PC Software

[StuartC]

Originally Posted by Ding Dang Doo

If you have an un licenced copy of Windows and you try download Service Pack 2, you get a nice little message from Mr Gates telling you that you have a dodgy copy of Windows. He then gives you the opportunity to buy a licenced copy of Windows for about £92... I've just done this, as for some reason, PC in question started to 'play up' after trying to to download SP2. Once the licenced software was loaded, the PC mysteriously started to work properly again...


Pete

hmm, Windows Update keeps advising me I 'need' to download the WGA tool...

when I look for more information, this is the Windows Genuine Advantage tool, which will help me discover if I have a legitimate copy of Windows. How helpful!

I've barred this download and it doesn't hassle me with my version.

However, I have heard stories of users with legitimate copies of XP that have encountered difficulties getting re-activation keys required after hardware upgrades or system re-builds, and then getting hammered by this software to the point where they give up and pay AGAIN for the same software.

[cynic mode]
Sounds like a good way of generating revenue from an existing customer base.....

BG: what am I gonna do about increasing revenue if Vista is late?

Marketing: Well Bill, we've got this fantastic wheeze, you know all those hooky copies of Windows that come out of China 'cos they hate us yanks and our Copyright laws, well if we automatically load this software onto everybody's PCs as part of our helpful patching to fix all the bugs in our software that get exploited, then by the simple law of averages, there's gonna be a certain percentage of our userbase who just can't handle our product activation process for legit copies and end up coughing up AGAIN!

BG: Cool, get on with it boys! More cash for me, to donate to charitee and look good!
[/cynic mode]