G
George Macdonald
Remember back when WPA was first talked of here? The doubters were cast as
people who just wanted to whinge and complain about a procedure which was
apparently painless, innocuous and really, really convenient... because all
you had to do, if you were honest, was click to "activate" and no personal
information was intruded on.
Well, we told them that WPA was just the first step in a regressive trend
which would remove rights bit by bit from anyone who thought they had
purchased a license to use... but they scoffed at us. Now we have this:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1769339,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
where they clearly announce their intention to scrap Internet based WPA for
all "pre-activated PCs". I'm still trying to figure what it is that Mr.
Kochis is telling us is now a "criminal offence" but we'll see what happens
to our ability to purchase OEM copies of WinXP with our self-build systems
in future - wouldn't surprise me if that goes away too.
I'm not sure how this new procedure is going to play for someone on an
overseas trip with a notebook computer - having to 'phone M$ to beg for an
activation code could be difficult.
people who just wanted to whinge and complain about a procedure which was
apparently painless, innocuous and really, really convenient... because all
you had to do, if you were honest, was click to "activate" and no personal
information was intruded on.
Well, we told them that WPA was just the first step in a regressive trend
which would remove rights bit by bit from anyone who thought they had
purchased a license to use... but they scoffed at us. Now we have this:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1769339,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
where they clearly announce their intention to scrap Internet based WPA for
all "pre-activated PCs". I'm still trying to figure what it is that Mr.
Kochis is telling us is now a "criminal offence" but we'll see what happens
to our ability to purchase OEM copies of WinXP with our self-build systems
in future - wouldn't surprise me if that goes away too.
I'm not sure how this new procedure is going to play for someone on an
overseas trip with a notebook computer - having to 'phone M$ to beg for an
activation code could be difficult.