Iria

Source: BetaNews
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Microsoft disclosed Monday that over one in five Windows installations were deemed non-genuine through the company's Windows Genuine Advantage program, which requires users to validate their operating system before downloading updates from the company.

Since WGA launched in July 2005, over 512 million users have attempted to validate their copy of Windows, Microsoft said. Of those, the non-genuine rate was 22.3 percent. 56,000 reports have been made by customers of counterfeit software, which grants that user a free replacement copy of Windows.

temeteus82

I think that the real number is much higer ...

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nForcer

i was gonna say...ONLY 22 percent?!?!

The_Neon_Cowboy

keep mind these are global "total" numbers two....

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Judas

I'd guess probably 3/4's to maybe even a closer to 100% number OF the 22% global attempts to activate aren't even being attempted for activation.

but hell 22% of attempted activations, most likely by users either NOT aware that they got screwed or that they've agreed @ some point to either have installed a non geniune copy of windows, or installed it themselves, OR worse in some cases, have a legit copy that microsoft has classed as non legit.

22% is a big frigen number

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DudeBoyz

Those are only the ones who have gotten "caught" as it were.

I wonder if because of the wacky pricing and version scheme that Vista has, if more and more folks might try pirating out of frustration alone.

nForcer

Well can you blame them? I mean, there's no real measurable method for determining the cost of an Operating System - but $300 seems like an awfuly high price. I'd be willing to bet if the cost was 1/2 or even 2/3 that price....you'd see that piracy number fall.

I know I would be more apt to purchasing more copies if it wasn't so damn high.

DudeBoyz

I'm not much into Piracy as a rule. You should not steal Office when you can get Open Office, for example. You can use 7zip instead of WinRAR if you want.

But with the Operating System, in the real world, we are pretty much being forced to use it if we want to be productive and interact with other folks professionally.

Many, many of the apps I use and have used are not available on any other platform than Windows. Much of the hardware out there doesn't come configured to work with anything but Windows out of the box and you have to jump through hoops to get it working in Linux or Mac OS X systems, if you can at all.

They have abused their monopoly position to such a degree that Windows is essentially the only practical solution for many of us, and as a result, I'm not as forgiving towards Microsoft.

Windows should be at like 2 price points. $49 for an upgrade, $99 for a retail copy. $300 is just outrageous, imo, given the way things are.

I also hate that whole "OEM" license thing. If you own a copy of Windows, then you own it. Period. No restrictions on moving it from one machine to another, etc.

They shouldn't get much sympathy given how scumbaggy they are, imo.

I pretty much just hate Microsoft. I begged off doing Usability studies totally, cause even though I could get tons of free software, I just don't want it. They just annoy me in almost everything they do.

ARGH!

I'm sticking with XP as long as I can, just like I did with 98 SE.

zaim

I'm using a legit .edu key.. though I did not pay for it

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DudeBoyz

Is Vista Home Basic lacking features in XP Home?