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Genuine Advantage: Can Microsoft recast itself as protector, not punisher? | |
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| Time: 08:29 EST/13:29 GMT | News Source: ZDNet | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
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I wouldn't want Cori Hartje's job. She is the head of Microsoft's much-maligned Genuine Software Initiative — the team responsible for implementing Windows Genuine Advantage and Office Genuine Advantage. Hartje was on a cross-country press tour last week. Microsoft has no new Genuine Advantage lockdowns to announce as part of the Windows Vista and Office 2007 consumer launch next week. (Late last year, Microsoft officials announced that copies of Vista that fail to pass WGA muster will degrade into "reduced functionality mode," and that volume licensees will be subject to new, mandatory Volume Activation programs.There are other new WGA and OGA "advantages" coming some time after January 29, company officials said.) | ||
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| #1 By 23275 (172.16.10.31) at 1/22/2007 1:40:31 PM |
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I say, "yes" but at the same time, WGA can and will bug the crap out of people.
I know only this much, WGA restored some sales to my company - not a lot, but some and I was grateful for it - not the incremental revenue so much as the removal of a thorn and the challenge that a "price only" perspective remains. I've shared this example before, and I'm going to try and shorten it. An ISV that sells a closed system to a key client of ours used a vendor. In order to sell at a lower price-point [well below my system prices], the OEM seller bought Dell PC's with XP Home on them. In order to join them to the domain we built and manage for each of a couple dozen end offices around our state, the vendor loaded the Dell PC's with an illegal copy of an XP Pro OL. WGA busted them. Sadly, the buyer, under our service contract, wanted me to buy, install and configure legitimate XP Pro upgrades. "Happy to" I said, but not under our maintenance contract - no way could I afford, nor should I, the costs of fixing their mistake. Their CEO sided with me and said, "Yes, a <myconamePC> is more costly, but I know this.. they are better, never break and they don't come with pirated software. So, either buy systems from <myconame> or fix it yourself!" - that BTW, is leadership. See, he recognized not just the costs, but the insult to us that what came down to a theft, represented. A half-backed competitor was simply disk-loading to provide himself with an advantage. To me, the real price of piracy is not the occasional loss of business, it is how I feel when I get push-back based on price, only - knowing that I am selling the best supported systems made - that's the goal, in any case. Worse, is when one has to clean up a mess that a thief has created. Now... in the same way, WGA itself simply offends.... by assuming that all people are "bad" - when I know we are not and that is the part, that in equal measure to how pirates make me feel, I react to WGA. ... I can see I failed in making the post shorter.... |
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