Cobra

Alright, just to clarify...I am NOT an avid MS basher. I use, administer, and fix Windows desktops and servers daily and they do the job for most people.

The only problem I have with Microsoft is that they're gradually starting to creep into more areas of our lives. I remember the days of Windows 98 when you bought a computer, turned it on, and it was ready to rock. Now with Windows XP systems, you set it up, turn it on, activate Windows, activate Office (if you have it), download security patches...oh no, you have to download the Windows "Genuine Advantage" tool before you can do that!

This nifty little ActiveX script was originally intended to check your copy of Windows to make sure it was legit. That's all fine and good, I don't fault them there. Lately, however, it has been discovered that the WGA tool does more than just validate your copy of Windows/Office...

Take this snippet, for example, from Groklaw:

A computer user is suing Microsoft Corp. over the company's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool, alleging that it violates laws against spyware.

The suit by Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks class-action status for claims that Microsoft didn't adequately disclose details of the tool when it was delivered to PC users through the company's Automatic Update system.

And yet another from ZDNet blogs:

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is an anti-piracy technology that checks in with Microsoft's servers across the Internet that Microsoft recently pushed out to users of Windows via its Windows Update service. Unless the software is able to validate that you have a legitimate copy of Windows, you may be denied certain important updates according to an entry in Microsoft's online knowledgebase. But now comes new news that WGA is phoning home on a daily basis. Some are likening it to spyware and even Microsoft has acknowledged that it should be doing a better job disclosing what the program is doing and why.

Apparently, Microsoft has slipped in some code to "phone home" on a daily basis. Yet they failed to mention this nifty little feature in the EULA for WGA. And just what does Microsoft get from these "phone calls"?

I don't mind using Windows or Office, but I draw the line when they decide to put a tracker on my personal computer to get who knows what kind of info. Bad Bill, no cookie for you!