Why WGA is good for customers and PC builders

re: Why WGA is good for customers and PC builders

freddev — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 17:47:18 GMT

Is it possible for other software to detect if WGA is working? I can imagine some software wouldn't want to work on an unlicensed copy of Windows, but no one seems to mention a standard API for detecting it.

re: Why WGA is good for customers and PC builders

rrathnam — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:49:58 GMT

Windows Vista will provide an API to determine the genuine status of the installation.

re: Why WGA is good for customers and PC builders

abqbill — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:40:28 GMT

It would be easier to accept this argument if Windows wasn't so expensive. One would think that the price of Windows would be inversely proportional to the inability to pirate it, but alas, that's not the case.

Has Microsoft has ever considered that their absurd pricing has had anything to do with the need to implement copy protection in the first place? I remember the days when trade magazines graded software vendors down for copy protection. Why people are tolerating it these days is a genuine mystery to me.

Sorry, Alex, but the only "advantage" in the WGA copy protection scheme belongs to Microsoft. WGA is a copy protection scheme designed to prevent piracy, pure and simple. Please don't be patronizing by claiming that it benefits Microsoft's customers.

-- Bill Stewart