While Microsoft insists that problems with the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program are much overblown -- claiming last week that "only a fraction of a percent" of the systems that fail the WGA verification are actually legal -- Microsoft's customers keep saying otherwise. What's worse, the WGA false negatives are leading to increasing number of situations where customers run afoul of XP's product activation, leaving them to beg Microsoft and/or their PC vendor to help.
A case in point is that of a reader who has been wrestling with Microsoft and Dell over multiple computers that have come down with WGA/activation sickness. "I'm with a small firm that purchased 15 Dell Optiplex 160Ls on a single order a couple of years ago," the reader wrote. "They came preinstalled with Windows XP on them. Now, all of a sudden, Microsoft is saying that their licenses are invalid. And - to make things more exciting - they've dimmed the Automatic Updates settings so we can't change them to Manual. One by one, all of the machines are becoming unusable."
The reader has of course tried to get Dell to help, but found it's all too easy for the OEMs in cases like this to just tell them to deal with Microsoft. "I spoke with Dell about this last week - for over an hour - most of which was spent pointing me to the generic Microsoft licensing website," the reader wrote. "Dell finally said that while the licenses sold with Optiplexes are legal and valid - though they couldn't tell me how to establish this beyond the Dell-logoed hologram on the side of the PC -- it's really a Microsoft problem, not a Dell one. They also suggested reinstalling XP all over again on each machine. Typical Dell. Buying a Dell is like buying a car -- once you're out the door, you are nothing."
With neither Microsoft or Dell willing to help in a situation where the reader's company clearly had valid licenses for XP, the reader had little choice. "So, here we are, working weekend hours and all, reinstalling XP on machines that shouldn't have to be reinstalled," the reader wrote. "And of course, Microsoft makes you call to validate Windows XP. The first machine we try, their outsourced validation firm agrees that the Product Key is valid - but won't issue an Activation Code. There's a problem that they can't figure out. That, they say, requires Customer Support. Customer Support agrees that the code is valid, and can't say why it might not work, and we need to speak with Technical Support. Unfortunately, Technical Support is closed. Could we perhaps call back on Monday?"
As the reader and staff worked their way through re-activating each Optiplex, they found the more typical pattern was to be told the best answer to pay Microsoft more money. "You call the 800 number, read out the endless series of digits into the IVR," the reader wrote. "Get transferred to India. Read the numbers again. Only to be told that their systems are down for maintenance, and could we try activating Windows XP tomorrow? Or, if we need it activated tonight - we can pay $149 per machine to get the machines back up and running immediately. What kind of a firm does business in this manner? How can Microsoft claim to be a vendor able to handle 'business critical' systems when they pull stunts like this?"
At least the reader did pick up some interesting tidbits about XP activation from Microsoft along the way. "I've been getting conflicting stories from Microsoft about what would constitute grounds for having to go through reactivation again," the reader wrote. "A Mr. Rajiv Malhotra with Microsoft's New Delhi office told me that installing software -- any software -- can trigger the activation process all over again. And that condition extends to third party software. A Mike Russell, also with Microsoft and somewhere in Eastern Europe, I think, confirmed that Microsoft may choose to require reactivation at any time, for any reason - and that installing third-party applications from companies like Adobe could very well trigger reactivation."
The outcome? "We have spent approximately $3000 in additional labor costs to reinstall and reactivate our Dell Optiplex machines," the reader wrote. "We've decided that it's actually much more cost-effective not to apply any Microsoft security updates ever again. We simply can't trust that a security update is what it says it is any more from Microsoft. We've disabled access to Windows Update via Group Policy and have removed any and all vestiges of the Microsoft Antispyware/Windows Defender trojan from all of our machines. Our next step? Evaluating Crossover from Codeweavers to see if the few proprietary apps that we do have will run. If they do, we're done with Microsoft on our desktops. It's just not worth it."
You have to wonder, don't you? Behind all the pious words from Redmond about having to fight software piracy, do they really not understand what a mess they've made with all this activation/COAs/WGA stuff? Do they really not understand that they are driving honest customers to Linux, and the less-than-honest customers to actively embracing counterfeit software all the more? The real answer will come when we see Windows Vista's anti-piracy schemes. And if the things I'm hearing about that prove correct, it will really mean Microsoft doesn't have a clue.
Read and post comments about this story here.
9:18:43 AM 
|
