Tuner/Capture card (Part of its duties as a media server is to function as a VCR.) So it's running Windows because I can get the hardware drivers. My other machines I use to play video games. Oh wait, they don't make Linux distros for those either, and WINE doesn't run them. Again, I'm using Windows XP Pro there, so that I can load up a bunch of network games.
What're my alternatives at this point? OSX may or may not run my software, and Apple hardware is far more expensive. Linux won't run my software. In order for Linux to make serious inroads, it'll have to have more backing from the software companies. When PC gaming software is as readily available for Linux as it is for Windows, it'll be time to start looking at a switch. Office software isn't a problem.
I can't wait for Microsoft and the markets reaction to such a predictable attack to most of the computers in the world.
I am nt a Microsoft basher, but sometimes I wonder who is running the show up there.
Consider the problems that might arise due to a computer shutdown that could cost enormous money? We are dealing with millions of computers here and many of them are tasked to invaluable jobs that are time sensitive, and if a shutdown occurs on a properly licensed machine, its going to come back on Microsoft like a concrete block to the head. Not only will they end up in court hundreds of times over, but the customer drop off will begin, first a trickle, then an avalanche. Who?s going to pay $100+ for an OS that may permanently in fact shut down ON PURPOSE and by design if there is an error?
And it says specifically in the EULA that it should not be used in "Mission Critical" situations.
As for the number of customers dropping off, the OS is installed on the computer when you buy it. Microsoft has been paid. OEM tech support will blame Windows for your problems (but note that most of them will void your hardware warranty if you wipe Windows off the HD and go with something else) and Microsoft will blame the OEMs. Rinse. Repeat.
Each successive "release" was to overcome the stupidity and unworkability of the latest fiasco. Back then the only people interested in Macs were those who wanted more advanced graphics.
It strikes me as funny that M$ - with its unblemished history of software that fails out of the gate(s) - can really produce, this late in the XP game, a product that will work, ... even if the goal is to disable the Operating System. I have yet to experience an OS that "works" without constant maintenance from them/us.
Although it was slow, the Commodore was a far more reliable system, as were the C/PM driven lines from Osborne, but they were run out of existence by the "big boys".
The only thing having two products to choose from (Apple & "PC"/M$) has proven universally is that malware can run far more efficiently on either and thus destroy more work than when there were many different platforms out there, but the customer could spend his time producing rather than performing the chutes and ladders daily routines of trying to fix what should have never been broken in the first place.
Yes, I have continued to buy XP crap because I wanted to edit video and prefer more than one button on my mouse, and insist that the mouse move at my command - not like a rubber band-driven "Etch-A-Sketch" action that I have not been able to overcome since the first Macs (They still give me a horrible arm ache when I must work/use/(give me a better term) on a Mac.
I wish someone could come up with a version of C/PM-Geos driven simple ware that would interact with our present third-party software; then we could be talking about how much we love using it and concentrate on production again instead of all the problems associated with M$ - even when it's almost working.
It's bad enough that we must fight M$ just to keep our computers running; but the fact that they are now deliberately hacking away at their product that we already made them richer than anyone deserves for .5arse usability is frustrating beyond reason.
Not to do a commecial plug here, but there are several Linux magazines with cover CDs or even more commonly now, a DVD with up to 4 GB of programs on board, sometimes including several distributions (flavors of the same OS with different packages).
One that a lot of you are familiar with are the offerings from Future publishing, one of which is Linux Format, on the shelves every month with a DVD inside the magazine in a sealed evelope.
There are other european magazines with disks in them, but very few if any from the States, as if it were a sin to give away a disk full of software with the mag.
Ask you local news retailer to stock Linux mags, and if he won't, go elsewhere, where they do or gladly will.
bart.
Frankly, I'm scared. I have a totally legal copy of Windows XP (bought with my laptop), and none of the Genuine Advantage stuff will install here. If I'm about to get shut off through no fault of my own, they had better come out with a fix for this problem and pronto!
DISCLAIMER: i don't use windows on my home computer, so take what i've just said with a pinch of salt. i'm merely giving my THOUGHTS.
Microsoft is too big a player to just go away. They'll continue to be a serious force for a long time to come, if for no other reason than the fact that this juggernaut carries a huge amount of momentum. What I do see, however, is Linux and other open source *nix's (BSD, OpenSolaris, and I laugh as I say this, OpenDarwin) gaining market share. Also, if Apple finally hires someone who isn't tactically inept as their CEO, I could see Mac OS X proper becoming a serious player in the home and education market for the first time in a generation, though all of these will take a lot of time. Of these, Linux looks the strongest right now for the home user market, and this increased competition will only be beneficial to the average consumer. Of course, I could be wrong, in which case, my betters will be welcome to say "I told ya so."
