News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 27, 2007

rivals

Windows Genuine Advantage: forced vacations

Posted Aug. 27, ’07, 5:24 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple » Rivals

WGA We’ve all taken the complete lack of license enforcement in OS X for granted for a while now. I’ve never had to think about whether reinstalling Mac OS X, performing an upgrade (adding RAM, changing storage), or moving OS X to a different Mac would cause a problem. OS X just keeps performing as expected without obnoxiously requiring one to type in a long string of letters and numbers.

Windows users (which surprisingly includes some Mac users, believe it or not) have become accustomed to Microsoft’s mostly futile efforts to lock down the unauthorized distribution of their software. That includes loads of wasted time even when trying to use the software in a legitimate way. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is their latest attempt to enforce it (how wasting users’ time is an advantage is beyond me).

Well, that’s well and good until their validation servers start scewing up. Users couldn’t validate their installations. Some users even had their “Genuine” installations turned into ungenuine installations (it has since been fixed). In all fairness, things keep working (in XP, not so much in Vista), but you can’t get all but critical software updates. Plus it keeps bugging you to become “Genuine”. If you thought “Clippy” was annoying, well, consider the reminders “Clippy 2.0”. “It looks like you’re trying to use your stolen copy of Windows. Don’t you think now is a good time to stop breaking the law?”


4 Comments

spiderbat said:

ACTIVATION SUX!
('nuff said)

August 27, 2007 9:48 AM
33Nick said:

That ridiculous thing slipped by under the radar of my wife's personal laptop. I fixed it by blocking it through her firewall.

It's incredible when I go on her computer then things she has to endure I never experience on a Mac.

However, I fear Apple is getting bigger and will one day start to look at annoying tricks like these that don't stop hackers and impose on users.

August 27, 2007 1:44 PM
wesg Author Profile Page said:

I think that as long as Apple keeps OS X locked into the specific hardware, we won't have to deal with all this activation stuff.

August 27, 2007 8:39 PM
tayker Author Profile Page said:

"OS X just keeps performing as expected without obnoxiously requiring one to type in a long string of letters and numbers."

You might want to check that fact again. From what I remember of my multiple Mac OS X Server installs, I had to enter an ungodly long string, and some functions are disabled until I enter it. I don't remember if I had to activate it, or not, but that was a mighty long string.

August 28, 2007 8:34 AM

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