[Infowarrior] - Microsoft denies WGA kill switch in Windows XP

[Richard Forno]

Microsoft denies WGA kill switch in Windows XP
Eric Lai
 http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&tax
onomyName=software&articleId=9001559&taxonomyId=18

June 30, 2006 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. today denied speculation that
it plans to cripple copies of Windows XP for users who refuse to install its
controversial antipiracy tool, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA).

But the software company confirmed that for its upcoming Windows Vista
operating system, companies will be required to activate their software
differently than they do today in order to prevent the leakage of volume
licenses that are the source of most Windows piracy.

A ZDNet.com blogger reported earlier in the week on a conversation between a
Windows user and a Microsoft support staffer, who allegedly admitted that
users who refused to install the WGA update would be given 30 days before
their copies of Windows would stop working.

ZDNet.com said that Microsoft refused to deny the report at the time. But
later, Microsoft appeared to sing a different tune.

³No, Microsoft antipiracy technologies cannot and will not turn off your
computer,² said a spokeswoman with Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft¹s public
relations firm. ³The game is changing for counterfeiters. In Windows Vista,
we are making it notably harder and less appealing to use counterfeit
software, and we will work to make that a consistent experience with older
versions of Windows as well.²

Microsoft last fall began testing WGA as a way of trying to find pirated
copies of Windows. In mid-June, it announced that users would need to
download and pass WGA to be eligible to download the latest versions of
add-on software such as Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11.
Users would still be able get the latest security updates, though. Companies
that buy Windows XP through large package deals are exempt from having to
install WGA.

Since then, Microsoft has taken considerable heat from consumers and the
media, who have likened WGA to spyware that has sometimes inaccurately
labeled legal copies of Windows as pirated.

Through its spokeswoman, Microsoft said that ³80% of all WGA validation
failures are due to unauthorized use of leaked or stolen volume license
keys.²

Still, WGA has been so controversial that it led a French programmer to
develop a tool to delete WGA and a Windows customer in Los Angeles to file a
class-action lawsuit.

Microsoft has tried to appease customers by releasing a new version of WGA
that checks users¹ computers only once a month, rather than every day.

The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleges that
WGA violates antispyware laws by not fully disclosing itself when it was
delivered to Windows users through Auto-Update. The suit is headed by the
same lawyer who also led the class-action lawsuit earlier this year against
Sony Corp. for not disclosing that it had placed copy-protection rootkit
software on customers¹ PCs via music CDs it sold. The rootkits disabled
users' protections against viruses and spyware. Sony later settled the
lawsuit.

Microsoft called the lawsuit ³baseless.² It said WGA is a necessary part of
its campaign to catch those illegally using Windows XP, especially those
using volume license keys issued to corporations.

Volume licenses have long been Microsoft¹s Achilles heel. Corporations are
generally issued a single volume license key -- a text string of
alphanumeric characters -- which is used to activate hundreds or thousands
of copies of Windows at a time. Those strings can be copied or stolen and
have been passed around on the Internet.

To thwart the practice, corporations that upgrade to Windows Vista along
with Longhorn Server will be required to run a small application called a
Key Management Service. According to Microsoft and analysts, the service
will track how many copies of the software the companies have paid for and
how many they have installed.

When asked if companies that have installed more copies of Vista than they
have purchased will find those copies de-activated, Microsoft said through
its spokeswoman that companies ³should think of it more like an application
that tracks and protects their use of their Volume License keys and
installations.²

Paul DeGroot, an analyst at Kirkland, Wash.-based Directions On Microsoft,
said that while most consumers may find this sort of tracking by Microsoft
intrusive, many corporations may actually welcome it.

³Most corporations have no interest with getting away with anything at
Microsoft¹s expense,² he said. Indeed, corporations, especially those that
have merged with another company or undergone a restructuring, often have a
hard time keeping track of all the software they own. Most will ³overbuy
licenses because it¹s cheaper to do that then to designate staff people to
actively manage them.²

Microsoft said the Key Management Service will include administrative tools
to help companies manage licenses.

³Microsoft isn¹t tracking the numbers of copies installed; the key
management services are internal to the organization,² the spokeswoman said.
³We will be rolling out Vista deployment guidebooks and information for
customers and channel partners later this summer.

As for consumer users of Vista, DeGroot said there is a good chance they
will encounter WGA, or something like it.

The Microsoft spokeswoman added, ³We don¹t have specific details to share on
individual features of WGA in Windows Vista at this time, but WGA will
continue to be a part of Microsoft¹s Genuine Software Initiative.²