Oh, and Ghekko, try studying history. It would be to your serious benefit.
But what really irks me is how I've paid for a dozen different licenses to MS software but they are locked down owe way or another. Win98 is retired, I have one for XP Home from a nonfunctional Sony laptop - it's locked to Sony hardware so I can't use it elsewhere, but I paid for it!!! Worst of all, you can't buy a new computer without making a charitable donation to MS. Pisses me off.
Or else what? You'll hold your breath until you turn blue?
Grow up. Buy another copy if the present one doesn't work. Or don't. Either way, it's nobody's problem but your own.
"Or else" is probably "file a lawsuit and demand compensation for time and trouble and maybe even class action status".
It's Microsoft's problem, not his/hers, if the product paid for doesn't work as advertised, and Microsoft is going to have to fix it or face demands for compensation.
If you break my car, I suppose you'd expect me to buy another one, right? Think again. I'll be up your ass demanding you give me an equivalent, or better, replacement, or the money to purchase a replacement vehicle.
That's their problem, not Microsoft's. The EULA is clear that MS doesn't promise anything of the sort.
"Or else" is probably "file a lawsuit and demand compensation for time and trouble and maybe even class action status".
You released MS from liability for consequential damages. Not their problem.
It's Microsoft's problem, not his/hers, if the product paid for doesn't work as advertised, and Microsoft is going to have to fix it or face demands for compensation.
I'm sure that Steve Ballmer lies awake at night sweating in fear of a demand for compensation from you.
The only thing Microsoft guarantees is that the media is readable. You really should read the EULA.
Oh, and as far as lawsuits are concerned, keep three things in mind:
1) Microsoft has something like $50 billion in the bank to pay lawyers with.
2) In a contract case, the loser pays.
3) That means you, loser.
That wouldn't surprise me -- in Germany, for instance, EULAs aren't binding to begin with.
However, Microsoft is a US company. I doubt that that non-US laws play much part in their planning.
However, Microsoft is a US company. I doubt that that non-US laws play much part in their planning.
Microsoft is an international company. (See this article for just one example.) It has to abide by laws all over the world and is about to be fined $2.5 million a day by the EU Commission for its actions in Europe. Non-US laws play a huge role in its product planning and its overall business.
Thanks for playing.
Some of that is of necessity -- there are simply too many laws in all of the Earth's countries to tailor a strategy to fit them all. Some may be arrogance -- you'll have to ask MS about that.
Microsnot could be in big trouble here.
Heck, even in France they're better protected.
But the answer is still a worldwide set of class action lawsuits on such a massive scale that M$ will have to either stop this silliness or pay so much in its own lawyers fees that the value of the stock will simply plummet into the confines of hell.
bart.
EULAs may not be legal. If I was a judge, looking at the commododity nature of software and hardware, I would tend to agree with that assumption.
Microsoft ironically would come out ahead on this, because if EULAs are not contracts then they would be relieved of millions of dollars and years of free support. I am surprised they have not thought of this yet. The lawyers in their midst must be spinning those Emporical New Rags.
Yeah, but it's like the Western movie scene with the Sheriff standing in the jailhouse door with a shotgun facing a mob: "Who wants to be first?"
If a new OS is sold for purposes of 'use on a personal computer', it matters little else what the EULA says if there is an implied warranty from the get go that the product will be usable on a home computer.
Obviously more complex then that, but rest assured, there is no way you can advertise and promote a product like Windows as an operating system for computers and then go to court and claim it dosnt actually have to operate under the very circumstances they promote that it will.
Microsoft's EULA may hold up in a lot of jurisdictions, but not all of them.
bart.
Not only are you telling Microsoft in your comment that they own allyour money but you are saying that you work to make sure Steve Ballmer is richer!
Legally and morally Microsoft is wrong in creating a "kill switch". Let's see. The engine computer control in your car is Windows-based. On the latest update Microsoft decides the computer is not using a "genuine" version of Windows. Your car stops in the middle of the Highway. Three cars plow into you. You die along with other people. Microsoft's answer: "Buy another car." Do you just accept this answer?
It's in your purchase contract. If you buy a car under those terms, the answer is "yes."
Legally and morally Microsoft is wrong in creating a "kill switch".
Morally? I'm inclined to agree. Legally? Not according to your contract with them.
Your car stops in the middle of the Highway. Three cars plow into you. You die along with other people. Microsoft's answer: "Buy another car." Do you just accept this answer?
I didn't. On the other hand, it looks like you did.
Or didn't you read the contract you agreed to? That was one of the clauses.
ps I'm not wakka (bugmenot)
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