The New Windows Genuine Advantage...

Honestly, its not much of an advantage. Starting yesterday, Microsoft released a mandatory update for Windows XP that continues to check the validity of a user's version of Windows. Windows update gives an interesting description of what the new WGA does. BetaNews.com is running an interview with David Lazar about the new program. In his own words:

BN: Is the main problem piracy committed by OEMs, street vendors or end users?

Lazar: We think more about counterfeit because we made a very conscious decision several years back to not really focus on end user behavior, but to think about this more as a systemic problem in our distribution channels and our distribution policies. So we really focus more on counterfeit than on the broader term "piracy."

So, on this basis Microsoft is really trying to prevent distribution counterfeit versions of Windows, but it really doesn't care about its end users. Between the lines, we see that the bottom line is profit.

For some reason this feels like they might be trying to pushing a new End User License Agreement on their users giving them more control over what is on your computer. I don't buy it, but unfortunately, without this new tool, you can't download other Windows Updates. When I received the update prompt, I opted not to install the software knowing what it does. The result was Windows Update refusing to install the definition update for Windows Defender Beta. these comments show that people are working on a quick fix. Really, its starting to look like a good time to switch to Linux. Conspiracy theory...ready...set...GO!