Microsoft To Beef Up Windows Anti-Piracy Program

**BawA** · 07-25-2005, 12:14 PM

[news=http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3858/microsoftlogo0gi.gif]Windows users will have to prove they have a legitimate version of Windows starting Tuesday, July 26 if they want to download any software from Microsoft's site, a Microsoft executive in India told reporters there.

According to the "Hindu Business Line," Rishi Srivastava, the director of Microsoft's Windows client group in India, confirmed that Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), the anti-piracy program that Microsoft's been running in pilot form since September 2004. WGA, which is aimed at stemming the flood of pirated copies of its operating systems, requires users to verify they own a paid-for copy by entering a product number in an ActiveX control that appears before allowing downloads from Microsoft's Download Center. During the pilot program's run, Microsoft made validation optional, but as of July 26, said Srivastava, it will be mandatory. Previously, Microsoft has said it will lock out unvalidated users from retrieving files via Download Center and non-security updates through the Windows Update service.

Security, updates, however, will continue to go out to all, even those using pirated copies.

"Security updates are delivered automatically and are not part of WGA," a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed this week. "All users, with or without WGA validation, receive these updates through the Windows XP Automatic Updates feature."

The U.S.-based spokesperson, however, wouldn't confirm the July 26 do-it-or-else date for WGA, and would only repeat the "summer 2005" timeframe that Microsoft's stuck to since January.

WGA is of particular interest to Microsoft in overseas markets, where piracy is rampant compared to the U.S. and Europe. By the Business Software Alliance's figures, 74 percent of all software in India is pirated.

Microsoft's Srivastava argued that users are willing to buy the real deal if they're told they're using pirated programs. "Research has shown that as much as 50 per cent of the people [in India] using pirated software are willing to buy genuine software if they have the ability to identify it," he told the Business Line.

In comparison, piracy rates in the U.S. are a relatively low 21 percent, although the huge size of that market means losses are in the $6.6 billion, compared to, say, India's $519 million.

atleast we have automatic updates, who wants to download some craps fromt MS site anyway. i dont even know what they offer to download till now.

Source: http://www.crn.com/sections/breaking...leId=166401829

Homepage: http://www.crn.com[/news]

**Wolfmight** · 07-26-2005, 04:12 PM

Security updates are all I need from Microsoft.com 99% of the time.

**Snee** · 07-26-2005, 07:47 PM

MS antispyware is something you might have to get from there (but they approved of gator, so I dunno' if there's an point in trusting it much longer).

**Filliz** · 07-27-2005, 01:43 PM

Check this out.

A WGA workaround

**BawA** · 07-27-2005, 02:14 PM

didnt work at 1st try but worked on 2nd
it take u directly to download page and u wont need to go thro all validation steps.
but my concer is the auto update, above artical says auto update's applys to all users including pirated copies but some artical say it wont.

ohh btw filliz thanks for the link.

edit; just checked that Download with "

" r only needed a genuie copy and all security update r without that icon so it mean the autoupdates r going to be downloaded.