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-- Counterfeiters aren't Microsoft's only opponents in its effort to combat piracy: Some of its customers are against it, too.
The company is forging ahead with a program, Windows Genuine Advantage, tied to its free software downloads and updates, that checks whether the Windows installation on a PC is pirated. But some people, including some who say they own a legitimately acquired copy of Windows, have challenged the need for such validation.Most of their criticism is directed at the way Microsoft's antipiracy technology, Windows Genuine Advantage, interacts with a PC. Recently, the software maker was lambasted over its WGA Notifications tool, which it pushes out as a "high priority" update alongside security fixes. There have also been complaints about the tool collecting information from PCs and causing system troubles.
"The issue is not that they are trying to reduce the number of pirated copies. It's the unethical way in which they go about it," a CNET News.com reader using the name "jabbotts" wrote in response to a recent story on Microsoft's antipiracy efforts.
But there is more going on than just talk. Some Windows users have started to search for ways around the antipiracy technology, setting up a struggle between Microsoft and WGA opponents. Since the 2004 introduction of the WGA program, multiple hacks and tricks to circumvent the piracy check or to remove the software have been published on the Internet. And the hunt for effective workarounds appears to be continuing.
Windows Genuine Advantage is a stepped-up effort by Microsoft to boost the number of Windows users who actually pay for the operating system. The company has said that roughly a third of Windows copies worldwide have not been acquired legitimately--as a boxed product or bundled onto a machine, for example.
Microsoft has gradually expanded its pirate-busting efforts. Today, Windows users must have their PC electronically approved before they can download add-on Microsoft software such as Windows Media Player and Windows Defender. WGA excludes security updates from this requirement. When the antipiracy program started, validation was optional for downloads.
As the program has grown, so have efforts to circumvent it. One Web site, for example, lists 15 methods--including step-by-step directions and links to file downloads--to disable Microsoft's copyright-check tools and WGA Notifications warning messages. --
