SKIRMISHER

I woke up this morning to discover that my PC became smarter overnight: now it tells me that I might have purchased a fake/counterfeited copy of Windows XP.

Well, of course it is! I live in the Third World. Walk around my city and I’ll give you a thousand pesos each time you find a user with a genuine copy of Windows; I’m confident I won’t even use up five-K. This is one of our “perks” here–while folks in First World countries legitimately purchase every piece of software churned out by the Evil Empire, we do so, too–only at a fraction of the real retail price. And by “a fraction,” I mean, “crumbs,” baby.

Somebody said that the whole software industry is just like sex: for every dude who pays for it, a hundred gets it free.

But this rampant software piracy is actually a good thing for Microsoft–with almost everybody eager to use Windows “because it’s illegally free,” this bootlegging “system” keeps Linux outside the gates.

But recently, there’s this uproar over the new Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) authentication software, or what ZDNET’s Ed Bott calls “Microsoft’s Stupid Button.” Many people see it as Microsoft’s “kill switch”–it’s probably Microsoft’s sneaky way to disable non-genuine Windows installations, apart from the fact that, basically, this is Microsoft messing with your machine’s security. What freaks out everybody is the fact that Microsoft itself does not deny it.

Says Ed Bott:

“…Currently, Windows users have the ability to opt out of the Windows Genuine Advantage program and still get security patches and other Critical Updates delivered via Windows Update. The only thing you give up is the ability to download optional updates. Hackers have been working overtime to find ways to disable WGA notification. If WGA becomes mandatory, would it mean that Microsoft could prevent Windows from working if it determines – possibly erroneously – that your copy isn’t “genuine”? That’s a chilling possibility, and Microsoft refuses an easy opportunity to deny that that option is in its plans.

What’s most disturbing about this whole saga is Microsoft’s complete lack of transparency on the issue. And before the ABM crowd jumps in with predictable “What did you expect?” comments, let me argue that Microsoft actually has a fairly good track record on transparency issues in recent years. Windows Product Activation is very well documented, and when a similar uproar occurred in 2001, it was squelched quickly by some fairly prominent postings from high-level executives who provided details without a lot of spin. Likewise, the Microsoft Security Response Center has done an exceptional job at providing quick responses to security issues. (Just ask Adam Shostack.)

Currently, no one at Microsoft is blogging about this fiasco. No executive has been quoted on the record about it. There are very few technical details available, and those that have been published are being tumbled through the spin machine and spit out as press releases.

If Microsoft really does plan to turn WGA into a kill switch in September, be prepared for an enormous backlash.

Yesterday, I rewatched Kevin Costner’s The Untouchables. Robert de Niro there, at one point, is fuming mad; he kicks everything, spits in the floor, and grumbles, “I want him dead! I want his family dead! I want his children dead! I want him dead!”

I think around some months ago, while the new WGA version was being cooked up, somebody at Microsoft was probably aping Robert de Niro with the end-user in mind.

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