Topic: Microsoft surrenders on WGA kill switch

[Pugnate]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/12/04/microsoft-surrenders-wga-kill

This has the funniest line ever. Oh and The Inquirer have a name for Microsoft. They call them The Vole. I don't know why.

SOFTWARE colossus Microsoft has decided to kill off the unpopular WGA kill switch from Vista.

According to the Beeb, Vole has given up on the part of the anti-piracy tool from Windows Vista that disables the operating system.

The big idea was that it would stop users with illegal copies of Vista being able to use them.

However it is so jam packed full of 'features' that users have been moaning louder than a banshee on steroids that it was killing of legal copies.

The Vole has defended its system saying it has resulted in a drop in piracy. Now it seems to have worked out that not even pirates can be bothered with Vista.

Top Volish pooh-bah Mike Sievert announced to the world today that SP1 will remove the kill switch. Punters whom WGA thinks have dodgy copies will be bothered with a Chinese water torture of pop-ups accusing them of theft and telling them where to buy legitimate copies.

They won't lose access to functionality or features, but it will be very clear to them that Vole thinks that their copy of Window Vista is not genuine and they need to take action.

Well it is a move in the right direction we guess. Insulting customers who have installed legitimate copies that Microsoft does not recognise is a step up from shutting them off completely.

Indeed, Sievert points out that the Vole's cunning plan has not changed and all copies of Windows Vista still require activation and the system will continue to validate from time to time to verify that systems are activated properly. µ

 

[Cobra951]

I'd laugh at Vista, except that it killed my attempts to get a low-cost laptop.  I could not find one with XP unless I went into the nebulous used market.  The word is that run-of-the-mill laptops run like shit even with Vista Basic.  What a surprise.  I think I'll have a heart attack and die from that surprise.

[scottws]

Yeah, Vista is pretty slow.  I'd go back to XP except I don't feel like setting it all up again and Jennie likes Vista.

[Pugnate]

http://www.dailytech.com/Microsoft+Extends+Sales+of+Windows+XP/article9092.htm

Taking into consideration customer and partner requests, Microsoft will sell Windows XP for another 5 months

In a recent press release Microsoft announced it will extend sales of its Windows XP operating system to OEMs and retail channels for five months over the initial end date, through June 30, 2008. The move comes after a great amount of feedback from customers and partners regarding the original end-of-sale date of January 31, 2008.

Mike Nash, the corporate vice president of Windows Product Management, stated, "While we’ve been pleased with the positive response we’ve seen and heard from customers using Windows Vista, there are some customers who need a little more time to make the switch to Windows Vista."

Nash went on to say that Microsoft's original policy of a four-year availability of operating systems to OEM and retail channels had been established in 2002. However, due to the delays in the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft felt that offering Windows XP for sale for an additional five months would make more sense.

When asked about what Microsoft was hearing in terms of feedback from customers regarding Windows Vista Nash stated, "With more than 60 million licenses sold as of this summer, Windows Vista is on track to be the fastest-selling operating system in Microsoft’s history."

Microsoft's Nash feels that the strong sales thus far are due to the doubling of sales of pre-built desktop and laptop computers bundled with Windows Vista as the primary OS. However, recently Microsoft also decided to offer OEMs theoption to let customers downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP.

Maybe this won't be their first extension.

Yeah, Vista is pretty slow.  I'd go back to XP except I don't feel like setting it all up again and Jennie likes Vista.

I've found Vista to be significantly faster in start up and many situations. Unforunately it isn't the case with certain applications and gaming.

The way Vista handles audio and video makes for a better multimedia experience though.

[WindAndConfusion]

All the Vista computers I was taking care of, I rolled back to XP. I just couldn't be arsed with it. I intended to keep Vista on all of them, on a separate partition but - surprise! - the XP bootloader isn't compatible with Vista, and as far as I can tell it can't even be made compatible. Evidently Microsoft's own software is incompatible with itself.

[Pugnate]

I am dual booting just fine and didn't know it was an issue.

Try this:

http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

[WindAndConfusion]

I read that article some time ago. I had two major problems:

• The bootloader repair utility on the Vista install disc only worked on two out of five computers, and
• EasyBCD didn't work on said two computers.

As an aside, I wonder which is currently selling better: boxed copies of Vista, or boxed copies of XP?
Edit: Ah-ha.

During a conference call with analysts following the earnings results release yesterday afternoon, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said the company has changed its fiscal year 2008 forecast from an 85/15 split in sales between Vista and XP to a 78/22 split. Windows XP sales will, in other words, be nearly 50% higher in the next 12 months than Microsoft had estimated earlier.

So they expect to sell about three and a half copies of Vista for every copy of XP.

[Quemaqua]

I have nothing to add but the following:

Fuck Microsoft +1.  Fuck Vista +1.