M
MICHAEL
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=110&tag=nl.e539
Posted by Ed Bott
I just experienced a Windows Genuine Advantage failure. Only it’s not a false positive, like
the horror stories I’ve been hearing for nearly two months now. No, this one was a false
negative. The whole story says a lot about how Microsoft is approaching the WGA issue.
A few weeks ago, I spoke to some of the folks on the WGA team and asked them to send me a
pirated version of Windows XP. According to Microsoft, 80 percent of the 60 million people who
have been nabbed by the WGA validation tool are running versions of Windows with stolen or
pirated volume license keys. These versions of Windows are supposed to be available only to
corporate customers and only as upgrades. Unlike retail versions, they don’t require
activation, which makes them an ideal target of pirates and bootleggers.
According to Microsoft, many of the people who end up with these “non-genuine” copies of
Windows are themselves victims. The unauthorized OS might have been installed by a repair shop,
or they might have purchased what they thought was a legitimate copy of Windows from an
unscrupulous reseller. I wanted to install a pirated copy so I could experience exactly what
these customers go through and report the results to you. I still can’t quite believe how
difficult it’s been. Here’s the story so far.
On July 18, Microsoft's WGA team promised to send me a disk with a product key from their
blocked list. It was supposed to arrive via overnight service, but it was never sent. After
several follow-up messages, I was assured on July 26 I would have something by the end of that
week. The package finally arrived the next week, on August 1. It contained a CD-R with a
handwritten label that read “Windows XP SP2 – VLK,” and a 25-character product key on a small
slip of paper.
Over the weekend, I hoisted the Jolly Roger, cleared a partition on a test machine, slid the CD
into the drive, and prepared to join the ranks of Windows pirates. Unfortunately, the product
key that Microsoft had sent me didn’t work. Instead of a smooth installation, I got an error
message: "The Product ID which you entered is invalid. Please try again." I fired off a request
for assistance to my contacts at Microsoft. Nearly 72 hours later, I still haven’t received a
response other than a note that confirms my message was forwarded to the correct person.
No problem, I thought. I’ll just do what any red-blooded pirate would do and Google for a
working product key. It took me about 15 minutes to find a web page containing five volume
license keys that had reportedly been posted on September 9 2004. Surely if I can find a leaked
VL key on a search engine, Microsoft can too, right? If these keys have been floating around
the Internet for two years, surely they’ve been tagged as stolen by Microsoft, and I’ll get a
WGA failure that I can show the world.
I restarted the installation using the VL media Microsoft had supplied me and entered one of
the bootleg keys I found. It worked. After installation completed, I set up an Internet
connection and downloaded a slew of updates, including the WGA Validation tool and the WGA
Notifications utility. I then restarted, fully expecting to see a series of stern messages
telling me I’d been busted.
Only that’s not how it worked out.
My bootleg key worked perfectly. I went back to Windows Update and downloaded a series of
Optional Updates and drivers that are only available to Genuine Windows users. I went over to
the Internet Explorer homepage and downloaded the latest beta of IE7, passing a validation test
twice – once on the download and again on the installation. And five minutes ago I went over to
the Windows Defender page – this is another free utility that’s only available to Genuine
Windows users – and the validation check waved me right through.
That’s where I stand right now. The folks who are running the WGA program are having troubles
getting the little stuff right, like putting a CD in the mail and proofreading the product key
they sent with it. They haven’t managed to identify a stolen product key that’s been floating
around the Internet for nearly two years. I'm reluctantly running a pirated version of Windows
and can't get caught no matter how hard I try.
But these same people want us to believe that the WGA software they’ve developed is nearly
foolproof. They claim that all but “a fraction of a percent” of those 60 million people who’ve
been denied access to Microsoft updates and downloads are guilty, guilty, guilty.
Right.
--
Michael
______
"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools,
but that the lightning ain't distributed right."
- Mark Twain
Posted by Ed Bott
I just experienced a Windows Genuine Advantage failure. Only it’s not a false positive, like
the horror stories I’ve been hearing for nearly two months now. No, this one was a false
negative. The whole story says a lot about how Microsoft is approaching the WGA issue.
A few weeks ago, I spoke to some of the folks on the WGA team and asked them to send me a
pirated version of Windows XP. According to Microsoft, 80 percent of the 60 million people who
have been nabbed by the WGA validation tool are running versions of Windows with stolen or
pirated volume license keys. These versions of Windows are supposed to be available only to
corporate customers and only as upgrades. Unlike retail versions, they don’t require
activation, which makes them an ideal target of pirates and bootleggers.
According to Microsoft, many of the people who end up with these “non-genuine” copies of
Windows are themselves victims. The unauthorized OS might have been installed by a repair shop,
or they might have purchased what they thought was a legitimate copy of Windows from an
unscrupulous reseller. I wanted to install a pirated copy so I could experience exactly what
these customers go through and report the results to you. I still can’t quite believe how
difficult it’s been. Here’s the story so far.
On July 18, Microsoft's WGA team promised to send me a disk with a product key from their
blocked list. It was supposed to arrive via overnight service, but it was never sent. After
several follow-up messages, I was assured on July 26 I would have something by the end of that
week. The package finally arrived the next week, on August 1. It contained a CD-R with a
handwritten label that read “Windows XP SP2 – VLK,” and a 25-character product key on a small
slip of paper.
Over the weekend, I hoisted the Jolly Roger, cleared a partition on a test machine, slid the CD
into the drive, and prepared to join the ranks of Windows pirates. Unfortunately, the product
key that Microsoft had sent me didn’t work. Instead of a smooth installation, I got an error
message: "The Product ID which you entered is invalid. Please try again." I fired off a request
for assistance to my contacts at Microsoft. Nearly 72 hours later, I still haven’t received a
response other than a note that confirms my message was forwarded to the correct person.
No problem, I thought. I’ll just do what any red-blooded pirate would do and Google for a
working product key. It took me about 15 minutes to find a web page containing five volume
license keys that had reportedly been posted on September 9 2004. Surely if I can find a leaked
VL key on a search engine, Microsoft can too, right? If these keys have been floating around
the Internet for two years, surely they’ve been tagged as stolen by Microsoft, and I’ll get a
WGA failure that I can show the world.
I restarted the installation using the VL media Microsoft had supplied me and entered one of
the bootleg keys I found. It worked. After installation completed, I set up an Internet
connection and downloaded a slew of updates, including the WGA Validation tool and the WGA
Notifications utility. I then restarted, fully expecting to see a series of stern messages
telling me I’d been busted.
Only that’s not how it worked out.
My bootleg key worked perfectly. I went back to Windows Update and downloaded a series of
Optional Updates and drivers that are only available to Genuine Windows users. I went over to
the Internet Explorer homepage and downloaded the latest beta of IE7, passing a validation test
twice – once on the download and again on the installation. And five minutes ago I went over to
the Windows Defender page – this is another free utility that’s only available to Genuine
Windows users – and the validation check waved me right through.
That’s where I stand right now. The folks who are running the WGA program are having troubles
getting the little stuff right, like putting a CD in the mail and proofreading the product key
they sent with it. They haven’t managed to identify a stolen product key that’s been floating
around the Internet for nearly two years. I'm reluctantly running a pirated version of Windows
and can't get caught no matter how hard I try.
But these same people want us to believe that the WGA software they’ve developed is nearly
foolproof. They claim that all but “a fraction of a percent” of those 60 million people who’ve
been denied access to Microsoft updates and downloads are guilty, guilty, guilty.
Right.
--
Michael
______
"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools,
but that the lightning ain't distributed right."
- Mark Twain