[jackhack]

There is also : "There must be a problem with your Microsoft account. Click here to fix it" alert on the notification bar.

The only problem with my Microsoft account seems to be that I didn't create one. Not a problem to me, but obviously a problem at Microsoft. |But then I'm only the guy who BOUGHT the computer and deliberately avoided creating a MSFT account. What do I know? Funny how there's no "go away and never bother me again" option on that alert.

more and more, Microsoft makes me feel like a visitor in my own home (computer).

[dm319]

> Microsoft makes me feel like a visitor in my own home (computer).

I think it started with XP. If you tried to avoid installing windows genuine advantage (by deselecting it during the update procedure), it would come up again, then come up with increased frequency. Until in my case, it somehow just started installing itself of it's own accord.

[Multicomp]

But wasn't WGA somewhat a part of verifying a given installation of Windows wasn't pirated?

[yebyen]

You mean that Windows installation that you bought (directly or indirectly), that potentially didn't have this WGA feature on it when you bought it?

[yebyen]

No clue why am I being downvoted? Maybe it will help to show my point if I say more... Windows didn't always have WGA on it, but people have been paying for Windows for decades. My first Windows license was Windows for Workgroups. 95 and 98 didn't have WGA, and earlier versions of XP didn't have it either. WGA came labeled as a "Critical Security Update."

People paid money and bought computers that came bundled with Windows licenses, and then they paid money for Windows major updates, and then ultimately Microsoft decided to bundle most of the updates for free. But one day in one of the free updates, they added in WGA (how is this not bait and switch of loyal paying customers? My operating system needs to phone home for security reasons?). But you had to opt-in. Then they decided in a later free update that it wasn't such a great idea to allow their users to permanently opt out, and their software got increasingly aggressive about making sure WGA was always enabled. You could opt out, but it tried again. And finally you just couldn't opt out anymore.

Then they used dark patterns to ensure you would think you needed a Microsoft account just to log into their computers. Wait was it your computer? Now this article about someone whose Microsoft account was closed without explanation and they're up shit-creek for it.

Is this not all absolutely part of the same conversation? It's a long history with a lot going on in it. This is not a rant against Microsoft, but a cautionary tale against depending on SaaS and letting it creep into your stack, as that's apparently also what Windows has become now, too.

I was 10 years old in the 1990's and recently I realized that I had actually convinced (or suppressed) in my memory that IE was never really a monopoly, but the historical statistics on browsers tell a very different story. So maybe my memory is not so good about IE, and given that I switched to an Open Source system in my teenage years and didn't look back, perhaps that can be excused, but still most people actually haven't. (Hell, some are still using IE...)

I guess it's true that, with the coming of the Internet, and the possibility that you could easily download and pirate Windows, if everyone knows this and WGA doesn't happen in 2008, then your security is legitimately at risk if Microsoft can't profit off of Windows, because then they won't have any incentive left to provide updates except at cost... and you need updates (we need you to get updates, it's like a vaccine that herd immunity only works to stamp out the disease if most people get innoculated.)

Microsoft is much bigger now than when the internet was new, and I think are not really worried about making a profit off of Windows anymore. But as a Windows user, I think that understanding of the history and assessment of the current state of where we are at with Windows profitability and updates would be troubling, for me.

[dm319]

You have absolutely hit the nail on the head, and the way you describe the WGA update is exactly as I remember. I didn't want it installed. Back then resources were a bit more scarce and both startup programs as well as regular ones seemed to significantly slow the boot times. I also didn't want a piece of software that would use both CPU and network resources that was of absolutely no use to me.

The feeling of being given the option to choose, then being coerced strongly (with my resistance) and then being forced upon my laptop gave a strange sense of having been violated.

In a way I'm glad it happened. I was so annoyed / possibly angry? that it prompted me to find a different OS, and my only regret was not finding it earlier.

[sli]

8.1 decided tha

[0x0]

If you sign up for a mock microsoft account and break the TOS on purpose, will they leave you alone with the notifications? :O

[NullPrefix]

>my own computer

Have you noticed how on the desktop it says "this PC", not "My PC" ?

[Spooky23]

In the age of Windows 10, you adopt a PC to ensure that it gets the appropriate updates. Your productive use is a secondary consideration.